Missouri Poet Laureate Coming to Flo Valley

By Holly Shanks
STLCC- FV The Forum Student Newspaper 2011

   Prisons, nursing homes, schools, colleges, rural areas and the Missouri Arts Council all have something in common. A gentleman who writes poetry named David Clewell.

  Clewell has been an English Professor at Webster University since 1981 and has published seven distinguished and award winning collections of poems. He was named Missouri Poet Laureate in 2010 by Governor Jay Nixon.

  Clewell has an insightful perception that allows him a glimpse inside the sometimes gritty charms of life and  the many earthy soulful characteristic’s that allow people to find different ways of surviving. What people believe or need to believe to get by and make it from one day to the next, in many cases, is what gives Clewell’s pen its purpose.

  Conducting poetry readings, workshops and discussions gives Clewell the chance to reach out to audiences that may not be poetically inclined and invite them into the idea that poetry can be about real people and the world they live in. Giving someone a chance to think about what is around them in a new way they have not thought of or looked at in a particular way before. 

  Not a fussy man over titles or the thought of being a distinguished poet, Clewell wants to be remembered as a person who lives life to the fullest and not as a poet, but simply a man who writes poetry.

  Sponsored by the Library and English Department, Clewell will discuss his approach to writing poetry and read from some of his favorite poems. Event will be held on Wednesday, April 11, at 11a.m., on the third floor of the library located in the Instructional Resources building. For more information call 314-513-4505.