Samhi C. – Staff Writer

skc5908@psu.edu

On Thursday, November 3, at 6:00 P.M. in the Metzgar Lobby, the Penn State Behrend Creative Writing department hosted the third installment of the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series featuring American poet and professor Kathy Fagan who read from her latest poetry collection, Bad Hobby, which was published earlier this year. 

Having already published six poetry collections prior to “Bad Hobby”, Fagan says “this is my most narrative group of poems.” She states that she primarily identifies as a lyric poet as opposed to a narrative poet and had to learn how to write good narrative poetry. While taking inspiration from existing narrative poems, she also took inspiration from non-fiction narrative writing, most notably “Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Natasha Tretheway who herself is an American poet. 

In terms of her craft relating specifically to her first attempt at narrative poetry, Fagan believes her work was dependent on “really good sentences… creating tension… [and] brading material together” much like a braided essay. In terms of the writing process, she says that everyone has their own system and for her while she personally cannot write every single day, even while she is not writing, she is actively “reading, taking notes, paying attention to the world, [and] being present.” Then, to those who are writing based on real life like her she says, “Be brave. Take chances. If you don’t write it, we don’t know your story.” 

Fagan herself has been brave and taken chances with “Bad Hobby”. She says the collection is “very much autobiographical, so when I say ‘my father’ I really mean my father.” Her mother passed when she was young and her father now has dementia. For a few years, he lived with Fagan and her partner but as the dementia worsened, eventually he had to move to an assisted living facility. These are the events 

that “Bad Hobby” was inspired by. Her loss, her grief, her experience as a child who had to take care of her father in his old age all drive the poems in her latest collection. She expresses that the collection is also inspired by socio-economic factors that impacted her life. Fagan says, “Now, I’m very proud of where I come from.” But growing up, as many youth for many reasons do, she did not always feel that way. This book also encompasses that experience. 

One Penn State Behrend student attending the reading asked how she balances sentimentality and relatability to which she responded: “So much of this material… is accessible to other people,” because everyone has parents, many have dealt with illnesses, many have dealt with socio-economic issues, many have dealt with the feeling of not always belonging. Though her specific story is personal, the topics and themes it covers are universal. 

As proof of Bad Hobby’s the relatability and as analysis on how Fagan utilizes language, George Looney, Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and English at Penn State Behrend in his introductory speech for the event stated: “These compelling and memorable poems are filled with hauntings, of

memory, of the world, and of the co-mingling of the two that can occur through and in language. The co-mingling is what meaning is, or at least where it resides.” 

When asked for her opinion on Fagan’s collection, Aimee Pogson, Associate Teaching Professor of Creative Writing and English says, “I really enjoyed the honesty.” Meanwhile, Dr. Tom Noyes, Program Chair for the Penn State Behrend Creative Writing department and Professor of Creative Writing and English says, “I liked it because… the subject matter… it’s a tough subject… Makes us see them as beautiful in some ways.” He says that Fagan’s work reinforces his belief that poetry is a way for us to approach and cope with such hard topics. 

Originally from New York, Fagan earned her B.A. in English from California State University, Fresno where she got the opportunity to work with American poet Philip Levine who taught there. Later, she earned her M.F.A in Poetry from Columbia University and her PhD in English from the University of Utah. Today, apart from being a published poet, she is a professor at The Ohio State University, Columbus, teaching poetry to undergraduate and graduate students while serving as the current director for the M.F.A Creative Writing program which she co-founded.