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| Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda |
Poetry With Dr. Foronda
by Clarissa Adkins
Picture the late 80s. I would say it was 10th grade when I took Creative Writing I with Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda at West Springfield High School in Northern Virginia because I remember her bringing in her published poetry book, Contrary Visions (Scripta Humanistica), which was published in 1988. Our jaws dropped when we held the book in our hands. We had a real-life, published poet as a teacher!
Her buttery Virginia drawl welcomed us to class. Between that and her waist-length dark brown hair, graceful mannerisms, and flowing dresses, I was enchanted. She made everyone in the room feel safe. I was definitely open to whatever the first assignment was. She gave us a prompt that consisted of a list of opening lines. There were no rules other than we were to pick one sentence and use it in some way. It didn’t even have to show up in what we wrote. To paraphrase the prompt: “She was afraid of what would happen when the egg cracked open,” and I swear to this day, I could feel my brain opening up just like the egg. I remember thinking, “She’s going to teach us how to be unique in our writing, AND it’s going to be fun.”
By senior year, I was a big fan of Dr. Foronda (or “Doc” as many of her former students address her). I got into her English class, Creative Writing II, and for one more block, became her aide. She knocked us out of our seats by bringing US Poet Laureate Mark Strand into the classroom to read poems and take questions. My mind took another blow when she showed us a documentary about Sylvia Plath, which I hunted down a couple of years ago to rewatch. Since then Doc’s published eight more poetry books, co-authored a poem play, and has co-edited four anthologies. She is also an accomplished painter. Did I mention that she was Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2006 to 2008?
Doc’s poetry is similar to her paintings–vibrant, luscious, and bursting with color. She has been a teacher, mentor, and friend my entire life. In 2019 we were published in the same book: Lingering in the Margins: A River City Poets Anthology, published by Chop Suey Books, and in 2020, she was kind enough to do the blurb for my first poetry book. Thank you, Doc!
Bios:
Clarissa Adkins published her first poetry book, Building Alexandria, with Lily Poetry Review Books in April of 2021. Her work also appears in The Pinch, Whurk Magazine, River City Poets’ anthology: Lingering in the Margins, and more. She enjoys reading for Sugar House Review and received her MFA in poetry from Lesley University in 2018. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her teaching high school English.
Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda served as Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2006-2008. She has co-edited three anthologies, co-authored a poem-play, and published three chapbooks and seven books of poetry, including The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, winner of the international Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award. She is the recipient of five grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and has won the Ellen Anderson Award, a Virginia Cultural Laureate Award, multiple first place awards from the Chesapeake Bay Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, a resolution of appreciation from the Virginia Board of Education for her service as poet laureate, an Edgar Allan Poe Poetry Award, six Pushcart Prize nominations, as well as other awards. Her poems, along with those of other Virginia poets laureate, are featured in two permanent art installations in Northern Virginia as part of the Washington Metropolitan Area Authority, Art in Transit. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Statewide Program. [www.carolynforonda.com]
Clarissa Adkins retains copyright of her submission.
