N.C. State is home to a mul titude of talented and critical ly acclaimed writers within its Department of English. Among these is Thomas Lisk, an English professor, said he started writing when he was 16 years old and has been at N.C. State for 20 years.
Lisk recently participated in a panel discussion about the future of poetry at the N.C. Literary Festival in the James B. Hunt Library. He said he has worked on the board for the Festival in the past and was happy to see its return to N.C. State.
Regarding the future of poetry, Lisk said he believes the writing style is moving to computers now instead of paper but the writing style is still relevant. According to Lisk, there are more poetry books sold per capita in North Carolina than in any other state in the country. Lisk said he attributes this success to a strong community of poets in North Carolina that support one another.
Instead of a future Robert Frost or someone labeled as “the poet,” modern writers draw in a different crowd than those of the past, audi ences for poets are smaller, but loyal. The goal of many poets now is to write material that audiences will love.
When it comes to the Department of English at N.C. State, Lisk said he is beyond proud. In comparison to other universities in North Carolina, Lisk said he strongly believes the department is “the best.”
“I came here as the department head, and I served seven years and left the job with my allegiance in tack,” Lisk said. “I thought it was a great department when I came here, and I think it is a great department now. We have a huge department and [we] all respect each other, and talk to each other and I think that is a great thing.”
In his free time, Lisk said he enjoys playing guitar and making various forms of art. He said his guilty pleasure is reading mystery novels and Westerns, even though there are a variety of respectable works for these genres.
When it comes to writing styles, Lisk said he has an eclectic taste and enjoys poetry filled with emotion and meaning instead of straight forward prose. He also attributed the begin ning of his literary career to a high-school teacher who gave him a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
“It is a complicated book,” Lisk said. “I couldn’t understand it, but I loved it. It was the beginning and the end for me.”
In fiction, Lisk said he finds enjoyment in the 18th century novel, The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen by Laurence Sterne, for its dark humor. Lisk said the late- American poet Wallace Stevens influenced him in writing poetry. Although Stevens influenced Lisk’s writing style, the English professor has written about Walt Whitman frequently and said Whitman is his favorite author. Lisk said he is also a fan of Emily Dickinson.
“I get to teach poetry and reread things,” Lisk said. “There are a lot of poets I admire.”
Lisk said his biggest piece of wisdom for aspiring writers is just to write, as to make a daily routine of writing. Lisk said he, like many authors, enjoys writing in the morning.
Lisk said that he pulls inspiration out of thin air.
“I think I have a habit of writing,” Lisk said. “A lot of writing is never written because peo ple keep thinking that they are going to do it and feel guilty and put it down and do some thing else. If you just write, stuff will come. I think we all have imaginations, and we just do not tap into them as well as we could.”
