No drums were thumped, no fingers snapped, no steam blown off hot lattes, but anyone strolling past room 309 in Plumb Hall would know the truth: there’s poetry to be found there.

Quivira, the student literary magazine on campus, honored Lisa Moritz and Katie Pownell, both graduate teaching assistants in the English department and recipients of campus-sponsored writing awards at Wednesday’s poetry reading. Moritz and Pownell also read some of their award-winning pieces in an open microphone session.
“It was fun getting to share my work with other students in a formal setting,” Moritz said after reading her poem titled “Still Running.”
“Still Running” features six six-line stanzas with six rotating words to end each line. Moritz also read several other poems dealing with childhood memories and the passage of time.
Moritz won the Green-Wyrick Scholarship for her work, and was also selected to represent the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Intro Journals Award Competition. There are four recipients of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Intro Journals Award Competition total, according to Amy Sage Webb, associate professor of English and co-director of the Creative Writing Program.
“We’re going to be featuring them all month,” Webb said.
The monetary values of Moritz’s awards were not available at press time.
For Pownell, a recipient of the Blue Stem Scholarship, the reading presented a new challenge: reading her pieces in public.
“I’ve never really done it before, so I was quite nervous about it,” she said.
Pownell received the $200 award for her short story “Tree Picture,” but didn’t share it with the audience. She selected a different piece instead.
“It’s called ‘The Wooden Button,’” she said. “This isn’t the piece that I won the award for.”
After Moritz and Pownell completed their readings, host Kevin Rabas, assistant professor of English and co-director of the Creative Writing Program, invited students to participate in the reading with their own poems and short stories. He performed a short poem called “The Corpse” while a sign-up sheet was passed around.
Five student body members, including Shawna Berry, junior English major, Lindsay Bartlett, senior English major and president of Quivira, and Sarah Letourneau, former English student who graduated last month, read their poems or excerpts from their short stories. Each participant stated the title of their piece, as well as the back story. Several of the students credited their previous creative writing classes as the place they crafted their work, while others exposed more personal roots.
Natalie Mason, junior creative writing student, read second. She explained that her piece, “You Look Like a Stephen,” was a poem written for her younger brother.
“In 20 minutes, my little brother will be signing to play four years of football at ESU,” Mason said. “So this poem is for him.”
Mason also said she had given the poem to her brother for his most recent birthday.
Rabas thanked those who had turned out to share and listen, inviting them to attend the upcoming events sponsored by Quivira, which include several more Open Mic readings through the end of the month.
“I think this was a great opportunity to hear award recipients read their work and share with fellow poets and writers,” Rabas said. “These events are wonderful opportunities to hear what’s going on in a writer’s life.”
Additional writers will be honored, but which writers and when each will be honored has yet to be determined.

“To have Quivira host this event honoring these new, exciting voices is a blessing,” Rabas said.
Quivira will host additional Open Mic readings, beginning Feb. 18 in room 309 in Plumb Hall. Students interested in participating are encouraged to contact Rabas, Webb or any member of Quivira.

The Bulletin

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