Kelli Makenna Kuttruff
Staff Writer
Scripps College public events program, Scripps Presents, hosted the 24th United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón on Nov. 2 for a poetry reading and conversation.
About 250 people attended the Garrison Theater at Scripps College with great anticipation to hear the first Latina Poet Laureate read poems from the six poetry books she authored.
Her books include “The Carrying,” “Bright Dead Things,” “Lucky Wreck,” “Sharks in the Rivers,” “This Big Fake World” and her most recent work, “The Hurting Kind.”
She read about 10 poems encapsulating many themes including grief, love, resurrection of the body and resurrection of the self.
From her book “Bright Dead Things,” she read what she described as an apocalyptic love poem called “The Conditional.” This poem left the audience captivated with bated breath as she read the words that perfectly embodied themes of deep love.
“Say we never meet her, never him,” Limón read. “Say we spend our last moments staring at each other, hands knotted together, clutching the dog, watching the sky burn. Say, it doesn’t matter. Say, that would be enough. Say you’d still want this. Us, alive, right here, feeling lucky.”
The room was overcome with a sense of peace and understanding as Limón eloquently put into words the emotions that grace us all and that connect us through the human experience.
Her gift of connecting others though poetry was recently recognized with a MacArthur Genius Fellowship last month. Limón is also the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, and several of her books won or have been nominated for awards such as the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the Griffin Poetry Prize.
Limón was also asked by NASA to write a poem that will be engraved and carried on the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will be launched to flyby Jupiter’s second moon. This poem took her 19 drafts, but was then perfected to make its mark in outer space.
During the reading, she also shared a poem that was inspired by the sound of trash bins rolling on the ground.
“Leave it to poets to try to make a poem out of anything,” Limón said.
This poem is called “Dead Stars” from her poetry book “The Carrying” which was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.
“But mostly we’re forgetting we’re dead stars too,” Limón read. “My mouth is full of dust and I wish to reclaim the rising. To lean in the spotlight of streetlight with you, toward what’s larger within us, toward how we were born.”
“Look, we are not unspectacular things,” she continued. “We’ve come this far, survived this much. What would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?” Limón read with intense passion and heart, moving the entire audience.
The audience included many students from Scripps, but also people in the nearby community eager to hear the U.S. Poet Laureate speak.
Jane Boyer, a 74-year-old musician and retired art teacher, comes to many events Scripps has, and likes to stay plugged in. She believes that the arts and literature are not as highly regarded as they should be, but hopes that Limón can provide hope through her poetry.
“Sometimes things seem pretty hopeless right now, and it would be nice to be able to look ahead to the future and see some hope,” Boyer said. “Poetry can touch your soul, it’s beautiful.”
Scripps senior Ellen Hu also attended the event because it stood out to her as a fellow writer. Although she had not previously heard Limón’s work, she said that events that highlight women writers are important. She believes that spoken word poetry specifically can make people feel things and be very powerful in a way that written poetry might not be.
“Poems can be very powerful,” Hu said. “I think of how moving they can be in terms of really bringing people together and making you realize that you’re not alone in a lot of ways.”
Another college student from Cal State Long Beach, Brianna Ramos, attended the event as extra credit for her poetry analysis course. She felt that it was nice to see all that Limón has accomplished, and will accomplish, as a regular person who the audience could relate to. In her perspective, poetry isn’t as appreciated as it should be in our society.
“For me personally… it (poetry) makes me feel almost like I had a conversation with somebody and they’re helping me feel better,” Ramos said.
Also in attendance was Maria Zavala, an English teacher at Claremont High School, who has spent the last two weeks teaching Limón poems to her English class. She brought along two of her students to the event, and was brought to tears by the passion Limón recited her poetry with.
“I think that the U.S., considering she is a Poet Laureate, does such a great job of recognizing that we need art,” Zavala said. “We have amazing artists here in our state, and honoring that and giving space… that’s another thing that’s important – giving space for poetry and voice.”
Through all of Limón’s success and accolades, she left the room graced with a sense of belongingness. She taught of interconnectedness and even described it as her religion. Limón expertly touched every heart and opened each mind in the auditorium through her incredible gift of poetry.
“Even with every horrible thing that is happening right now, I do really believe in poetry. I do,” Limón said. “I believe in its power to allow us to absorb things, to process things, to not go for the easy answer, and to know that even though we seek clarity, mystery is usually what we find.”
Kelli Makenna Kuttruff can be reached at kelli.kuttruff@laverne.edu.
Kelli Makenna Kuttruff is a senior communications major with an emphasis in public relations. She is the arts editor of the Campus Times, and is in her second semester as a staff writer.
