"There are two kinds of inspirations," Pulitzer Prize-winning poet C.K. Williams told a crowd of about 50 students Thursday afternoon. "There's the kind of inspiration that captures you, and there's the kind of inspiration you capture."
"I'm a firm believer in both sorts," he added.
Williams, who has been internationally lauded for his prolific prose-like poetry, read from his latest collection of poems, "Wait," as well as from a forthcoming collection, "Writers Writing Dying," in the second-to-last installment of the Writers on Writing series, sponsored by the literary arts department.
The reading, punctuated by Williams' dry humor, featured poetry about love and sex - "for those of you who are getting sleepy" - and Williams' usual topics of politics, death and writing.
One of his poems, "Whacked," began with the familiar narrative voice of the poet. "Every morning of my life I sit at my desk getting whacked by some great poet or other," Williams - who is in his 70s - read, to laughter from the audience. "Some Yeats, some Auden, some Herbert or Larkin and lately a whole tribe of others - oy! - younger than me."
Other poems, like "The Day Continues Lovely," dealt with more expansive topics. "Meanwhile cosmos roars on with so many voices we can't hear ourselves think. Galaxy on. Galaxy off. Universe on, but another just behind this one," Williams read.
After the reading, Williams took a few questions from the audience about the craft of poetry.
"Lucidity, lucidity - I realize that's really what I've been after," he said in response to a question about the clarity of his work. "I'm a bit of a Freudian, and I experience mind as a rather chaotic place and consciousness as a chaotic entity."
Students walked away impressed by the reading. "I've admired C.K. Williams for a while, so it was exciting to have him on campus," said Lucy Kissel '13. Kissel, a double concentrator in American studies and literary arts who is taking LITR 1200: "Writers on Writing," called Williams "the reason I took this class."
"He's a very good reader," she said. "It's always interesting to see how a writer presents his or her work."
Williams' reading was "rejuvenating," said Tuong Vy Nguyen GS, who is studying literary arts.
"You never thought someone who is older than most people (would) have so much energy for poetry," she said. "You think poetry must have disappeared from their lips."
Students unfamiliar with the poet also enjoyed his reading.
Gargi Harithakam GS, also studying literary arts, described Williams' poetry as "very clear and not clear, in a way that comes with maturity or age."
