Villanova warmly welcomed 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States and esteemed author Tracy K. Smith to campus on March 12 to read selections of her poetry as part of the 26th Annual Villanova Literary Festival.
Originally from Massachusetts, Smith is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, memoirist, editor, translator and opera librettist. She earned a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. Smith is the author of four books of poetry, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars and Wade in the Water.
As U.S. Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019, Smith led American Conversations: Celebrating Poems in Rural Communities with the Library of Congress, in which she visited rural communities around the U.S. giving out copies of her anthology, American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, to spread messages about the power of poetry. She also created the American Public Media podcast “The Slowdown,” which seeks to help listeners understand their shared humanity through poetry. Smith is currently a professor of English, African and African American studies at Harvard University and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.
Seniors Ken Guadagnino and Jaden Cahoon, members of the English Department’s Authors On and Off the Page course, which runs in conjunction with the Literary Festival, introduced Smith, presenting an overview of her accomplishments and the selections from which she would read.
“Among today’s readings, we explore her collection Wade in the Water, which explores subjects of race, family and divinity through the lens of song, erasure and revelation,” Guadagnino said. “I found myself captured by Smith’s emphasis on love, and the beauty she is able to convey through a walk-through nature, or a passing conversation.”
“Once I finished reading it, I had to go back and read the 13 pages again, just to make sure I did not miss a single word,” Cahoon said. “To write in such a way that elicits raw emotion, I can only agree with Hilton Als of The New Yorker, who called Smith’s poetry a ‘gorgeous struggle.’ What better way to describe a body of work that dances across themes with all the grace you would expect from a poet such as Smith.”
Smith began by reading selections from Life on Mars, a collection inspired by her father’s death as she imagined the world he left this one to go to.
“It’s thinking about the universe as a way of extrapolating from current affairs and also as a way of imagining the afterlife,” Smith said of Life on Mars. “I’m very invested in what it means to live with a soul and to feel an attachment to other souls across space and time”
From there, Smith moved into reading selections from Wade in the Water, a collection of poems named after the spiritual that guided many enslaved African Americans along the Underground Railroad to freedom. According to Smith, it laments the loss of a different age while also encouraging both the writer and reader to rise and meet the high stakes of our ever-changing world.
“The poems work through the pains of American history like slavery and the Civil War, and even the anxieties of today,” Cahoon said in his opening remarks. “They hurt, yes, but in them there is also an undeniable hope for a better future. The collection forces a reader to question, to reflect, and to consider what they know to be sacred, special and divine.”
“It’s a declaration of a courage that in my ordinary life is hard to muster,” Smith said.
Wade in the Water’s title poem comes last in the collection. Smith was inspired to write this particular poem following her experience at a ring shout in Georgia, a religious ritual in which people sing spirituals to honor enslaved people who would have sung those songs on plantations in the southern United States. Smith noted the sense of communion she hoped to convey with her words, acknowledging “Wade in the Water” is a spiritual song sung by many who understood they may never make it to freedom, but hoped the generations to follow would have a stronger chance.
During the Q&A portion of the event, attendees asked Smith where she finds her inspiration and what advice she would give to young writers. Smith said she is typically interested in stories that have been marginalized or downplayed in our culture, finding solace in giving a voice to those who do not necessarily have an accessible space to speak up.
“I’m eager to hear from people who don’t always get the mic,” she said. “I get excited when I meet someone in the archive. It’s like when you’re in love. You want to tell everyone. I just want everyone to hear these voices that are so essential.”
As for her advice to young writers, Smith stressed the importance of trust and humility.
“We live in a world where it’s possible to get attention instantly, and that can become a motivation, but art is a long game,” she said. “It’s important and useful to become comfortable working quietly, under the radar. Make that privacy part of your practice as an artist.”
For more information on the Villanova Literary Festival and upcoming author visits, visit https://www1.villanova.edu/university/liberal-arts-sciences/programs/english/literary-festival.html.
