Poet Hannah Ensor speaks during Visiting Writers event

poet and essayist Hannah Ensor

On Nov. 13, Eastern Connecticut State University’s English Department continued its Visiting Writers Series with poet and essayist Hannah Ensor. Specializing in topics of pop culture, sports, queer television and mass media, Ensor read a few of her poems, answered questions and gave students writing tips.

Ensor read her poems “In the ‘90s my Perceptions of Popular Culture got all Muddied-up with Shame, Generalized Confusion and Anxiety,” “On Vacation I Contemplate Work and Draw Sheep,” “Economy” and others from her books.

Students in English Professor Mika Taylor’s class are currently writing poems for the creative writing multi-genre course.

Ensor gave students advice on how to end poems while also sharing her experiences. “I had a writing teacher once say to me that I was trying to back out of endings as opposed to making a bold statement at the end,” said Ensor. “But I think that feels right to me for what my tendency is, which is sort of like to sneak out of the room and try to distract people from my leaving. But there are lots of ways to end poems and everyone’s so different with their endings.”

In 2019, Ensor won the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging Writers from Lambda Literary. Her writing has appeared in literary journals and anthologies, including the PEN Poetry Series, The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, Essay Daily, JUPITER88 and Anne Carson: Ecstatic Lyre. She currently teaches courses on contemporary poetry, creative writing and contemporary sports literature at the University of Michigan’s Residential College and English Department.

Written by Bobbi Brown

Categories: English