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On Nov. 21, poetry author Carol Frost came to campus as part of the Visiting Writer Series. The Visiting Writer Series brings authors from around the United States to read their works.
“I think I took away just to really appreciate the little things in your life, even if they seem dark and gloomy, she makes poetry out of it, she writes books and she’s able to make something out of that, even if it’s taking the little things in life and making that a success is really awesome,” said Ali Youngblood, graduate student in literature. “I think she shows that through her poetry and her ability to write in general.”
Frost has written 13 different books of poetry so far.
“I’ve been writing for a long time, so I have lots of different kinds of poetry, and one of the things I think I try to do is keep on teaching myself about what poetry is, and how to write it,” Frost said.
English graduate students study Frost’s poems in their classes, so many of the students have heard her poems in class.
“I think whenever you hear a poem and you’re not reading it at the same time, there’s going to be parts of it that speak to you a little louder, whether it’s because of the sound or the word choice, or the emotion that the reader is using,” said Kayla Mccollough, graduate student in creative writing. “I think something that I took away is the importance of sound in poems because they’re really meant to be heard, so whenever you hear them it makes them different and beautiful in a new way.”
Frost read from three of her books, “Love and Scorn,” “The Queen’s Desertion,” and “Alias City.”
“I have the advantage of standing up there at the podium and looking at everybody in the audience, so I can gage what their reactions are, and it gives me a sense of what the audience is, and what changes. I liked the audience tonight quite a lot, I thought people really were listening, and I saw people picking up their heads at certain points,” Frost said.
After the poetry reading a reception was held where guests could purchase Frost’s books and meet Frost.
“It’s always a really great opportunity to get popular writers to come, Carol Frost is amazing, so it’s really great to get to listen to her and meet her, and just hear it, because it’s always really nice getting to hear the way the poem is read from the poet’s voice rather than just reading it allowed to yourself because there’s always something different about it, so that’s nice,” Youngblood said.
Frost’s newest poetry book “Alias City,” was released in November 2019.
“I would love to get across the notion that poetry is not something to be afraid of, that it’s something you can understand and enjoy,” Frost said.
