Wright honored as Arons poet

Tulane hosted award-winning poet C.D. Wright Monday in Freeman Auditorium to read a selection of her poetry to an audience of Tulane and Loyola students and community members.

Wright, a professor at Brown University, said she was delighted to come to Tulane to be honored as the 11th annual Florie Gale Arons Poet. The Newcomb College Center for Research on Women sponsored the program, which honors Florie Gale Arons, a poet who graduated from Newcomb College in 1950.

The Newcomb College Center for Research on Women and the English department invited Wright to speak. She read poetry from throughout her career.

Many audience members purchased Wright’s books and Wright signed books after the reading.

Wright read poems from throughout her career she read in her trademark fashion.

“Her way of reading was very dry, very humble, not flashy,” senior Sean Firko said.

Wright said that reading in public is not always as easy as it may appear.

“It is a battle with my public shyness to read before an audience,” Wright said. “I’ve done quite a lot of it, and it is still difficult.”

Firko said that he attended the event because he too writes poetry.

“I’m trying to write poetry myself as a hobby, so it was good to see someone successful in the field,” Firko said. “I haven’t really had many opportunities to hear live poetry before.”

Wright said she advises aspiring poets to focus on what gets them excited or angry.

“Much inspires me, but it’s not the wellspring of my writing,” Wright said. “It’s what ires me that incites me to write. It’s what compels me to write.”

Senior Will Samson said he attended the reading to take advantage of events run by organizations like the Newcomb College Center for Research on Women. He said has been trying to attend as many of those kinds of events as possible before graduation this spring.

“I try to go to as many of these as possible since I’m graduating in the spring,” Samson said.

Many students praised the event.

“You could tell she invested a lot of herself into the words,” Samson said. “It was outstanding, exceptional.”