Literacy in the air: CMU English professors share literary works

Poet Jeffrey Bean explains the meaning of his poem during a poetry reading Thursday evening in the Baber Room. (Charlotte Bodak/Staff Photographer)

Around 75 students packed together in the Baber Room at the Charles V. Park Library to witness two of Central Michigan University’s English professors share their work.

Darrin Doyle, assistant professor of English, started the night off after extra chairs were brought in for students still standing with a story he had not read yet, entitled “Excruciator Extraordinaire.”

“I just had a vision of someone getting on the bus and being handed a business card saying, ‘If somebody has wronged you, I will torment them for a small fee,” he said about the process of coming up with the idea.

The story focused on a middle-aged woman who comes into contact with a man who says he will do subliminal torture to people who harm others by messing with their daily routines.

The story took Doyle around three years to finish after re-doing the piece several times and working on other projects simultaneously.  Doyle shared it with Matt Roberson and said he gave good suggestions for revising while writing the piece.

Jeffrey Bean, an assistant professor of English, followed shortly after letting, the crowd in on some forms of his inspirations before each poem.

“It varies a lot at different times, but I guess right now I’m interested in obsessions,” Bean said in connection to his poems on a man who watches his neighbor from a far.

The first three poems Bean read were “I Don’t Live in the Kind of House,” “On TV,” and “Newborn,” which all shared what impact his new daughter Olivia has had on his life.

Although the glass sliding doors of the Baber Room continuously opened with more and more people arriving, it did not affect either of the writers.

“It was really, really full,” Bean said, who was surprised by the turnout. “There is just an energy in the creative writing department, and I see this as a repetition of that.”

Normally there is one faculty reading in the spring and one in the fall, with two professors reading their work per semester. This year, both have been lumped together for the spring due to extra guest speakers in the fall.