About the Interviewer:

Cameron Curtiss (Creative Writing, 2016) interviewed Vermont’s poet laureate, Sydney Lea, earlier this year with some questions about his life journey as a writer.  Mixing his personal response to Lea’s comments, Cameron offers insights through a comparison between two creative minds.

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An Interview with Sydney Lea, Vermont Poet Laureate

by Cameron Curtiss

When it comes to writing poetry, I dabble with it here and there. Usually, my poetry is silly and doesn’t follow a specific format. I know that poetry can be beautiful; I know that it is challenging to write because the creator needs to be selective with the words they use. One particular word might be weak in the face of another word. Words are extremely important building blocks for a poem. One poorly used word, and the poem can tumble to the ground. A man who understands all of this is Vermont’s Poet Laureate, Sydney Lea.

Maybe I’m not drawn to poetry like Mr. Lea; however, we are both writers. He has written poetry collections and essays; he has worked as a professor and editor.

When it comes to writing, I had the assumption that writing was involved. When it comes to writing, I had the assumption that working another job in addition to writing was involved. When it comes to writing, I had the assumption that trying to get published was terribly challenging, which is why a writer needs the additional job – bills need to be paid.

Mr. Lea majored in the History of Arts and Letters. Unfortunately, this degree no longer exists. It’s an intellectual study with lots of history and English woven together. He was glad to have gone through the process to get that particular degree.

After graduating with an Undergraduate Degree, he took time off from school and went into teaching. After a couple years of teaching high school, he went on to Graduate school in American Studies. While he was in Grad School, an English professor encouraged him to transfer to a more literary field, and he did so, taking his PhD in Comparative Literature. After his second graduation, he went back to teaching. Even though he didn’t have any credentials in creative writing, the school he worked for wanted him to teach a creative writing class. From what Mr. Lea was telling me, there weren’t creative writing classes when he was growing up. Even though people had been writing for centuries, creative writing seemed new in the sense that it began taking place in class settings.

Many people have asked me whether or not I’ll be going on to Graduate school. I always say, “No, because I’m getting sick of school.” Education still continues outside the walled off areas of academia. You know?

Many of the skills he uses, he uses subconsciously. Mr. Lea uses all of what he learned in college. There are times when it seems I don’t understand how and when to use what I am learning, but when I am working on my own, away from the class setting, it all comes to me, more or less.

Currently, Mr. Lea is taking time away from writing since he recently had a collection of poetry published. When he is in the middle of a project, he writes three hours a day. This dedication to those three hours is important. There are times when I feel I am a lazy writer, because I’ll have free time but won’t use it for writing. I realize that I need to get in the habit of writing for a certain period of time every day, no matter what. There are times when I don’t feel like writing at all, so I work on other projects or go outside. Forced writing is not good. Mr. Lea mentioned how he’ll often go hiking for an hour with an empty mind. During his hikes, ideas for poems or essays will come to him. I too have come across some awesome ideas when I wasn’t in my writing-chair. I do enjoy hiking, but my usual physical exercise is running. There are times when I need to run far, but then there are times I run for a short period of time. Writing is purely mental, so it is good to have exercise to break it up.

Mr. Lea is a grandfather, and spends quite a bit of time with his grandchildren. As of now, he is retired from teaching.  He works on conserving a humongous chunk of land in Maine, in his free time. Also, he works with Central Vermont Adult Basic Education, an adult tutoring program. Even though he is retired from teaching, he would do it all over again. He loved working with young people because they have new ideas, which make him think differently.

He is drawn to poetry because it’s the vehicle for his imagination. Through poetry, he is able to piece together disparate ideas into one format. I really like the imagery of that. I have so many creative ideas swirling in my own head, and so, I figured writing was the best way to release them for the world to see. To get work published so the world can view it, is difficult. Writers need to endure quite the amount of rejection. Mr. Lea mentioned to me how he could cover a whole wall with all of his rejection letters. Rejection is hard to take, but it is a sign that you tried.

Mr. Lea is glad to be in Vermont. Many New Englanders he has spoken with are great storytellers. It’s almost as if New Englanders are natural-born story weavers. He liked the stories that were shared with him through conversation, but didn’t want to be condescending by using the New Englander dialect.

Dartmouth College didn’t think poetry was real writing, but Mr. Lea was passionate about it, so he kept with it. After he was fired from Dartmouth, he went to work at Middlebury College, which was a better fit for him because they were all for poetry. When he was forty-years old, his first poetry collection was published. He considered himself a late bloomer, but maybe with writing it is good to bloom late so one’s creative mind doesn’t dry up too early.