Spring Break
Poet visits campus
Online Exclusive
Carla Mancebo
Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: News
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California Poet Laureate Al Young shared the source and power of his words with students and faculty as part of San Jose State University's Legacy of Poetry on Thursday.
More than 100 people listened to Young as he brought some of his passion for poetry, the blues and its reality to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in honor of two SJSU poetry legends, Edwin Markham and Henry Meade Bland.
"Poems express some of the highest thing to which we aspire," Young said.
Darrell Dela Cruz, an aspiring poet and senior majoring in English, said Young's visit was the buzz in the department, and that Young's presence was important in keeping poetry alive in San Jose.
"Poetry is the only outlet where you can have a lot of emotions in a very short period of lines," Dela Cruz said.
The coordinators of the event, Professor Annette Nellen and Professor Persis Karim, were thrilled to have the award-winning and renowned poet as a guest speaker.
"His dedication to the rich and diverse arts communities here, his love for poetry, for music and the arts is absolutely infectious," Karim said.
Young, in homage of SJSU's 150th anniversary, wrote a poem entitled "Ways and Ways to San Jose," Nellen said.
A laureate professor at San Jose State University in 2002, Young vivaciously told stories with his prose. He discussed the path of poetry in society and, in turn, the effect of society on poetry.
"What I'm impressed with is that people, especially young people, have abandoned their screens," Young said. "They come to be with one another to share something with one another in real time, with present energy, in a communal way.
And there are fewer and fewer occasions for this to happen in our society that is largely plugged into something."
Young was a controversial pick for state poet laureate for some legislators, but won the post despite his political works that analyze of the actions of the government, particularly his poem, "Spontaneous Combustibles." He later criticized the rhetoric that is, as he says, "ground out of the White House."
More than 100 people listened to Young as he brought some of his passion for poetry, the blues and its reality to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in honor of two SJSU poetry legends, Edwin Markham and Henry Meade Bland.
"Poems express some of the highest thing to which we aspire," Young said.
Darrell Dela Cruz, an aspiring poet and senior majoring in English, said Young's visit was the buzz in the department, and that Young's presence was important in keeping poetry alive in San Jose.
"Poetry is the only outlet where you can have a lot of emotions in a very short period of lines," Dela Cruz said.
The coordinators of the event, Professor Annette Nellen and Professor Persis Karim, were thrilled to have the award-winning and renowned poet as a guest speaker.
"His dedication to the rich and diverse arts communities here, his love for poetry, for music and the arts is absolutely infectious," Karim said.
Young, in homage of SJSU's 150th anniversary, wrote a poem entitled "Ways and Ways to San Jose," Nellen said.
A laureate professor at San Jose State University in 2002, Young vivaciously told stories with his prose. He discussed the path of poetry in society and, in turn, the effect of society on poetry.
"What I'm impressed with is that people, especially young people, have abandoned their screens," Young said. "They come to be with one another to share something with one another in real time, with present energy, in a communal way.
And there are fewer and fewer occasions for this to happen in our society that is largely plugged into something."
Young was a controversial pick for state poet laureate for some legislators, but won the post despite his political works that analyze of the actions of the government, particularly his poem, "Spontaneous Combustibles." He later criticized the rhetoric that is, as he says, "ground out of the White House."
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