By Carol Woodland, Staff Reporter
On Thursday March 27 at 7 p.m., CNM’s Writing Club will be presenting writer and poet Tomás Morín in the Smith Brasher Auditorium, which will be free and open to the public.
Writing Club Advisor and English Instructor, Rebecca Aronson said she is excited to host Morín, who is reading his first published book, “A Larger Country,” which is a poetry anthology that was published in 2012.
“He is a really interesting poet; a really engaging nice person, a good presenter” she said.
Aronson said that at the event Morín will talk about his poems and will read either from his book or new work, and there will be a question and answer session afterwards.
To find out more about the event or the Main Campus Writer’s Club, email Rebecca Aronson at raronson@cnm.edu.
S.A.G.E. Instructor, and member of the Main Campus Writing Club, Stephen Romero said he thinks Morín’s poetry has a naturalistic sense, and readers can find a sense of home or personal history in his work.
“It’s clear his poetry has a deep connection to place—this comes through the imagery in his poems, which like a winding road, takes readers on journeys with the speaker, and at the end, it’s exciting to see where he takes us,” Romero said.
There are three chapters of the writing group that meet on Main, West Side and Montoya campuses, Aronson said.
Locations and times of the meetings can be found on the CHSS calendar at the CNM website.
“It’s a group for people who are interested in any kind of creative writing, at any level, to just come and write and get to know other writers and talk about writing,” Aronson said.
The group is open to people who may not consider themselves writers too, Romero said.
At the Main Writer’s Club, writers bring something they have recently read to share with the group, such as an article or book excerpt, or poem that the group can discuss, and members also may bring prompts or writing exercises, Aronson said.
“We’re really a mix of poets and fiction writers, playwrights and memoirists. We try and make the prompts, so that they could work for any genre, then everybody writes, and people can choose to read what they’ve written or just listen,”Aronson said.
Aronson said that in her opinion any kind of writing practice is helpful and can be a great outlet, and believes that poetry can be a good means to express things that are difficult.
“It’s just a playful, expressive, interesting way of communicating,” she said.
Romero said that members can gain a lot from the experience of being in a writer’s group.
The group is very open to helping others find resources and work on specific skills, he said.
“I’ve been in the writing group for a few years now, and it’s been one of the most welcoming, relaxed environments I’ve been a part of, and it’s helped me develop my writing skills so much because it’s allowed me to have a set time to actually sit and write and talk and share with others,” Romero said.
Romero said that he thinks the idea of poetry and creative writing has become distorted or romanticized as though it is an unattainable or unnecessary skill but the reality is that language is power.
Romero said all language, even body language is poetry, and that creativity is an inherent force within a person connected to how they view the world around them.
“To anyone who is intimidated by poetry, my honest advice is to try and recognize that it’s not just confusing word vomit that high school English teachers make you write five paragraph essays on. It’s a force inside the human spirit— each person just has to have the desire to explore it, in whatever capacity in which they feel comfortable,” Romero said.
For students interested in experiencing great poetry come to life, Tomás Morín’s reading will be Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m.
