Description
Poetry. "This small book has I hope both social and aesthetic content. It argues for the 'truth' of certain experiences, for the possibility that these particulars link to something larger: 'The termination of the world in a man, appears to be the last victory of intelligence. The universal does not attract us until housed in an individual.' That is Emerson, in The Method of Nature. If these poems, and essays, have not fully succeeded, I can accept that. I have tried to do a big thing, perhaps beyond my abilities, but, as George Oppen said, 'truth is also the pursuit of it.' This work intends just such a pursuit, and embodies a belief in the largeness of our experiences. The truth of life in a school is a matter of change, resistance, hope, risk, apathy, compassion, understanding, blindness, empathy, defeat, the gap between youth and age, and the natural authority of adults. These, if they can be substantiated in verse, are the reality of life in a school. As such, they belong to poetry, not to discursive prose, or to a spreadsheet read in a central office."—Kip Zegers, from the Introduction to THE POND IN ROOM 218
Author Bio
Kip Zegers is from Chicago, lives in New York City, but still feels he is a Midwestern boy. He was educated, formally, at John Carroll University, Northwestern University, Union Theological Seminary, and Hunter College. He was a VISTA Volunteer in New York City, 1966-67. He won Conscientious Objector Status in 1969, and did his alternate service at The Council on Religion and International Affairs. He began teaching at Hunter College High School in 1984. Of late, he has been working with writers at New York Hospital Community Outreach and at SAGE (Service and Advocacy for Gay Elders). His first publication was Backyard, West End Magazine, 1975. Recent poetry collections explore the world of schools: THE POET OF SCHOOLS (2013) and THE POND IN ROOM 318 (2015), both from Dos Madres Press. His most recent collection is A ROOM IN THE HOUSE OF TIME (Dos Madres Press, 2020).
Author City: BRONX, NY USA