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Dodge Poet Joins Ranney for In-Residence Experience

Published author and professor Lois Marie Harrod spent the week of February 6 on Ranney School’s campus working with Middle and Upper School students in English and creative writing classes as part of a two-week Poet in Residence experience. She also shared her expertise at several workshop lunches, discussing poetry, inspiration, and writing styles with students.

An adjunct professor in creative writing at The College of New Jersey, Mrs. Harrod previously spent about six years as a Poet in Residence at the Hunterdon Voorhees Regional High School District in New Jersey, and more than 25 years as a Dodge Poet at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

Her most recent collection, Nightmares of the Minor Poet, was published in June 2016. Other works include And She Took the Heart, Fragments from the Biography of Nemesis, and How Marlene Mae Longs for Truth. Her collection The Only Is won the 2012 Tennessee Chapbook Contest. 

“I encourage students to write and discover the joy of writing," she says. "I tell them, ‘We all face a lot of chaos in our life and art helps us frame that chaos. Writing a poem puts some boundaries on what we can’t understand and what we find difficult to communicate.’ Often, students surprise themselves when they see that they can write.”

Mrs. Harrod, who became excited about the prospect of writing as a career after winning her first poetry award in the fourth grade, also works with current students on their craft. “There’s a lot of bad poetry in this world in that it’s boring,” she explains. “People think they’re telling something interesting because they wrote it, but don’t take much time with their craft. I like to quote Robert Frost who said, ‘no surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.’”

Her first goal as a Poet in Residence at Ranney is to allow students to write “without a judge” or a grade hanging over their shoulder.  “I tell them, ‘I write a lot of garbage and it’s all right—it’s expected…. Just go ahead and do it, don’t be afraid….  You have to flush the hose, so to speak, to get to the good writing.’”

“I am enjoying being at Ranney,” she adds. “The students are pleasant and willing to write, and most of them are fearless, which is so good. I don’t have to spend much time coaching them or helping them to be confident in putting pen to paper.”

Mrs. Harrod’s time with Ranney was made possible in part by the generosity of Kal and Susan Wahba (parents of Jacob, Class of 2016 and Sofia, Class of 2019) of Holmdel, and coordinated by English Department Chair Doug Felter. Mr. Felter notes that Mrs. Harrod’s presence on campus “marks a long-awaited step in bringing more poetry to Ranney. We are proud to provide students the opportunity to work one-on-one with an honored Dodge Poet, allowing them to explore their themes and styles in an environment that welcomes risk-taking.” 

As the week came to an end, junior Veronica Castellano of Atlantic Highlights said that Mrs. Harrod “helped me write poetry by incorporating different words that I would not use otherwise, and she gave us interesting topics to write about. She helped me write more clearly without too much self-criticism.”
 
Added sophomore Jacob Egol of Holmdel, “I really enjoyed working in class with Lois Marie Harrod. Her own poems were very creative, interesting, and fun to listen to, and she helped me learn and come to appreciate a new approach to writing my own poetry.”
 
Mrs. Harrod will rejoin Ranney’s campus for the week of March 10 with a focus on how students can approach revising and fine-tuning their writings. She continues to work on a volume of short poems and an expansion of her Marlene Mae series.
 
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Ranney School

235 Hope Road
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777
Our mission is to know and value every child, nurturing intellectual curiosity and confidence, and inspiring students to lead honorably, think creatively, and contribute meaningfully to society.