BY CHLOE TELLER
Photo Credit: Stonehill College
Ada Limón, the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, stood smiling at the podium in front of Stonehill College for a live poetry reading and Q&A session.
Limón was a guest speaker, sponsored by the Chet Raymo Literary Series. This event took place in the May Hall Auditorium with approximately 150 attendees.
Professor Amara Brooks, organizer of this event, and Professor Jared Green, introduced the audience to Limón.
Limón read a selection of her poetry to the audience. The author of six books of poetry, read from three of her books, “Bright Dead Things”, “The Hurting Kind”, and “The Carrying”. With each poem, she navigated the complexities of human emotions and relationships.
Limón said she started her professional journey started as a freelance writer for magazines and marketing and billboard campaigns. She said it enriched her poetry, giving it a unique perspective and a deep understanding of human dynamics.
“If you’re wondering how I start my poems, it always starts with a question,” Limon said.
Limon said she was called to write poems that honored her family, and found herself writing countless poems to honor family members, including her mother, step-mother and grandfather.
In "How to Triumph Like a Girl," one of her notable poems, Limón celebrates the strength and resilience of femininity while challenging societal norms and expectations. Through the imagery of horses, she prompts readers to embrace the complexities of their identity.
In "How to Triumph Like a Girl," she wrote,
“As if this big dangerous animal is also a part of me, that somewhere inside the skin of my delicate body, there pumps an 8-pound female horse heart, giant with power, heavy with blood.”
Limón said her role as Poet Laureate further solidifies her influence in the literary world. Her collaboration with institutions like NASA, where she crafted a poem for the side of a spacecraft, shows her ability to offer poetic reflections on the wonders of the universe.
“Writing the poem for NASA was one of the hardest things I have done. It took me 19 drafts,” she said.
Despite facing a challenge, Limón completed her poem for NASA, calling it the achievement she is most proud of in her career.
Calling it “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa”, she wrote,
“We are creatures of constant awe, curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom, at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow,”
As for any advice for upcoming poetic scholars, Limon's greatest piece of advice is to just keep writing.
“Keep writing. And show everyone your work. There will always be a family member or friend willing to read it,” Limon told the Summit in an interview after the event.
While Limon will be poet laureate until April 2025, after that, she said plans to go into hiding for a while.
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