Behind the Scenes : Authors around Athens

OU poetry lover makes mark in national women's publication

By Jaclyn Lipp, Staff Writer
   
February 26, 2007 | 8:07 p.m.

Ohio University teaching assistant Lydia McDermott may just be getting her start in the academic world, but her poetry is already making ripples in the literary arena as her work is set to be published in a major women’s literary journal this spring.

When the petite McDermott talks about her poetry, her whole face breaks into a smile, as she calls it her first love. Her passion for writing has certainly paid off. McDermott’s poem, “How to Make a Glass Wolf” was chosen to be included in “Kalliope,” a national, biannual journal of women’s literature and art, in the upcoming May issue.

“How to Make a Glass Wolf” is a poem chocked full of thoughtful imagery and provides an interesting analogy on how life shapes a part of each of us.

A wonderful excerpt from the fourth stanza of the poem reads: “It imitates an image of itself backwards, but it must also imitate the mirror, becoming smooth and glassy, seemingly fragile.”

McDermott said it actually took over a year for her to find out that “Kalliope” had selected her poem, and she explained of her long relationship with the work, “You kind of get detached after awhile [to your poetry]. I’m happy that it will be published, but detached. I’m glad that it finally found a home.”

Don’t be fooled into thinking that publication is a new idea for McDermott. She has also previously achieved success with some of her other works, having another of her poems, “A Big Blank,” published in the “Iowa Review” in winter 2004. The “Iowa Review” is also another respected nationwide literary magazine. “Shemom,” a nationally distributed ‘zine, has featured some of her poems as well that were written about her young son.

McDermott explained that many of her other poems have a strong underlying theme of a woman’s body and its utility. She said she also dabbles in writing some more humorous things about the social construction of identity, and has even tried her hand at writing short stories.

When asked if she would explain her inspiration behind any of her poems, McDermott suggested that she would rather have the reader interpret it for themselves. She said, “I think there’s always a story behind poetry, but you can interpret it for yourself. Every poet hopes though that it will communicate something without the reader having to know the story that prompted it.”

As for the academic world, the Canton, Ohio, native is working on obtaining her master’s degree in creative writing and poetry.  She is set to finish up her thesis in the spring, which is a manuscript of her poems featuring a critical introduction about how they fit into contemporary women’s poetry in America today. She hopes to possibly even turn her thesis into a book one day.

The ambition doesn’t stop there, though. McDermott is now working as a teaching assistant at OU and has taught both freshman and junior composition classes. Next fall, she hopes to begin classes to obtain a Ph.D. in composition and rhetoric. Her dream is to teach at the university level and also to continue having more of her works published.

As McDermott has suggested, you should read and interpret her poetry for yourself. The issue of “Kalliope” featuring her poem, “How to Make a Glass Wolf,” should hit the shelves of Little Professor Book Center in mid-May. Alden Library often has new copies available.

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