Michigan-based poet Scott Beal gave a poetry reading to D-E Upper and Middle School students and faculty members recently in the School's Imperatore Library.   The lanky poet, who sported a mohawk and leather jacket, was introduced by librarian and faculty member Steve Petkus, who with Beal was one of only two males in the nine-student class of 1996 at the University of Michigan's Master of Fine Arts program. Mr. Petkus described how Beal's work shows "what words can do with someone who knows how to liven them."  Indeed, during the half-hour performance, the audience was enraptured by his animated and captivating recitations of Beal's original work.

From a "Girl with Barbed Wire Hair" to an Obi Wan Kenobi-themed piece, to a poem written from the perspective of Boots, the monkey from "Dora the Explorer" (which garnered the most laughs), Beal flailed his arms for emphasis, but it was his succinct dialogue, where every word was understood, that was most entertaining.  In between his poems, Beal, who at an early age thought that to write meant he would never die, explained how he liked to throw things together in his writing, even if they didn't make sense. "Juxtaposition is my favorite way," he said." You can make things happen like nowhere else in poetry, as long as you treat it with respect."

Beal's poems have appeared recently in Indiana Review, Dunes Review, Radius, and in a split book with Rachel McKibbens and Aracelis Girmay entitled Jangle the Threads (Red Beard Press, 2010). He teaches poetry and fiction workshops at the Neutral Zone and 826michigan, and serves as a writer-in-the-schools for Dzanc Books in Ann Arbor and for InsideOut Literary Arts in Detroit. He recently co-authored Underneath: The Archaeological Approach to Creative Writing with Jeff Kass (Red Beard Press, 2011).

During his reading at D-E Beal noted that "Poetry offers surprising windows to how the world is.... (t)hink of one crazy thing and how it'll change your life. If you're honest about it, it will take you to crazy places [in your writing]."

When asked how long it takes him to compose, Beal said his longest was an 8-page first draft that took 3 to 4 days, though an individual poem can take up to 10 years after 10-20 drafts. Some, like the "Barbed Wire", was restarted 3 times, and he had even changed endings, so it takes a lot of tinkering. His advice for poets? "Plow through and let your brain discover its weaknesses; going too slow will prevent this."

After the reading, Beal sold copies of his books, "Pink Parts" and "Jangle the Threads," which he also signed, during which one student said to him, "Thank you very much! I'm very inspired now."