On November 20th it was a cool and dark evening in the CHC events hall. Chairs were filling up as chatter filled the room. They soon grew silent when Mari Castañeda walked to the podium to introduce the night’s speaker. It was Conolly Ryan, author, and poet of “Velocity at Rest: 99 Poems” and the nights speaker at his on-campus poetry reading. However, most students would know him as their goofy, lighthearted yet serious “201H Ideas That Change The World” Professor.
At first glance, Ryan looks more serious than a normal professor, especially for a small class like Ideas That Change The World, with only around 20 students per class. However, as the semester progressed, he let his lighthearted and goofy side seep through.
He covered both dark and light topics with intriguing perspectives. He would also assign documentaries, readings, and other sources to start conversations the next day that would keep the class flowing and gliding like an owl.
Similar to an owl, he would watch and observe the students discuss different perspectives no one would think to explore if not in the safe environment Ryan created. During those days when he could not get a word, he would chirp a small response or a short joke to keep the conversations rolling.
Most of these jokes no one would expect a professor to say, so much so some of the students started keeping a quote book. A student said one of their favorites is when they were on a topic about existentialism where “Existentialism is a philosophical enchilada,” Ryan exclaimed.
His personality in the classroom peers through in his writings. He shares some of them during the poetry event. Some are dark or about troubling times in his life. For example, one poem that stirs a wave of emotion was “When The Dot Disappears.”
The poem is about his mother being in Hospice while he and his sisters clung to her, describing the feeling of grief, of losing someone you loved and raised you. The poem ends with, “Yes, my sisters and I, rose from that bed older and younger than we’d ever been. We rose from it, but are in it yet, begging our mother to take our love with her, wherever she is.” Others show his goofy side with a poem by the name of “Bus-Ride in a Bottle.”
This is about wanting to bottle up an experience of young men having a fun conversation with one another. Then they turn to an old stranger on a bus ride from Northampton to Amherst to involve him in the conversation. A favorite quote from the poem was, “Wassup old timer, how are things hanging?” “CIRCLING DOWN THE DRAIN, SON, JUST CIRCLING DOWN THE DRAIN” due to everyone’s laughter afterwards.
Some think that being a wildlife photographer helps with his poetry and overall personality as well. That is because being outside for extended periods makes you think of life in ways you wouldn’t have initially. Another one of Ryan’s poems, “Owl Boy,” is very fitting considering his behaviors in class match his description of the owl.
“You are never truly seen, until it is by an owl: swallowed in one stoic gulp by its fabled glare, toyed with by its taloned pupils, and consumed by the capacious focus and global breadth of its calm. After seeing and being seen by an owl, he walks away, dazed, and engorged, glazed and transformed. You may call him Owl Boy, but he won’t hear you, for his ears now belong to the trees, his appetite decidedly vermin-leaning,” Ryan wrote.
As he shares his poems the audience listens intently. In the crowd you see focus, curiosity and even some chuckles here and there. At the end of the event, quite a few people had questions about the poetry and why Ryan wrote some of it. Some were coworkers of Ryan who wanted to share their interest and their enjoyment of the reading and how happy it made them.
I asked Ryan some questions afterwards about why he went into poetry, how long it took to write “Velocity at Rest” and how he felt knowing random people are going to read what he wrote.
“I’ve always been drawn to the richness and potential of language and really enjoy the challenge of creating my own constellations of illuminating logic and emotional truth,” Ryan explains. “Most of them were written within a year of being put in book form, but there are a few from decades ago that made it into the fray. It was a powerful feeling, both exhilarating and humbling to know that others might go willingly along for the ride.”
I then decided to ask what he wanted the people who are going to read this article to know.
“That although I wrote these poems to myself as contemplative peptalks to reassure me during times of dread or doubt, I also understand that they were written for others to draw comfort and a sense of meaning and warmth from.” Ryan commented.
Ryan lets us into his chaotic yet philosophical world with his poetry, letting us see how he thinks and how he perceives reality around him. Poetry is a special kind of literature that lets you in on how the author is feeling personally and colorfully than most books. Anyone can write a poem, but few can write an impactful one.
Kylie Slattery can be contacted at [email protected]
