By Darryl Gangloff

“You are all about to embark on a big writing journey,” poet Margaret Ray told a large audience of lower mids on Monday evening. They gathered in the Student Center to kick off the annual Daily Themes essay unit in English 250. “Being in a room with people who write—writers like each and every one of you—gives me hope for the future.”

Ray is this year’s guest speaker of the Nalen Writing Program, which was established by Skip Nalen ’48, P’79, GP'13,’15 as a gift to the School in appreciation of the writing instruction generations of graduates have received at Hotchkiss. Visiting writers like Ray inspire students and instructors in the art and practice of writing.

She is the author of Good Grief, the Ground, which won the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize, and the chapbook Superstitions of the Mid-Atlantic, selected by Jericho Brown for the 2020 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship Prize. She won the Third Coast Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College, teaches English at The Lawrenceville School, and spent the winter term teaching creative writing at Middlebury College.

Rebecca Findlay, instructor in English, praised Ray’s poems and awards. “As those of you who worked with her in class today can attest, her gentle ability to encourage and inspire has made countless students better writers—and better people—over the years.”

Katie Fleishman, Ph.D., head of the English Department, welcomed Ray and addressed the students in the room. “I just want to remind you all what an exciting moment this is for you,” she said. “Every year for many decades, lower mids have spent the month of February in the Daily Themes unit, where you will have the opportunity to write a page-long prompt every day for a month and talk about it with your classmates. It's a really fun way to spend the month.”

Ray then delivered her talk, which she dubbed “Poems and Advice.” She weaved between reading poems from her book and sharing three key pieces of advice with the lower mids.

Advice #1: Read

“I can't write anything if I'm not reading at the same time. Reading things that you like will help train your ears to write things. If you want to paint, you have to look at paintings. If you want to make songs, you have to listen to a lot of music. It's how we expand our ideas about what's possible.”

Advice #2: Pay Attention

“A major thing that allows me to write is openness in my attention. Sometimes, I have to consciously open my attention to notice things throughout the day—in the world, in my reading, and in my watching. Other times, with enough practice, my attention will already be open. I think of it a bit like a big butterfly net ready to catch thoughts and language as I move through the world. I keep an eye on phrases and images. It could be a poem—go write it down.”

Advice #3: Be Bored

“Be bored on purpose. Paying attention is great, but you also need input-free time with your own brain. If you can find 20 minutes a day to take a break from language coming into your head, it will help you have ideas. You don't have headphones in, and you're not talking to anyone or watching anything in the background. Stare out a window. Go for a short walk or a big sprawling one without music or friends. My classes do this sometimes, and we call it ‘taking walks with the muse.’”