The Edmond Sun Online | Poet brings a lifetime of protest to UCO

The Edmond Sun Online | Poet brings a lifetime of protest to UCO : "Anita Skeen considers herself a veteran of the American protest culture. She's stepped to the front lines of various political causes since she was young, and has learned to use her poetry as a weapon against injustice.

She is a published poet and professor of English at Michigan State University, and she is bringing her expertise to the University of Central Oklahoma campus for a workshop titled 'Letters to Columbus: The Poetry of Protest.'

The workshop will be at 7 p.m. Monday at the UCO Chambers Library in room 215."

Here's snippets from the Sun's interview with her:

Q.: Is poetry still relevant?

A.: Is breathing?

...

Q.: What advice do you give to fledgling poets?

A.: Read. Write. Read. Write. Read. Re-write. Take a class. Find a mentor.

Q.: Is the workshop largely about political protest, or is it more cultural?

A.: We'll talk about various kinds of protest in the workshop. I think political protest is what first pops into everyone's mind, especially today with the world, and this country, in the hands of the fanatics and incompetents, but there are certainly other kinds.

There are the little protests we make every day about everything from the quality of programming on television to how loud our kids play their music. I protest to my students that they aren't reading enough. We'll try to find the intersections where our personal protests and larger ones come together.