9:58 a.m., March 20, 2009----Jeanne Walker, poet and professor of English at the University of Delaware, has earned a number of honors for the work in her newly published book, New Tracks, Night Falling, including having one poem selected for the collection Best American Poetry 2009.

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Walker said the poem, Holding Action, deals with the hope authors have that their works will last for years to come and addresses the book, telling it to do what it has do to survive. For that reason, she placed this poem at the end of her book, and said she hopes the poem will conclude the volume when it is released later this year.

“I was quite surprised,” Walker said. “It's a wonderful honor.”

Several poems in the book have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, including Gift, which Walker said deals with a lonely nighttime driver who decides to perform a random act of kindness to the driver behind him at a tollbooth.

The Pushcart Prize is a literary prize given to works of “poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot,” as its Web site describes.

Walker also recently won the Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Prize for Poetry, which honors a series of poems appearing in the new volume.

This past fall, Walker was able to use her and other poets' experiences to teach a Studies in Poetry class (ENGL373), which she called “Poets Alive.” The course involved collaboration between the English department, Women's Studies Program, Honors Program, Black Studies Program and the dean's office.

Four poets came to visit the class to share insight, give readings, and even have lunch with the students. Walker said the experiences were life changing for students, who had never interacted so in-depth with poets, prior to taking the class.

Walker said students were incredibly enthusiastic about the class. By getting to meet a number of poets, students were able to observe how all poets are unique and it helped them see poetry in a different light. Students realized that poetry is a made a finely crafted object, just like music or theater.

Walker said she enjoyed teaching the class and hopes it can be offered again, as the course was such a big hit among her students.

Article by Jon Bleiweis