Big Dog Reading Series: Professor Jerry Wemple's Artemas & Ark: the Ridge and Valley Poems

You might know Dr. Jerry Wemple from previous blog posts, written by a past contributor, or perhaps you’ve had him as a professor, or maybe you've just merely passed him on campus pre-COVID. What you might not know about Dr. Wemple is he’s a published poet and a creative non-fiction writer. He has been published in journals and anthologies and has written four poetry collections.

Credit to BU Faculty Page 

Dr. Wemple has also been present with several awards for his incredible work. He was first awarded the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award in 2000 for his poetry collection, You Can See It From Here. Then four years later, The Civil War in Baltimore was awarded the Word Journal Chapbook prize.  That was only the tip of the iceberg.

Just last year, Dr. Wemple published a new collection called Artemas & Ark: the Ridge and Valley Poems, which was described by WVIA presenter, Erika Funke, as, “Distinctive-lyrical and ballad-like, and a mythical landscape.” Dr. Wemple has been invited to talk about his poetry on both the WVIA radio program ArtScene and the Arts In Bloom of Bloomsburg University Big Dog Reading Series. He also gave a virtual reading for the Big Dog Reading series on February 4^th, 2021 that was streamed live on Facebook Live and YouTube.

If this something that interests you or you want to find out more about Dr. Jerry Wemple’s work, you can follow the links at the bottom of the page. There you can find the link to his interview with Erika Funke from WVIA’s ArtScene and to his virtual reading for Big Dog Reading Series from February 4, 2021.

 

Here is the link for the radio interview

https://soundcloud.com/wvia-public-media/jerry-wemple-february-01-2021?in=wvia-public-media/sets/artscene-1 [soundcloud.com]

 

Here is a link for the reading

https://www.facebook.com/ArtsinBloomBU/videos/873033730178436 [facebook.com]

 

 

 

 

Big Dog Reading with Wemple and Lawrence

Our own Prof. Wemple and Dr. Lawrence were the guests for the most recent installment of the Big Dog Reading Series.

Prof Wemple introduced the event with a the statement, "November, the worst month of the year," a sentiment echoed by many who prefer warmer weather. Ironically enough, both educators' readings were set in the summer.

Dr. Lawrence started us off with some personal and deeply touching flash (non)fiction and illustrations (and a bonus drawing she added in to lighten the mood).

She began with a flash fiction piece, then led into a series of flash-nonfiction pieces she wrote about her recent discovery of her birth father, following a timeline that started before she was born, and ending in the summer of 2019.

Her pieces explored family dynamics, mother-daughter interactions, including one of her truest lines, “mothers in opera are notoriously bad,” and piecing together parts of the past to create something beautiful out a messy, scattered life.

Best line: “When I was 5, I thought Mr. Rogers was my father.”

Wemple read second, introducing a set of nostalgic summertime poems he wrote during a retreat this past summer.

His six poems were titled as follows: “That Summer,” “GAR,” (standing for Grand Army of the Republic), “Smash Cans,” and “Almost,” “First Visit, South Carolina,” and “Tapies.” 

His prose led us through sun-soaked backyards and parking garages with evocative imagery and engaged all the senses, recalling the nostalgia of summers long past. He connected the past with the present, and engaged the audience: “Of course, everything is connected, even those of you listening to this here and now.”

Another quote: “Because baseball is a metaphor for life, I’m gonna end with a baseball poem.”

Big Dog Reading Series: Jerry Wemple & Claire Lawrence

Don't forget to go to Monty's on Thursday and hear two of our own professors in the English Department, Prof. Jerry Wemple and Dr. Claire Lawrence, share their work. The event starts at 7 pm in Monty's Assembly Room on upper campus.

We can't wait to see you there!

Tyler Mills Poetry Reading Cover

Featured as the guest reader for the 20th season of the Big Dog Reading Series, Tyler Mills read for us all yesterday in Monty's assembly room.



Mills read a selection of poetry from her book, Hawk Parable, covering themes about nuclear bomb testing in the Pacific and exploring her family's mystery of her grandfather's involvement in the bombing of Nagasaki.



Her poems were varied in tone and perspective, jumping from the point of view of a soldier to searching for bomb testing sites that were wiped out on Google Maps, but each work held a deep respect for their subjects and themes.

During the Q & A at the end of the session, Mills said that she started researching these topics for her poems before 2009, some of her poems taking as long as 3 years to write, and some only taking a few hours. She especially became invested in digging through old videos of released footage of bomb testings. "[At times] I found myself pausing these videos and wishing I could stop the bombing," she told the audience.



The evening was a powerful, instructive, and enjoyable one for all of her audience members, full of poignant and moving poems. Tyler Mills' presence at Bloomsburg and her poetic insights were greatly appreciated by all attending. In hearing her poetry, we all agreed with her statement, "To me, poetry has a power to create a voice that's eternal."

Big Dog Reading Series: Tyler Mills, Poet

Check out this event!

Department Events This Thursday 4/9

Hello everyone!
We have two great events coming up on Thursday.

At 5:30 PM in Bakeless 207, Dr. Entzminger will be reading a non-fiction essay about her great aunt's interesting marriage.

At 6:30 PM at Monty's Upper Campus, the Big Dog Reading Series will host Daryl Sznyter and Brian Fanelli, two poets.

Be sure to attend these events and show your support!

Creative Writing Contest

EAPSU is hosting an undergraduate creative writing contest. Submit your poetry, flash fiction, or flash nonfiction to poetry@ship.edu for a chance to win a cash prize and an invitation to read your work at this fall's conference. 

Thanks to Mrs. Rothermel for this message.