The Art of Poetry from a Poet Laureate

Upper School students recently had the opportunity to pause and think about poetry, both as consumers of the art form, as well as producers of it. That’s the beauty of the annual Writer’s Symposium, which brings in professional writers who instill aspects of their craft to interested students. 

This year’s guest speaker is currently traveling the state as Washington’s Poet Laureate. Derek Sheffield is serving a two-year term as a laureate in hopes of building awareness and appreciation of poetry. “I hope to help people realize how central poetry is to our culture even though we may not see it all the time or recognize it,” says Sheffield.

During an assembly with the Upper School, Sheffield provided two-line couplets to popular songs the students would know to show that poetry hides in many places. “So even though poetry doesn’t have a huge place overtly in our culture, I really think it is everywhere when we start looking around and listening for it.”

While on campus, students also had the opportunity to engage in various writing workshops. “I wanted to spark some inspiration for sitting down and reading or writing poems,” says Sheffield. He went on to say that the pace when writing or reading poetry allows you to slow down, as he quoted a line about haste from Theodore Roethke, a Northwest poet. 

“I think there is something special that happens when we put ourselves in that space. It is meditative. It helps us slow down and be here now, when so much in our culture is at supersonic speed. So much is telling us to go fast, and I truly believe that ‘the greatest assassin of life is haste.’”

During the workshops, students were told not to overthink things and just write. 

“I was hoping people would come away with the idea that poetry isn’t just about words on paper, or rhymes, or things like that, but it’s a very special way of being in the world. That all the life around you is appreciated and seen and recognized.”