{"id":3226,"date":"2016-11-11T10:38:32","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T16:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=3226"},"modified":"2016-11-11T10:38:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T16:38:32","slug":"dana-levin-soul-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/dana-levin-soul-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Doing ‘Soul Work’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The appointment of poet Dana Levin as Maryville\u2019s first Distinguished Writer-in-Residence has inspired a rising student interest in creative writing and energized the new narrative arts concentration in the\u00a0English<\/a>\u00a0program, offered through the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

\"Dana<\/a>Levin, who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, first arrived on campus in Fall 2015 and will return\u00a0each fall semester to teach courses in writing, literature and independent study.<\/p>\n

Engaging in art of any kind, she says, is \u201csoul work\u201d \u2014 and it\u2019s imperative.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt is a primary way for college students to have an experience inside themselves. At a school like Maryville, this is of extra importance because so many are studying in fields of practical application,\u201d Levin says. \u201cWe need to provide students with an opportunity to complement their experiences in STEM education and art is the best way I know to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaging in art of any kind is \u201csoul work\u201d \u2014 and it\u2019s imperative.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Levin\u2019s own soul work began in elementary school, when she wrote her first poem about a film the class was shown. Students were asked to describe the film in a paragraph.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a cartoon about an astronaut being pursued through the cosmos by a monster,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought about the words I would use to describe this film \u2014 chase, space, race, place \u2014 and because the words sounded the same I wanted to write a poem instead of a paragraph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her teacher said yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really lucky that from my elementary years through college I\u2019ve had some really amazing teachers who gave me room to be myself and bend rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

They inspired Levin to teach writing, which she has done at the college level for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

“… In relation to gun violence, Ferguson and the election year, poetry is answering a call; we\u2019re feeling a lot of disturbance. Young poets want to talk about this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so delightful and exciting to encounter someone who has a natural facility,\u201d she says. \u201cI help them become aware of their talent by saying, \u2018Hey, look at what you\u2019re doing! It has a name! You have the right intuitions to be a poet. I can help you do that structurally and professionally.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Even for students interested in the subject but who aren\u2019t aspiring poets, Levin offers up a lively classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer teaching style is craft-oriented and passionate, with a dash of magic and electricity,\u201d says Luke Layden, \u201916. He is Levin\u2019s teaching assistant this semester and is applying to MFA writing programs.<\/p>\n

Levin shares both writing and publishing expertise with students. Her fourth book of poetry, Banana Palace<\/em>, debuted in October. Her first book, In the Surgical Theatre,<\/em> was chosen by Pulitzer prize-winning author Louise Gl\u00fcck \u2014 Levin\u2019s longtime mentor \u2014 for the 1999 American Poetry Review\/Honickman First Book Prize and received nearly every award available to first books and emerging poets. She has also written Sky Burial<\/em> and Wedding Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Levin served as former co-chair and faculty member of Creative Writing and Literature at Santa Fe University of Art and Design in Santa Fe, New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Levin\u2019s poetry has been described as image-driven, surprising, complex, challenging and celebratory. A New <\/em>Yorker<\/em> review of Sky Burial\u00a0<\/em>called Levin\u2019s material \u201cutterly her own, and utterly riveting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reviews could easily be applied to her teaching style.<\/p>\n

Levin\u2019s poetry has been described as image-driven, surprising, complex, challenging and celebratory. A New Yorker review of Sky Burial\u00a0<\/em>called Levin\u2019s material \u201cutterly her own, and utterly riveting.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDana’s lecturing style is very informal and she encourages both critical thought and laughter in the classroom,\u201d observes junior Rachel Luebke. \u201cShe is straightforward, earthy yet energetic and insists on an atmosphere of respect.\u201d Luebke is majoring in English and aspires to be a writer.<\/p>\n

Levin is practical about the business of becoming a writer.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking to a talented student about a life in poetry, you have to tell them there\u2019s not going to be remuneration,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd they will have to work in the world and maybe they\u2019ll be lucky enough to maintain a life in poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching poetry to undergraduates presents some challenges, not the least of which is that students are typically taught to read through an analytical lens, Levin says.<\/p>\n

\u201cReading poetry is a very different experience than reading a textbook or even a novel. We\u2019re trained to read for information and theme; trained to bring our analytical minds to what we read,\u201d she says. \u201cPoetry is interested in subverting that kind of reading. Even the line breaks\u2014why is a sentence broken in two? It\u2019s hard to negotiate that. Reading out loud, you hear it. So, a lot of what I\u2019m doing at introductory level is modeling for students how to read poems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping up with the vast expanse of poetry is no easy task\u2014there are many American poets Levin wants her students to discover early on. And that says nothing of contemporary poets.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until now, our last true public poet to my mind was Allen Ginsberg,\u201d Levin says. \u201cClaudia Rankine, with her book Citizen<\/em>, published in 2014, became our next real public poet. The reception of that book caused a big turn back to the civic\u2014and of course in relation to gun violence, Ferguson and the election year, poetry is answering a call; we\u2019re feeling a lot of disturbance. Young poets want to talk about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

What they want to discuss is where we are right now, politically and socially, Levin says, and the conversation has brought increasing attention to poetry.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore poetry is being published and there more readers, more outlets for publishing than I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d Levin says. \u201cSocial media has tremendously helped dissemination\u2014it\u2019s made poetry more accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside Levin\u2019s Writing Poetry classroom, students create original work and study the literature of others, including the poems of their classmates. These poems are critiqued in structured workshops.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome students are scared to share,\u201d Levin says, noting the feeling is understandable. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to have 14 people weigh in on your poem.\u201d<\/p>\n

But students see the value in the exercise, even if it causes some anxiety at first. They are writers of all levels, beginning to advanced.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe meets us at our individual levels and encourages us to step out of our comfort zones,\u201d says Luebke. \u201cHer workshops have greatly improved my ability to give constructive criticism, and by evaluating the works of my classmates, I’m learning to evaluate my own work.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Dana Levin and explore her works,\u00a0visit\u00a0danalevinpoet.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/i>Love<\/span>0<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/i> <\/i>