Maura Gage
Crowley, LA
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Maura Gage is an Associate Professor
of English at Louisiana State University at Eunice. She is also editor of The Louisiana Review. Since 1998, she has lived all over--Pennsylvania, Colorado, Florida, South Carolina and in Louisiana - in a small town just a few exits west of Lafayette. She is a big fan of the-hold.com.
click here for
Creative Writing Poetry Submissions
and Paper Proposals on Popular Culture Poetry/
Poets for the 2003 Popular Culture Association Conference / to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana. |
• What do you do for a living?
I teach English at Louisiana State University at Eunice. The most exciting classes I have taught are the regular and honors versions of Introduction to Writing Poetry, Introduction to Writing Short Stories, as well as the second half of American Literature, and the second half of British Literature. I just earned tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor of English, which is exciting to me because it makes up for how long I took to complete my Ph.D. program. That was in '97. I am in my fourth year at LSU at Eunice. I mostly teach composition courses, which include Honors Freshman English, Developmental English, regular Composition I and regular Composition II. As part of my job, I also participate in the field of English by attending, participating in, and organizing portions of conferences. I also edit The Louisiana Review and serve on a variety of committees. There is even more to it, but these are the basic components of what I do. I teach a 5/5 course load.
• Who are your favorite artists?
Well, if I interpret artists as poets, then I have to say that there are many, many poets who hold a place in my little world. I am a huge fan of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Sylvia Plath. Of the living women writers whose work I admire, I could go on forever also, so let me say that I believe that Lyn Lifshin will one day be regularly studied by scholars in the same way that one studies Dickinson and Plath. Gary Snyder is my favorite living male poet. I did my dissertation on him and am reworking it into a book. He has a unique vision, and he has many followers. Antler and Snyder would make a good pair of writers whose work might be compared/ studied for their almost companion visions. While Snyder sees the world frequently through the feminine he finds there, Antler views the universe through a masculine perspective and vision, which more recently works at including the feminine as well. I see so much good work from poets everywhere that I'd rather name only a few for fear of forgetting someone who is a special and powerful writer.
• What influences you to write about/how you do?
Nature and human beings that catch my attention and can be revealed through imagery become subject matter for me. I aim to write a poem a week, at least 52 each year, something Arthur Knight taught me/ told me years ago that just stuck. Whenever the year is running out, I go back and count…it might sound uninspiring, but it does work as one's insurance to produce. In a good year, I write many more, however. I usually write incessantly once I begin--I could write all day from morning until night if I didn't have other areas in life that require attention. Finding subjects is not a problem because most of my work starts with an image of some kind or an idea, but from there, trying to find the right form or deciding if something is worthy of being saved, can be a tough call. I am not always my own best critic.
• Where do you see the underground writing scene in 25 years?
Well, I see the underground writing scene, if I am using the same definition as you intended, as being truly that again at some point. --Kind of like the idea of alternative music having become mainstream, I see it as being quite popular these days. In 25 years, I think that it will change and find a truly alternative audience/ voice(s)/ vision once again. Trends and tendencies seem to come in undercurrents, become waves, hit the shore, run a popular streak, and then to plunge back again, diving in for fresh voices and fresh experiences and styles.
• from cait - what are your pets peeve and do you throw up or down - ?meaning whatever this question meant to you the split second you read it..
My biggest pet peeve happened the other day. A student of "ours" (LSU-E) was driving in front of me, and she tossed cans onto the side of the road as if there weren't enough garbage strewn about and acted as if it were perfectly acceptable. I honked, but it did no good. The act was appalling and made me sick. Which brings me to the other part of your question: I can throw up or down, but the direction usually doesn't matter; when I'm sick, "it" is usually projectile vomiting, so you don't want to be near me whenever I get sick!
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