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Student winners of Lafayette’s MacKnight Black Poetry Competition will join judge, poet, novelist, and professor of law Lawrence Joseph in reading their works 8 p.m. today in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights auditorium.
Professor of law at St. John’s University School, Joseph has penned three books of poetry, including Before Our Eyes, Curriculum Vitae, and Shouting at No One, which won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. He also wrote Lawyerland: What Lawyers Talk about When They Talk about the Law. He is the recipient of a Hopwood Award for Poetry and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.
English major Jordan Brugg of Stamford, Conn., won first prize for “The Rebirth of Laodicea.” Honorable mention went to Scott Kraus, an English major from Bridgewater, N.J., for “The Sickness;” Keith O’Brien, a neuroscience major from Staten Island, N.Y., for “Thawed Ground;” and Matthew Parrott, a government and law major from Columbia, Md., for “An Apology.”
The MacKnight Black Poetry Competition is part of Lafayette’s celebration of National Poetry Month, sponsored by the English department. It began April 3 with a reading by student winners of the annual Jean Corrie Poetry Competition and poet and competition judge BJ Ward (see related story). It continued 8:30 p.m. April 14 with a poetry reading at Gilbert’s by creative writing students. The floor was then opened for others to read their own poetry. Students, faculty, and staff also participated in an informal poetry workshop April 15 in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights auditorium. Refreshments were provided.
Open to seniors, the MacKnight Black Poetry Competition is named for MacKnight Black ’16, who at the time of his death in 1931 was one of America’s most significant poets.
“My poem is about the political climate in the United States today,” says Brugg, who will attend The Tuck Business Bridge program at Dartmouth College after graduation. “It describes political and religious indifference.”
Former president of Zeta Psi fraternity, Brugg is a student representative on the Alumni Affairs and Development Committee. He was one of 14 Lafayette students last year in the History of Modern Japan class that discussed issues with Japanese counterparts halfway across the globe through videoconferencing technology.
In 2001, he traveled to London during the January interim session between semesters to take a Lafayette course, The London Theatre. An East Asian studies minor, Brugg completed an independent study under the guidance of Larry Stockton, professor and head of music, that examined the changing role of Article IX in the Japanese Constitution. The law, which prevents Japan from having an aggressive military force, was implemented after World War II.
“I’ve taken a number of classes with Professor Stockton, and we work well together,” says Brugg. “His knowledge of the region is impressive, and he was extremely helpful in pointing me in the right direction.”
“I think that the quality of Lafayette’s courses and the professors have prepared me to think critically and operate successfully in a variety of arenas,” he adds. “Through the Tuck business program, I hope to expand my education and build upon what I learned at Lafayette.”