Westminster Poet

Aimee Nezhukumatathil Visits as 2020-2021 Westminster Poet

Award-winning poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil shared her sense of wonder during her March 30-31 visit as the 2020-2021 Westminster Poet. She gave an all-school reading and visited English classes, all virtually from Oxford, Miss. She had previously served as the Westminster Poet for 2011-2012.

A professor of English and creative writing in the University of Mississippi’s M.F.A. program, Nezhukumatathil is the author of The New York Times bestselling illustrated collection of nature essays and Kirkus Prize finalist “World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks and Other Astonishments,” which was published last year and chosen as Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year for 2020. She has also published four poetry collections: “Oceanic,” “Lucky Fish,” “At the Drive-In Volcano” and “Miracle Fruit.” Her most recent chapbook, “Lace & Pyrite,” is a collaboration of epistolary garden poems with the poet Ross Gay, who was last year’s Westminster Poet.

“World of Wonders” was taught in every Westminster English class this year and was an all-school faculty read. Students also studied poems in “Oceanic” and from her other collections.

Nezhukumatathil began her reading by saying, “I hope to bring wonder back into your lives today.” She spoke about difficult experiences growing up and shared a favorite video of a frog giving birth. While reading an essay from “World of Wonders,” she asked students to draw a narwhal. She then read four of her poems from “Oceanic” and spoke about their origins.

During one of her class visits, she asked students to recall moments of learning that brought a smile to their face. “In college, I want you to explore those things you are interested in because you will never feel bored,” she said.

When asked what prompted her to start writing poetry, she credited studying living poets for the first time in college and reading poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye, who has twice served as the Westminster Poet. Nezhukumatathil recounted how the experience prompted her to switch from studying honors chemistry to English at Ohio State University. “I wanted to be a writer because I had so many questions,” she said. In response to other questions, she shared that she writes with a pencil and paper, and that she tries to evoke a certain mood in a poem rather than meaning. “I enjoy writing essays the most, but my first love is writing poetry,” she added. “I love the revision process. Revising is where the magic happens.” “If we had to have a Westminster Poet do a virtual visit, Aimee Nezhukumatathil was the perfect poet to have,” said former Westminster English teacher Michael Cervas who directs the Westminster Poet series. “Both in her allschool reading and in her visits with English classes, she was engaging and full of energy. I especially liked her choices of poems to read in the various English classes, poems that were in turn funny and wise and very moving.”

“I have read a lot of poems on the ocean throughout my English career and have even attempted writing about it myself, but Ms. Nezhukumatathil’s writing has a unique element that makes her work have depth and deeper meaning behind the fantastical creatures she describes,” said Maggie McCarthy ’23, a student in Lawrence Court’s AP English Language and Composition class. “I really enjoyed understanding the personal stories behind her work. She explained to us how important it is to have a creative outlet and to pursue careers in what we love, no matter the job or the probability of success.”

And Carolyn Cheng ’24, a student in Scott Stevens’ The Literature of Becoming class, said: “I loved the recurring theme of interconnectedness with nature in her poems, and how she brought to life even the smallest details to make her poems magical. It’s always wonderful to hear the author’s works in their voice, and it was interesting to hear what inspired some of her writings.”

“It was a joy to have Aimee Nezhukumatathil join our community and address our students,” said English teacher Arianna Vailas. “She asked them questions to awaken their dormant sense of wonder: She provoked them to remember a time when they lost track of time because they were so enthralled by the natural world. She encouraged them to consider whose stories about the outdoors are being told (and whose aren’t) and to write down their own childhood experiences in a journal to preserve them for posterity. I hope we remember how to wonder and wander and grow together as a community. Her visit was a delightful and purposeful step in that direction.”

An image from an online English class with the visiting poet. Aimee Nezhukumatathil