‘The Tornado is the World’: Pierce epitomizes havoc

The Reflector - life









This Tuesday, Mississippi State University’s Dr. Catherine Pierce will read from her most recent book of poetry, ‘The Tornado is the World,’ as well as taking questions from the audience at Fowlkes Auditorium in the Colvard Student Union.











Pierce is an associate professor in MSU’s English department, the co-director of MSU’s creative writing department and the author of three books of poetry.






Pierce said she considers her love of reading and writing to have been the catalyst of her career as both an educator and an author. 





“I’ve always loved both reading and writing, and so as a college student I naturally gravitated toward studying English,” Pierce said. “From there it was an organic progression.”





Pierce said her interests grew in college and once in graduate school she discovered another love, teaching.





“I took workshop classes in college that I loved, and so I went on to grad school to keep studying creative writing,” Pierce said. “While in grad school, I was a TA and realized that I loved teaching writing as well as writing itself. I was very fortunate to have found a job that lets me do both.”





‘The Tornado is the World,’ like all of Pierce’s work, is inspired by her interests.





“My poems tend to follow my obsessions,” Pierce said. “When I wrote ‘The Tornado Is the World’ I was, and I still am, thinking a lot about the ways the natural world can wreak havoc on our carefully controlled lives.”





Pierce said she finds the process of producing poetry rewarding.





“I find it tremendously satisfying to try to translate unwieldy ideas and gut-level responses into something as taut and controlled as a poem can be,” Pierce said. “I’m also completely in love with language and poetry offers me a chance to fully immerse myself in words and what they ...


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