“Yo! MTV Raps” may be off the air and Deion Sanders may be retired, but on Monday, it’s rhyme time at prime time at Mississippi State University. On Monday, award-winning poets Nancy Eimers and William Olsen will enlighten MSU with their words of poetic wisdom at 8 p.m. in the Colvard Student Union.
“They are outstanding teachers and readers of poetry,” Richard J. Lyons, the English department’s director of creative writing, said.
“I enjoy their thickly meditative texture of their poems.”
Between them, the husband and wife team have published five books, including Eimers’ “Destroying Angel” and “No Moon” and Olson’s recently released “Troubled Lights.” The team has also won three National Endowment of Arts Grants. Their work has been featured in numerous poetry journals and anthologies such as the Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary Series. When they are not busy being recognized by the likes of the prestigious Paris Review and The New Republic, Eimers and Olsen serve as full-time professors at Western Michigan University.
They even find time to lend their talents to Vermont College.
“They meet students at Vermont for two weeks each summer and read and comment on manuscripts throughout the year,” Lyons said.
Monday’s festivities begin at 4 p.m. with a question-and-answer session in Room 407 of Lee Hall. At 8 p.m., the two poets will read from their works in the small auditorium of the Colvard Union. Both events are free and Lyons invites all students, faculty and staff to attend.
“They are two of the top 10 poets in the country, so students shouldn’t pass up the chance of catching these events,” Lyons said.
Eimers and Olsen’s readings mark the first presentation of the English department’s 2002 Visiting Writers Series, sponsored by the department’s Creative Writing Enchantment Fund and by Paul and Bernadette Lyons.
According to Lyons, the Visiting Writers Series has two performances coming up from writers Alex Parsons on March 22 and Wendy Rawlings on April 5. For more information regarding the Visiting Writers Series, contact Richard J. Lyons at 325-2362.