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Art and CraftBy Kim McGrathVona Groarke andConor O’Callaghanshare the magic andmelody of poetry.ANYONE FORTUNATE ENOUGHto meet Vona Groarke andConor O’Callaghan, <strong>Wake</strong><strong>Forest</strong>’s poets-in-residence, will begently drawn into a world wherepoetry is a way of life. As husbandand wife sharing an appointment,O’Callaghan acknowledges the unusualnature of their position. “We look abit like the Sonny and Cher of Irishpoetry,” he quips. Groarke laughs withher husband at his analogy, and themoment captures the easy humorbetween two friends who have beentogether for seventeen years—makingpoetry seem as comfortable as thefamily’s favorite well-worn easy chair.The couple, from Dundalk CountyLouth, Ireland, have been teachingintroductory and advanced poetrywritingclasses during their two-yeartenure that ends this academic year.32 WAKE FOREST MAGAZINE
Both agree that no matter what levelthey are teaching, their goal is toremove poetry from the confines ofthe classroom.“We want to make poetry a partof students’ lives,” says Groarke.“Otherwise it’s just something to dowhen you’re sitting down and lookingat a book in the library.”“Part of our job is to makepoetry seem less forbidding,” addsO’Callaghan.“The difference between poetryand prose is like the differencebetween abstract and narrative painting,”Groarke says. “In the museums,people tend to gravitate towardspaintings with a story. There arethings to recognize and relate to,such as the light on a girl’s face orthe way she’s reading a letter, andsuddenly the whole thing comesalive. Abstract art is more like poetrybecause it is about itself.”“Poetry is difficult. There is nosimple way around this. The poemis a depopulated landscape. But ultimately,its difficulty creates itsrewards,” says O’Callaghan.Groarke and O’Callaghan knowthat not all of the students who sign upfor their poetry-writing workshops willgo on to write great poetry, so theirclasses are designed to teach studentshow writing a poem can improve theirability to read one as well.“Students who take our writingclasses know what it is to be in thepoet’s position,” explains Groarke.“They learn to make decisions abouthow a poem they are writing is goingto end up, and they begin to understandwhy a poem might be writtenone way rather than another.”Because they believe there is littledistinction between learning howto write a poem and learning howto understand one, Groarke andO’Callaghan use a method consideredsomewhat old-fashioned in teachingtoday. Students choose a poem fromthe established canon, memorize it,recite it, and explain it to the class.“The music of a poem is very oftenan awful lot of it, and the sounds thatit makes are the key element of whata poem is,” says Groarke.“The music of apoem is very oftenan awful lot of it,and the soundsthat it makes arethe key element ofwhat a poem is,”says Groarke.“It is gratifying to see how, overthe course of the semester, the poembecomes part of the student’s life.They actually take the poem as theirown and enjoy both the saying of italoud and the repetition of it aroundand around in their heads,” addsO’Callaghan.“If it is in your head, you take thepoem with you when you’re shoppingor cycling. It becomes part of yourvocabulary,” says Groarke. “We wantto facilitate ways to get students totake something away from our poetryworkshops into their broader lives.”“Students say that Conor andVona bring poetry to life in ways thatmake it germane to their individuallives in 2006 in Winston-Salem,”says Eric Wilson, professor and chairof the English department. “Theyare quick to add, however, that Conorand Vona are also very much awareof the complexities and subtleties oflanguage. They teach students toappreciate how poems work andhow the form of a poem can add toits meaning.”As poets, O’Callaghan and Groarkeknow well the challenge of craftingwords into verse. “There isn’t a formulafor writing poetry,” she says.“I tell the students if you’re a dentistthen you’re bringing the accumulatedknowledge of every tooth you’ve everworked on to bear on this tooth thatyou’re doing now, but with poetry, it’snot like that. Everything you’ve doneup to this point matters nothing atall. It’s a clean slate. You have to allowyourself to do it fresh every singletime, which is difficult.”“You say this to the students andyou see the horror on their faces,”says O’Callaghan. “Writing poetry isa question of momentum: The onlyway to do it is by doing it. We try toinstill in the students a very artisanapproach to poetry as if they weremaking a coffee table. You keep imposingsome craft on your material untilyou get to the best form of completionthat you can manage. We try to getaway from the conventional idea thata poem is somehow inspired.”In addition to teaching poetryworkshops, Groarke and O’Callaghancoordinate the poetry side of theDillon Johnston Writers ReadingSeries hosted by the English department.Last year, Simon Armitage,SEPTEMBER 2006 33
Page 4: Class of 2010 welcomed with ‘open
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Page 18 and 19: The coterie of near-legendary Old C
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Page 41 and 42: W AKE F OREST A LUMNI A SSOCIATIONP
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Page 53 and 54: worldwide had been the springboard
Page 55 and 56: Klemens Keferboeck (LL.M) is ajunio
Page 57 and 58: MarriagesJulian P.S. Smith III (’
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