Rockville High School Gets Another Author Visit

On Thursday, April 6, 2017, American poet and professor Tim Seibles visited the Rockville High School Advanced Creative Writing class.

Many students turned out to meet Seibles, as well as a professor and students from Manchester Community College.

Prior to his visit, the class read some of his poems from his collection named Fast Animals, published in 2012. They were excited to meet him and take part in his writing workshop that he did with them which included students writing their own works of poetry with prompts that he gave to them.

The prompts were engaging and required students to write from the perspective of their parents about dating, while the second prompt was wildly different where students wrote a poem from the perspective of a cartoon character.

Students loved the prompts and absorbed his creative ideas. Even though they all wrote about the same ideas, the work that the students produced was all their own and impressed Seibles.

Seibles has published five collections of his own poetry, including his most recent, One Turn Around the Sun, published in 2017. He approaches themes of racial tension, class conflict, and intimacy through plain-spoken and fast- turning language that captivates his audience.

He is highly awarded, receiving many honors from various associations including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. He also received the Open Voice Award from the National Writer's Voice Project and the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 2013 for his poetry.

Although he is a well-known poet, he does not think of himself as famous. He has not let the fame get to him either. He, unlike many stars we watch through the screens of our phones and computers, does not use his platform to convey his thoughts and ideas onto the public. And he does not change what is important to him just because some people may not feel the same way.

“You write the things that concern you most. There is no guarantee that people are going to like what you have to say or be interested in what you have to say.” He said. “I don’t know how to change, just because I’ve had some success in life. You may become somewhat more conscious that people perceive you differently,” he continued, “In my mind, I perceive myself as someone who is trying really hard to make poems that resonate in some kind of useful way.”

Since falling in love with poetry at age 19, Siebels has had the opportunity, unlike many young writers, to find his muse and develop his own voice.

Two reccurring themes that he writes about are race relations and class conflict, as well as various other topics that are meaningful to him, but as a back American, he notices these issues that many people still have to deal with every day in our society.

“I am a black American, my parents were black, and as were their parents, and society doesn’t necessarily work as well as it might for people of color, black people in particular.” He said.

That is not to say that our society targets black people, but this is something that he notices and tries to draw his reader’s attention to.

Before this turns into an article about politics, it is important to clarify that he is not writing about these points and using his platform to persuade readers that these issues are wrong, even though as a society, we all generally agree that segregation is wrong, and that sexism is still an issue worth fighting for. He does not write to tell us that our thoughts and opinions are right or wrong. He uses his poetry to tell us what he thinks and how he feels as a black man living in the United States of America for 62 years.

His two interests when writing poetry are bringing to light that we live in a society that might entertain the best of all men and that even the planet itself operates the same way; that sanity should extend around the globe.

He made it very clear that he does not want to place blame on anyone, but to place blame and the physical desires that we, as humans have.

“We will one day learn to feel with what is in [our hearts] rather than what we feel in our wallets.” Seibles said.

“Part of what you have to do as a person is that you have to dream beyond what you are given, otherwise your only destiny is senseless.” Seibles said. And that inspired me to start dreaming outside of what I think I can achieve, and to start reaching far beyond what I believe to be my limits.

His perspectives on life are so positive and inspiring that it made me not only want to read more of his poetry, but to incorporate his ideals into my own life. The idea that ‘love will prevail’ is still strong in his heart and his mind, and it can be seen through his writing and even in his voice.

He started off the visit with reading from his latest collection, Fast Animals. He read one of his favorites - 4 am- and as a spectator, I was not only captivated by his words, but by his voice. It was soft but deep, and it was soothing that I couldn't imagine him ever being angry. If anything, his writing is his passive - aggressive way of being angry at the world for how unfair it can seem sometimes.

He is a highly educated man, and his credentials show it. Seibles received his BA at Southern Methodist University and his MFA at Norwich University. He is currently a professor of English at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.

But his thoughts on the world around him are so much larger than life. “I have a very vested interest in society.” He said. “If our society, our American society is going to work, it has to work for everybody, or damn near.” Seibles said.

As for young writers, like myself, I still have a long way to go to find out who I am as a writer, but I feel fortunate enough to have met someone who knows who he is and why he is that way.

If there was one thing to take away from the many pieces of advice that he gave to the RHS Creative Writing Class, it would be to write about what I feel strongly about and to not change for anyone else. I think it is important that we write for ourselves and if you are fortunate - and I feel extremely fortunate that people read what I have to say - maybe someone hears it and says ‘that’s worth reading about. That’s worth talking about.’

And in the words of Tim Seibles, “All you have as a person in the world, as a writer, is your integrity. So you have to write the thing that you hear in your head, and be as true to that thing, however strange it may be, or however controversial, or moreover simple.” And I encourage you all to take that and run with it in whatever way it applies to your life. Whether it be writing, or academics, or even a post on social media; make sure that it is true to yourself.