On April 13, for the second year in a row, I attended the excellent Barrelhouse writers conference, Conversations & Connections: Practical Advice on Writing, held both times on the campus of my alma mater, American University, in Washington, D.C.
One of the best sessions of the day was the panel discussion Do I Need an MFA? It gave me the opportunity to meet the moderator, David Keplinger, a literature professor at AU who leads the school’s MFA/Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. David’s eighth book of poetry, Ice, was published by Milkweed Editions last August. (The preceding link includes a link to his engaging book launch talk at Politics and Prose bookstore in D.C.) He is also a translator, and teaches a Seminar on Translation at AU.
In 2022, David received AU’s Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award. He’s won a number of prestigious poetry awards, including the annual Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2020. The Rose Inside, his first poetry collection, was selected by Mary Oliver for the 1999 T.S. Eliot Prize, leading to a years-long friendship (described in the book talk referenced above) with the renowned poet until her death at 83 in 2019.
I’m grateful to David for answering my questions about his wide range of activities, including and beyond poetry and teaching, such as leading the The Mindfulness Initiative.
Can you describe your duties and responsibilities within the American University MFA in Creative Writing program, in terms of teaching, mentoring, advising, administration, and increasing awareness for the program?
While I do currently hold the role of director, a post I’ve carried for a total of eight years, on and off, the program leadership is something all our faculty have taken on or will take on at some point or another. The director has the role of first contact with applicants and accepted students as well as being a manager of student awards and other kinds of advisement. Each faculty member in our program (we have six) teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in creative writing. We also participate in events and such that tout the program. Because we’re creative writers, however, it’s our work that gets the word out. So often I’m reading an application and a writer will say, “I’ve been reading Stephanie Grant and I want to study with her.” Our words and reputation stretch farther than we know.
Along with your teaching, you have what looks to be an extremely active life as a poet. How does this work (especially from a time management perspective) in terms of writing poems and books, giving readings and presentations, leading/participating in workshops, translating, traveling, and winning (as well as judging) awards for writing?
I find that I always have time for the work. I used to believe I could only do the work during the summers, that I was too burned out or distracted to focus on it, but all of that, I see now—mind this is just me talking about myself—I don’t pretend to know how it is for other people—is an unwillingness to make space for what is calling me. I love the work. I make time for it. In 2016 I committed myself more deeply in this way, and after that my productivity and the overall quality seemed to increase. I give myself ten minutes or a few hours nearly every day. I usually take one or two days a week to let my poems and essays sit. I read some sacred literature in the morning and I meditate. That’s all I do. I just try to be mindful about my teaching and writing because they are my guides; they show me how to look at things, how not to look away. The other aspects of being a writer—readings and talks and such—these are such nice opportunities to be with people and learn from them, I will often try my best to work them into my schedule, so long as they don’t interfere with my teaching, which is my highest professional priority.
Your mindfulness practice is intriguing, especially as it goes beyond your own personal practice to teaching/working with others. Can you describe this more fully, especially The Mindfulness Initiative?
I founded The Mindfulness Initiative in 2021. It started as live programming at the university around themes of social justice, psychology, and other disciplines that use the language of Zen to describe our scholarship at AU. Soon though it moved to online programs, most significantly my Friday morning talks on poetry around a guided meditation. It has been wonderful to bring poetry away from what Seamus Heaney calls “the official papers” of English departments and apply its wisdom to our experience in the world. All of the past year’s talks are archived on my website. In the practice, we sit together for ten minutes, I talk for ten minutes, and then I ask a question to lead us into the final portion of the meditation. I find that these Friday programs apply all of my skills as a reader of poetry and a teacher—but they also pull me out of my comfort zone, into a challenge zone, where I can apply Buddhist and other notions to what we’re reading. The response has been so touching, just wonderful. Shocking, even. I have a couple of new books coming out in the years to come, but I feel especially blessed by this opportunity and by the platform I’ve been given to share this work with others.