This past Memorial Day, I was invited to write and read an original poem commemorating the fallen soldiers of Elgin. This year marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day. To create this poem, I watched video interviews of WWII soldiers. This allowed me to get a sense of what it felt like for the men who fought on that day. I also did some basic research about D-Day.
The commemoration was organized by the city of Elgin and Elgin’s Patriotic Memorial Association. It was held at the Bluff City Cemetery. Before the event, I visited the cemetery a couple of times to get a feel for the location. I gathered names of soldiers from tombstones and incorporated them in the poem.
It was an honor to a part of the artistic expression of the event’s festivities.
I'm an Alabama native living in Chicagoland where I am an English professor at Elgin Community College. I graduated from Belmont University's Honor Program with a journalism degree. I worked as a newspaper reporter at The Tennessean and The Daily News Journal before heading to graduate school. I earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Hamline University. My poem "Pasadena Summer" was published in this summer's edition of Bitterzoet Magazine. I'm the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Elgin. My book How to Create a World was released in 2019. I'm also studying Counseling in Liberty University's doctoral program. When I am not studying, writing or teaching, you can find me cooking, sewing or biking.
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