JAINA BERARDI
Special to The Leader
Before the advent of written forms of communication, humans primarily communicated orally. The Mississippi poet Adam Clay brought his poetic written words to vocal life on Thursday, Nov. 3 at the Marion Art Gallery. He visited Fredonia as part of The Mary Louise White Visiting Writers Lecture Series.
Clay is best known for his poetry collections: “Stranger,” “A Hotel Lobby at the Edge of the World,” “The Wash,” and most recently, “To Make Room for the Sea.” In addition to his collections, his work has been featured in many magazines like the Denver Quarterly, Tin House and the Boston Review.
As well as being a published poet, Clay is the editor of the Mississippi Review and a contributing editor for Kenyon Review. Furthermore, he directs the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Prior to the reading event that took place in the Marion Art Gallery, Clay visited some English classes and gave students advice. Afterwards, an informal Q&A took place in Fenton with the students.
During that conversation, Clay offered many additional pieces of advice to help students in their writing. One of the first things he mentioned was the importance of consistent grammar. In response to a student’s question on the subject, he explained that, “If I’m reading a story, and I have a question about how the punctuation is working, the story is lost.”
Clay also explained his feelings on authors who change their writing style in order to convey a character’s voice that may be different from their own.
“I do think oftentimes when people try to capture voice, they go way too far,” Clay said. “I really think less is way more.”
Another student asked about how Clay goes about drafting poems. His main piece of advice was to “keep track of your records.”
“I have a very dated version of that. … I feel like I’m too far in now to change my process,” Clay said.
Once in the gallery, Clay was preceded by a musical guest, Jacob King, a senior English major, who showcased his talents through the medium of songwriting. King opened the event by performing a few of his original songs, which can be found on most music streaming platforms. He even played one that he said he’d never played live before.
After King’s performance, Clay read several of the poems published within his 2020 collection, “To Make Room for the Sea.” He also read some of the poems from his future fifth book, “Circle Back,” which he hopes to release by March 2024.
After he had finished reading the poems that he selected for his presentation, Clay then opened the room to requests and questions.
During this final segment, Clay read off one of his most intricate works: a poem titled, “How to Stop Migration.”
“For instance, every 90 seconds, a grocery cart is stolen
– An excerpt from “How to Stop Migration” by Adam Clay.
But ‘where,’ the voice asked, ‘do they all go?’
All of this is to say step away from the tree you’ve been leaning against
Come with me, can you?
Come with me to the top of these shopping carts
And look at the moon and tell me,
Please tell me, is it not more beautiful than it’s ever been?”