Unexpected expectations

Poetry.

For many, the word conjures either negative memories of high school English classes or ridicule-inducing images of romantic tortured souls.

Shawn McClain and Michael Howell are aware of this. Both know that they are not what people expect of a poet, but judging by the success of their work, appearances can be deceiving.

McClain, a Cape Girardeau native, and Howell, from St. Peters, Mo., are Southeast Missouri State University students and emerging poets whose work has gotten the attention of some in the poetry world.

The online poetry and fiction journal Lunarosity is featuring Howell's poem "Redemption" in its current edition, and two of McClain's poems have recently been published by 2River View literary magazine. McClain was also invited to read his poetry at Duff's in St. Louis on Monday as part of its Young, Hungry Poets series.

"It's a big deal," McClain said. "It's a great way to get some exposure."

Creative writing professor Dr. Susan Swartwout is proud of her students' accomplishments. "I'm terribly excited. These students have gone so far beyond my expectations."

Swartwout said "Lunarosity" is one of the top online literary journals, and the St. Louis-based 2River View is very competitive.

As for Duff's -- well, both Swartwout and Howell are blown away by McClain's invitation to read at this restaurant with ties to St. Louis' main literary magazine River Styx.

"I told Shawn I've never read at Duff's," Swartwout said.

Howell sent McClain an e-mail reading, "How the hell did you get this gig?"

McClain got the gig because the editor of 2River View referred McClain to the woman putting together the poetry series at Duff's, and she was impressed enough with his poetry submissions to invite him to participate.

Successes like this give McClain, a senior, affirmation that his fairly recent and painstaking decision to switch his major from education to English was the right one.

"I feel very validated lately to have chosen writing as a career," he said. "It was really scary to make the decision."

"Thank God he did, because he's my favorite contemporary poet," Howell said.

Howell described McClain's poetry as dense, containing layers upon layers about a situation or an idea. "He does such a good job of layering images and seemingly different ideas," Howell said.

"Shawn is brilliant with imagery," Swartwout said. "His visions are very unusual but clear."

In his poem "Mare Tranquiltatis," for example, McClain's first stanza brings readers into the moment.

We snuck outside the tent, both

Of us quite for no reason, between

Cloud cover we took a telescope

To a flat-rock, top of a high hill,

Climbed the distance, felt autumn

Beneath our shoes.

McClain wants to make his work accessible and "create something that means something not only to me but to other people." Creating this dialogue between the writer and the reader is the tricky part, he said.

The poem "A Choice of Statis" captures the feeling of being stuck in a way that gets right to the heart of the matter, something that Swartwout said McClain excels in.

In the rural dust air I felt blood blocked, artery chocked, and I stopped the chop of wood, stood

Silent; there was no wind sound I did not hear, no sight unseen; all was clear

In the burb gray roads I felt metal refined, calculation driven, and I drove the patched pot holes

Toward the highway; the sun through glass was cold inside my car, I sped

Nowhere

Howell, who is entering his first year as a graduate student at Southeast, started writing poetry as a dialogue for him and his emotions. Now, his poems reflect what is going on in his life, such as his imminent fatherhood. "My range is only limited by my experience," he said.

Looking back on the poems he wrote in high school, Howell said he marvels at how much he didn't know about poetry. "It was the poetry of someone who wasn't being mentored -- someone who doesn't have a lot of education in that field," he said.

Howell made up for a lot of his missing education while an undergraduate at the university.

In addition to taking classes, Howell became involved in the university's writing collective, Prescription Strength. The collective members meet once a week to critique each other's work, and they release a book of members' poetry.

Howell was also the editor of the University's literary journal "Journeys," a title McClain now holds, and organized the Journeys Student Reading Series, a biweekly poetry reading for students that Howell continues to participate in.

"The first time you do it you're really nervous and you go through [your poem] really fast, but the more you do it, the more it becomes a spectacle, a show," he said.

Howell and McClain may have grown used to reading their poetry in public but they are just now getting used to the rejection that goes along with submitting their poetry to professional journals.

"These journals get so many submissions, they only publish 5 to 10 percent of that a year, if that," McClain said. "Dr. Swartwout told me if you got one acceptance in 100, that's great."

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182