Janice Gould's Visit

I was really excited about Janice Gould's visit to our class, and was looking forward to hearing a poet speak about their experiences. I had never heard a poet read their work in real-time, and I was excited to be able to hear a poem read the way they meant it to be read.

I was definitely surprised at how "real" Janice Gould seemed to be. She was so straightforward about her work, and was not shy to share it to complete stranger. She was asked a questions regarding the source of her poetry, and she politely replied that all of her poems were based off of her own life experiences. I had always assumed that much of poetry was meant to be fictional, so it was refreshing to hear poetry that came directly from the writer's own life.

I also was surprised to hear about how difficult is was for Janice Gould to sometimes keep her poetry written in a particular structure. Before she spoke, I did not even realize that her poetry followed a structure; in fact I was going to ask her a question regarding the way she positioned lines in her poems, and why she chose to do them in such a sporadic way. I had no idea that these were actually considered to be "correct" ways. It fascinated me.

I think what surprised me most was Janice's mannerisms. She seems like such a quiet woman, and spoke with such a soft and sweet tone; however he poems are full of passion and strength. She says that her poems are the ways that she expresses her emotions, and I definitely came away from class believing her and every word of poetry that she read.