Staged on the ninth floor of Vaughn, UT students were engrossed with the notorious poet Laura McCullough as she read her original works to the crowd on Oct. 2. As McCullough read pieces from her latest books, Rigger Death & Hoist Another and Jersey Mercy, she kept the crowd in the loop with the stories that influenced her work.
McCullough’s red curly hair gave inspiration to her piece “Beauty Salon Love.” The poet joked, “My hair has been mentioned since I got here. We’ve been talking hair. Right gals?” Her poem caught everyone’s attention as she recounted a salon artist’s critique of her red colored hair. After McCullough describes the artist rattling off a list of hair products she reads, “ Oh we’ll talk color next time;/ Your red is so good, we don’t need to go there yet.”
Before reading her poem “Nautical Tattoo,” McCullough noted that before she wrote the poem she never had tattoos. The poem however had a deeper, more personal meaning for her .
“Tattoos have increasingly been a theme for me,” McCullough said. “Up until recently, I didn’t have any. I have two tattoos, and I understood why some people want them. My mother died in April from a sudden illness. She read to me every night as a child. I walked into a tattoo parlor the day after my mother died with the illustration book, Golden Treasury Children’s Poetry, and asked if they could do it.”
After her reading, McCullough opened up to the audience for questions and offered advice to fellow upcoming writers. McCullough’s mother played a huge role in inspiring her to play poetry.
“I said all the quotes from the Golden Treasury Poetry through labor and delivery of my kids,” McCullough said. “Nothing really inspired me to be a poet. Language is how I operate. I have read thousands and thousands of cereal boxes.”
As a writer, McCullough has told students that she prefers to do her work on the computer.
“Pen and paper,” McCullough said. “If I was stuck on an island I would be scratching away with my fingernails,but I am not a pen and paper gal. I am a computer gal. I am a professor so I deal with a lot of papers. I need to be able to write anywhere.”
Ayanna Allington, a junior international business and economics major, thought McCullough’s reading was beautiful. “I loved her reading voice.” Allington said. “It was calming without being droning. She also had emphasis on the right syllables so it was very compelling. I’m glad we are able to have this at UT.”
Breeann Roberts, a sophomore and biology major with a minor in marine biology, also enjoyed the event.
“It was very informative,” Roberts said. “I especially liked how her answers were formatted towards oncoming writers and short story novelists. It was very inspirational and informative at the same time.”
Fatin Amin can be reached at f.mohamadiamin@spartans.ut.edu.