| NEWS
| OCTOBER 4, 2005
Super Poetry
Author uses comic book characters
to illustrate work
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| The Shorthorn: Manikandan Sachidanandan |
| Poet Bryan Dietrich reads
a poem on Monday in the Rady Room in Nedderman Hall. Dietrich
is the author of Krypton Nights and Amazon Days. |
|
By Kim
McQuire
Contributor to The Shorthorn
In his most recent collection of poems, Bryan Dietrich uses the
characters Clark Kent; Jor-El, Superman’s biological father;
and Lex Luther to capture father-son relationships.
Dietrich, a poet and English professor at Newman University in Wichita,
Kan., read poems from his book Krypton Nights on Monday afternoon
in Nedderman Hall’s Rady Room.
“The way he read the poems showed that they were meant to
be comical, but they had a deeper meaning as well,” psychology
sophomore Amy Crow said.
Dietrich’s poetry stems from mythology and life experiences,
and he began writing poetry in the seventh grade when he fell in
love with reading and writing, he said.
Although he originally aspired to be a comic book artist, Dietrich
said he discovered a new outlet for his creativity.
“There was insight, and I decided at that point that I wanted
to teach English and write poems,” he said.
Dietrich said that while most of his drawings and comic book characters
were borrowed from others, his poetry is completely his own.
He has also written children’s books and short stories and
is currently working on some novels; however, poetry is his passion,
he said.
“I decided two decades ago that my main focus would have to
be poetry because that’s what I love,” Dietrich said.
Before the poetry reading, Murray said Dietrich spoke with students
in English professor Tim Richardson’s advanced creative writing
class.
“It offers another way to learn as much as possible about
poetry writing today,” Murray said.
Richardson said he has known Dietrich for years and wanted to bring
him in to read his work.
“We’re really fortunate that he’s here,”
he said.
Dietrich said the goal for aspiring poets should be to write the
best work they can write and not to be marketable or published.
He said the worst thing to do is to write something to fit a market.
“Eventually, someone will find those words and love them as
much as you did,” he said. “But you must love your words
enough to justify them loving you back.”
CORRECTION
This story should have stated that Chris Murray
is the UTA Writing Center director.
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