Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University professors Dr. Jay Curlin and Dr. Johnny Wink will visit Wichita State University in Kansas March 25 to give a public poetry reading hosted by the university’s creative writing program.

Curlin, OBU’s Kathryn Maddox Professor of English, and Wink, OBU’s Betty Burton Peck Professor of English, made a connection with WSU at an Arkansas Philological Association meeting in Little Rock where they presented their creation of Ouachita’s Daily Word game. In this game, Wink develops a list of words for every school day, and Curlin uses the words to craft his daily “lexical rhymes.”

At the poetry reading for WSU, Wink says, “Dr. Curlin will be reading the lion’s share of the poems. I’ll content myself with talking about how Dr. Curlin began composing poems into which he incorporates OBU’s official Daily Word.” Wink added that he will likely read a sample of his own poems.

The public reading will be preceded by a reception beginning at 4:15 p.m. in WSU’s Lindquist Lobby with the reading following in Lindquist 100.

“Wichita State’s got a pretty prestigious creative writing program,” Wink noted. “I don’t really feel like I’m quite the poet to be reading there but my partner sure is. And since he’s most of the show, I think they’ll get their money’s worth.”

by Rebecca Stone