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“You can never feel alone, no matter where the world takes you, if you've got poetry with you.”

By Catherine Calamé

Creativity through poetry and prose came to Hotchkiss on May 12 as the School welcomed award-winning American poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil for the annual Lambert Lecture. 

Introducing the special guest, Katie Fleishman, Ph.D., head of the English Department and instructor in English, said that Hotchkiss' English teachers incorporated Nezhukumatathil’s work into their classes throughout the year, and that she “cherishes Nezhukumatathil’s work” for the way it bridges poetic and scientific inquiry. Citing the poem In Praise of the Bumblebee Atlas, A Zuihitsu, Fleishman noted that Nezhukumatathil poses questions that could be “a poet’s musings or a scientist’s hypotheses,” while simultaneously drawing on the formal structures of poetry.

Fleishman thanked the Lambert family for its longstanding support. She recognized John Lambert ’81, P’29, and his wife, Ramona, who were in attendance. Established in 1981 by the late Paul C. Lambert ’46, P'76,'81, GP'13,'29, and his wife, Mary, in memory of their son, Christopher Lambert ’76, who died in 1979, the Lambert Fund brings distinguished writers of poetry and prose to Hotchkiss to work with students and engage the broader community.

Two students offered their reflections on the impact of Nezhukumatathil’s work and how it inspired them to think beyond human experiences. “I was especially drawn to how she blends the natural world with human emotions, finding in animals, oceans, and unnamed creatures a mirror for our deepest experiences,” said Nabiha Rahim '26. “In Naming the Heartbeats, she asks, ‘But what is it called when creatures on this Earth curl and sleep, when shadows of moons we don't yet know brush across our faces?’ The question reflects how deeply intertwined humans are with the natural world.”

Nabiha continued, “The same reverence carries into her poem Invitation, where she beckons the reader to dive into the natural world, specifically the ocean … suggesting that even the strangest forms of life carry their own kind of wisdom. Yet both poems sit with the mystery of nature and how far it can feel from our experiences of everyday life. She evokes a world overflowing with beauty beyond human reach.”

Jahlani Jackson '27 said Nezhukumatatathil draws upon memory throughout her work, whether it's the transient moments of childhood, the soft tapering of a summer afternoon, or a southbound murmuration. Jahlani said he is most drawn to the piece Correspondence, the final poem in the book of poems Night Owl.

“I see this in many of her works as a proxy for our own humanity,” he said. “We saturate our world with elusive meaning, with tokens of wealth and pleasure, losing sight of the most potent knowledge, that which exists beside and within us, in the birds, triggerfish, coral, axolotl, and the curious child at our center.”

Poetic Process

When Nezhukumatathil took the stage, she thanked the Hotchkiss community for the opportunity to share her work. “I'm going to give a special shout-out to the whole Lambert family for making this happen,” she said. “It's such a special gift to honor someone in this way, the gift of poetry for young adults that I hope lasts for the rest of your lives. I tell my own students, who range from freshmen to seniors in college, that you can never feel alone, no matter where the world takes you, if you've got poetry with you. What an extraordinary gift from the Lambert family.”

Students asked about Nezhukumatathil’s process and how she discovered poetry in college. “I write everything longhand, and I do what's called margin-to-margin writing. So I don't know the shape; I don't know if I'm writing an essay or a poem until much later,” said Nezhukumatathil. “If I feel like my sentences are unfurling really long, I know that is an essay. If I feel like I want there to be tension, I feel a hesitation or a pause, or I want to create mystery a little bit, that's going to be a poem. That's part of the excitement about writing; I don't know what's going to come out of it.”

Nighttime as One of Her Muses

The night is an inspiration for many artists, and the same is true for Nezhukumatathil, affirming that most writers—from the ancient Greeks to Native Americans to herself—write what they love. “We write about our obsessions, and for me, it's night,” she said. “Nighttime was a place where the magic happened. It's a quieting down. For me, night is transformative.”

Regardless of the topic—nighttime, childhood, the ocean, lightning bugs—Nezhukumatathil said she feels like a poem or an essay is incomplete until she feels like she has traveled without leaving her chair. “I need to be a slightly different person or have a different outlook on the world when I get to the end of something,” she said.

Nezhukumatathil imparted words of wisdom to students who may feel pressured to achieve beyond their expectations. “I would just say to anybody who's making anything, whether it’s music, art, or sculpture, feel like a student for the rest of your life, and you will never, ever be bored or lonesome. I promise you.”

About Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is The New York Times best-selling author of the poetry book Night Owl (Ecco, 2026) and two illustrated collections of essays: Bite by Bite and World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Other Astonishments, which was chosen as Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year and named a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. The author of five volumes of poetry and two collections of essays, as well as a chapbook co-authored with Ross Gay (the 2024 Hotchkiss Lambert Lecturer in poetry), she is a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Mississippi. Honors include a poetry fellowship from U.S. Artist Fellows, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pushcart Prize, a Mississippi Arts Council grant, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. For a decade, she served as the poetry editor for Orion and Sierra magazines. She also serves as a firefly guide for Mississippi State Parks. Read more of Nezhukumatathil’s work at Poetry Foundation and on her website. 

Students Applaud Poem

Aimee Nezhukumatathil offered several insightful stories about her childhood during the Lambert Lecture, and one story brought an enthusiastic response from the audience: “You are looking at the first female football mascot in the state of Ohio,” she stated, garnering a rousing round of applause. Nezhukumatathil shared the real-life experience that gave birth to the following poem. 

The Mascot of Beaver Creek High Finally Breaks Her Silence

By Aimee Nezhukumatathil

There are some suits more difficult to remove:
spades, armor, tweed in the summer, lights, cups.
Those nights you thought I was home, dateless, studying
for chemistry, memorizing the dates of epic battles —

I worked myself into a lather of sweat for a field
of angry young men. Sometimes they were so close
I could feel their hot breath in the space between my head
and furry neck. Even the captain of the cheerleaders

never went that far. Every hand that once reached
for me still haunts me at the most unexpected times:
as I place vegetables on the grocery belt, or walking
the glow-wall walkway at the Detroit Airport.

Something still pulls me to the ground and it’s not
the crowd, the scent of cola and popcorn, the tinge
of engine grease, or a truck revving at Homecoming.
If you slice a jacaranda bloom between two glass slides

and place it on a microscope, the corolla will always fight
for the light. If you once posed for any pictures
with me, still have them scattered somewhere in an attic,
look carefully at the dark netting of my mouth.

If you squint hard, you can see my actual teeth,
clenched into a small scream. I was like that every night.
It was high school, after all. I was always cheering
for something. Still am. Something is always worth

cheering for. There is always some cheer
worth something. Cheer for some worth, always.