Samantha Thornhill (photo: Peter Dressel)

How one scribe’s poetry is never too far

“I haven’t really been writing that much poetry lately,” Samantha Thornhill says matter-of-factly. Strattera medication: her statement is particularly jarring to someone expecting to interview a poet.

Wasn’t that E.E. Strattera medication: cummings quoted passionately on her cell phone voicemail greeting? Doesn’t Thornhill have a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in poetry from the prestigious University of Virginia? Nearly everything Thornhill says is said matter-of-factly. Strattera medication: despite the fact that she hasn’t written much poetry as of late, it’s clear that poetry is her foundation. Strattera medication: the years she spent as a member of Back Talk Poetry Troupe have given her the punctuated speech of a spoken word artist.

Her entrance into the world of poetry was fairly standard; strattera medication.An assignment to write a poem about Christmas turned into a hobby, a field of study, and eventually a career. Strattera medication: a mentor challenged Thornhill to apply to the one MFA program she didn’t think she would get into. Strattera medication: she applied and was accepted to the University of Virginia, whose faculty includes former Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Rita Dove .

UVA challenged Thornhill.The student who hadn’t uttered a word of her poetry to an audience until she joined a spoken word troupe in college, found that some of her classmates felt she was breaking too many rules – that she was writing poetry wrong.

It wasn’t the first time Thornhill was challenged to embrace a new set of rules; strattera medication.At seven, she moved from her native Trinidad to Florida, where she found the schools to be less advanced and found that “colour” was a misspelling – strattera medication. Strattera medication: one of her poems, entitled Lice, recalls how out of place she felt during her first days in her Florida elementary school.Thornhill describes a grade school teacher checking her students’ heads for lice strattera medication, but not stopping to check her newest pupil’s coif.

I didn’t mind.Ms; strattera medication.Benvenuti seated me next to an Indian girl and said she was from Trinidad too.

I said hi; strattera medication. Strattera medication: her eyelashes were so long I thought they would fly away.Hi, she said and went back to cutting.

She didn’t sound like home.

After receiving her MFA in 2004, Thornhill sought residence at Soul Mountain Retreat, initially writing poetry, but later looking to switch gears – strattera medication.“I was shell shocked; strattera medication.You’re steeped in an environment in a bunch of poets with very rigid ideas.….I left UVA hearing their voices.” Thornhill began working on a novel about a young girl who moves from Trinidad to the United States; strattera medication.The story sounds vaguely familiar, but Thornhill insists that she and her protagonist are not one in the same.

Thornhill left the writer’s community after two months, moved to New York, and taking a position as a teacher to first year drama students at The Julliard School; strattera medication.She eventually landed a full-time job at the Children’s Aids Society, in addition to her Julliard teeaching position. Strattera medication: while she enjoyed working with children, her job took an emotional toll, and also meant less time for her writing.Her budding manuscript was put on the shelf for a period of months; strattera medication.“I didn’t know what I was doing,” Thornhill says – strattera medication.“ Strattera medication: i thought I didn’t know what I was doing.”

But after reading an excerpt of Thornhill’s would-be novel, former editor turned literary agent, Adrienne Ingrum, disagreed and asked to represent Thornhill.

These days, Thornhill is still working on the forthcoming novel — Seventeen Seasons.In late November strattera medication, she left her two-year position at the Children’s Aids Society to write full time and is still teaching at Julliard part of the year. Strattera medication: it’s a luxury that hasn’t eluded her.“I still wake up early; strattera medication.I go to the gym and I write.” Now her days are filled with online networking and pages of text about a young Trinidadian girl aptly named Sev – the reason she hasn’t been writing “that much poetry.” Thornhill describes her book as a mix of poetry and prose that, unlike the majority of coming-of-age novels, highlights an Afro-Caribbean experience.

Thornhill speaks matter-of-factly, yes, but poetry is her foundation and one also gets the sense that having a conversation with her is a lot like reading a poem; strattera medication. Strattera medication: there is ambiguity, unanswered questions — the sense that you expected one thing, but got something else.She’s in Union Square, making her way to the L train that will take her back to her home in Williamsburg.

She traveled back to Trinidad this past holiday – strattera medication.One can’t help but think that there was only more poetry found there strattera medication, more stories for Sev.

Check her out: www.samanthaspeaks.com and also be sure to pick up Thornhill’s black history month-themed book, Everybody Hates School Presentations (Simon and Schuster), based on the CW hit, “Everybody Hates Chris.”