Issue date: 10/4/06 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Rob DeCarlo Brenda Shaughnessy signs her book, 'Interior With Sudden Joy,' after reading some of her poetry Thursday night.

Contemporary poet Brenda Shaughnessy's provocative words kept her audience mesmerized at the College's first Visiting Writers Series (VWS) installment of the year.

After an introduction by assistant professor of English Catie Rosemurgy, Shaughnessy approached the podium and began reading selected poems from her first book, "Interior with Sudden Joy," and her upcoming book, "Human Dark with Sugar," which will be published by Cooper Canyon Press in 2008.

Shaughnessy thrilled the audience with her poems, which ranged from dark and serious to light-hearted and optimistic. "Trying to figure out how humor operates in poems is something I'm currently working through," Shaughnessy said before a particularly humorous selection.

The poet also commented on where she draws inspirations for her poetry. "I've found that a fun way to start writing a poem is to invent a person to write a passionate letter to," she said, referring to her poem "Dear Gonglya."

She has also found inspiration from everyday objects, such as a dress, tarot cards and snow.

"One day I found myself wondering, 'why is snow white?'" Shaughnessy said before reading a snow-themed poem. "Normally I would just Google this, but five years ago I would have written a poem about it. I decided not to Google it and fuss the answers out myself instead, because sometimes not having the answers is a good thing."

Amy Mahler, sophomore English major, was delighted with Shaughnessy's reading. "I truly enjoyed listening to the melodic way she read her poems," Mahler said. "There's something about listening to an author read her own poetry that really makes the words come alive. It's a feeling you can't get from just seeing the words on paper."

Shaughnessy signed copies of "Interior with Sudden Joy" and talked with students during a reception after the reading.

Born in 1970 in Okinawa, Japan, Shaughnessy spent most of her childhood in Southern California. She now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she teaches at Columbia University and the City University of New York's Lehman College.

"Interior with Sudden Joy," was called "sassy, tough-girl humor" by Mary Jo Bang of the Harvard Review. Bang also described Shaughnessy's poetic voice as "consistently wry, and ever savvy." The New Yorker hailed Shaughnessy's book as "a heady, infectious celebration of the range and peculiarity of erotic life."

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