Bucknell hosted a poetry and fiction reading in Bucknell Hall at 7 p.m. on Nov. 8.

This reading featured Stadler Fellows Jessica Ram and Alberto Reyes Morgan. ​​Ram is this year’s Stadler Fellow in Literary Arts Administration, and Morgan is the Fall 2022 Philip Roth Resident in Creative Writing. 

Ram was the first author to start the talk and explained to the audience that she would be sharing some pieces from her thesis that she wrote in graduate school as well as new pieces on which she is currently working.

The first piece she read aloud was “In the Other Universe.” The second poem she read was “Manic Episode.” Next, she read a newer poem she had been working on with a distinct prose. It was a poem about the ocean called “Amish to the Sea.” 

After these poems, Ram shared a poem with the audience from her chat book. The poem was entitled “Miss You,” which is about a friend of hers who died while she was in undergrad. One of the lines from the poem was “miss you and would like to take a walk with you,” clearly referring to the emotional and grief-filled heartbreak of losing a friend. She then read a poem based off of the Costar app, an astrology app, called “Your Heart is a Slippery Fish,” and many others.

On Nov. 4, Morgan visited an Advanced Fiction Workshop class taught by Professor Robert Rosenberg, where they discussed a piece of his entitled “Salt,” which was published in the Michigan Quarterly Review and has since been anthologized.

He shared with the class some of his techniques to include in their own writings such as using dialogue that has rhythm, creating fully fleshed out characters that are alive within the text and to think about the audience where you are from. He has taught creative writing in Ethiopia and Spain and enjoys traveling and music. He is from the Mexicali-Imperial Valley border region, and much of his work employs both Spanish and English. 

Morgan shared some pieces he wrote during the talk entitled “Farina,” and “Tomatillo,” which use strong descriptive language such as “open eyes staring.” 

Haley Griffin ’23 attended her first poetry talk held in person at Bucknell. 

“I really enjoyed coming to the talk with Jessica and Alberto. It was great to hear them read their works out loud,” she said.