Science, poetry merge in professor's book

We all earn our thoughts by saving them,

by placing their coppery existences

on the rail that stretches to strange horizons.

Anna Leahy embraces poetry.

From her first haiku read on a local radio station when she was in fourth grade to teaching poetry and creative writing as an assistant professor of English at North Central College, Leahy thinks in words.

"Poetry offers you the way to think about the way you understand the world and to work through an idea or issue without the conventions that another means might have," she said. "It fascinates me that poetry also tries to get at things we can't quite see or get a handle on."

Leahy interweaves poetry with science in her first full-length book of poems, "Constituents of Matter," published last month. Each section's title is named after scientific particles. Her poems in this collection explore ways in which theories and terminology understand the physical world.

"I always appreciate looking at the world in a scientific way," Leahy said. "Scientists, writers and artists can get different, but not exclusive meanings, from the ways we look at the same image of the world."

Poetry in Leahy's hands reflects science by using metaphors and models to characterize what is unseen. She sees both branches of learning as similar in interpreting our understanding of the world. Both disciplines need to think outside the box, she said.

With a quick smile and easy laugh, the college professor casually deflates any pretentious demeanor poetry might evoke. Bringing her generation a new voice, Leahy's poems offer insights to her values, family and times. She gazes across a brimming mound of ideas to polish her imagery.

"Many poets feel an obligation to provide witness for their moment in time that their voice is heard and not lost," Leahy said. "I had a previous manuscript, but what I had was a bunch of poems until I reworked it into a coherent thread in a narrative foundation."

Leahy's poems extend from reminiscing about primary writing tablets with a dashed centerline to remembering the spaceship Challenger explosion as a life-defining moment in history.

The collection ranges from her fond recollection of standing still long enough for her father to set a camera's timer and rush into a family photograph and the sense of profound loss watching illness take his life when she was 16.

The reflective poetry anthology won the distinguished Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize in 2006 from approximately 600 submissions. Along with the honor, Kent State University Press published the 75-page winning manuscript.

"Each year, the Wick Poetry Center chooses a different poet of national reputation to choose the final winning manuscript," said the center's program and outreach director David Hassler from Kent State University. "Alberto Rios was the judge who selected Anna Leahy's book."

Rios' commentary stated: "These poems put complex moments in such a straightforward context that we grasp not simply the words but the full feeling as something we have felt in some kind of similar vocabulary."

Leahy's creative merger of science with poetry is backed with detailed research.

"I like using the organized forms of poetry to deal with the scientific material," Leahy said. "Poetry's structures allow for exploration. Even when I know what the rules are, I never know what the last line will be."

The creative license Leahy employs echoes poet Robert Frost, who wrote, "No surprise for the writer; no surprise for the reader."

Leahy's serious study of poetry began while a student at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. She later went on to earn a master of fine art degree from the University of Maryland and a doctorate from Ohio University. Her poetry has appeared in a number of journals.

Growing up in a family that appreciated reading and education, Leahy credits the strong women in her family -- her mother, sister and "Aunt Maggie" -- with setting a standard of accomplishment and enthusiasm.

Leahy previously published two shorter chapbooks, "Turns about a Point and Power" and "Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom."

More recently, Leahy was selected to be the guest poetry editor for the second issue of Fifth Wednesday, a new literary journal that debuted in October. The semiannual journal will include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and black-and-white photography. For information on the journal, visit fifthwednesdayjournal.com.

As a writer, Leahy enjoys playing with language and imagery to move the reader. She encourages others who wish to write to read and talk with other writers.

"The most important thing from a creative writing class is that you are making choices as you write," Leahy said. "The more aware you are of those choices, the better you will be at writing and the more proud you will be of your work."

Leahy feels it is a myth that writers are reclusive. She calls the workshop the foundation of creative writing.

Brainstorming and having access to a lot of different ideas foster creative thinking, Leahy said. For her students, she wants them to create a portfolio of work they are proud of, one they could not have turned in 10 weeks before.

"Some poets may be inspired to write, but for me, a line can roll around in my head for days," Leahy said. "I'll do a draft and tinker with the words or revamp the structure to get it as best I can. If there was any other way of saying it, I would have taken that way."