Pulitzer Prize professor presents poetry
Michael Sowder, a poet and an English professor at Utah State University, presented excerpts from his poetry book and also parts of his upcoming memoir Wednesday as a part of the department of English speaker series.
Sowder’s book, titled “Toward Heaven: A Poet’s Place Between the Sacred and the Profane,” emphasized mysticism, Sowder said. He spoke about mystical experiences and incorporating that into his current work.
“I’ve begun working on a spiritual memoir,” Sowder said. Sowder read excerpts from his memoir, which is a work in progress, and no one has heard any of it before prior to Wednesday.
Sowder said he was born Catholic but left the church when he was in high school. He later began taking meditation classes and meditated twice a day. Sowder was meditating at home one day when he said he felt inspired.
“I felt a calling to become a monk,” Sowder said. “I felt drawn to the life of monks and nuns.”
Sowder said he knew that if he really was to become a monk that would mean traveling to India to a monk training center. After that, he would return home for a short time and then be sent to a country where he would stay forever and never be able to see his family or friends.
“I’d fallen in love with literature and poetry,” Sowder said. He said if he was to become a monk, he would have a hard time letting that go.
Sowder moved to Charleston, N.C., and taught meditation. He then went to law school and became a lawyer, but still he said he was “living a false life.”
He then explored Chinese Zen and learned that sometimes “a desire for transcendence is really fear.” Sowder said he realized knowledge allowed him to better evaluate his thoughts about becoming a monk, and ultimately allowed him to put his introspective nature to work in writing poetry.
Sowder then told a narrative about a backpacking trip he took with his wife in Glacier National Park, recalling their encounter with a bear.
Liz Merket, a junior majoring in political science, had Sowder as a professor.
“When I heard he was speaking I wanted to come,” Merket said. “His poetry just really speaks to me.”
His latest book of poetry, “The Empty Boat,” is nominated for a 2005 Pulitzer Prize. Individual poems in the book are nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize. Sowder received the 2004 T. S. Eliot Prize for “The Empty Boat ,” which he worked on for 13 years.
Poem selection from “The Empty Boat” included “The Lost Verse,” “Ikkyu” and “That Drink.”
Sowder is also the editor of the USU literary magazine, Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing.
The next speaker of the series will be Paul Swenson, a poet and editor and also a USU alumnus. He will speak March 9 at 12:30 in the Tippets Art Gallery. All speeches are free and open to the public.
-sdobson@cc.usu.edu