MCC Host to Seasoned Poet
Corina Lombardi-Adamousky
Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Administration and Faculty
Until he entered college, Zimmerman planned to become a psychiatrist, but the rapidly intuiting madness of that quest made him determined to become a poet and a teacher more than ever. After four years as a teaching assistant in graduate school, he found himself overqualified for any of the jobs that were available at that time. About 13.5 percent of Buffalo was unemployed at the time, said Zimmerman.
Eventually Zimmerman managed to secure employment as a landscaper, proofreader, community college adjunct instructor and advertising salesman.
"I had simultaneous occupations that kept me conspicuously fit but below the poverty level for several years," said Zimmerman. "After a year as an artist in residence within the city of Buffalo and another year as a reporter for a Vermont weekly newspaper, I emerged from the chrysalis of penury in 1979 as an instructor at MCC. I like it here in heaven."
In the fall of 2008, Zimmerman was one of the MCC faculty members brought together by Emanuel DiPasquale to help compile "Middlesex: A Literary Journal."
"'Middlesex: A Literary Journal' sprang like Athena from the head of our poet in residence, professor Emanuel DiPasquale, former poetry editor of the long-famous, now defunct magazine Chelsea," said Zimmerman.
It took most of the year to solicit, edit and design the first issue of the journal. Its value, especially as an ongoing venue, lies in the opportunity for members of the MCC community to display their considerable talents to a world often dismissive of those who work in and graduate from community colleges, said Zimmerman.
"When our student literary magazine, Myriad, took several major prizes two years ago in competition with every other college and university in the country, it showed that elite institutions have no monopoly on talent," said Zimmerman. "I believe that MCC confirms and extends that fact."
Zimmerman also teaches two classes per semester and encourages his students to explore the arts and write poetry. Write poems in many different forms from around the world. Read the oral poetry of illiterate people. Rhyme, don't rhyme, study etymology, read the dictionary; when it says see also, see, said Zimmerman. Remember that your audience probably doesn't yet exist. Create it. Converse with poets, start with the dead ones. Listen to recordings of starting with Walt Whitman and moving chronologically to the present. Imitate them, then put those imitations in a box and keep it closed for ten years, said Zimmerman.
"I believe people should read poetry that they don't immediately understand, as well as poetry that speaks to them immediately and transparently. I hope that some of my own poems represent both varieties," said Zimmerman.
Eventually Zimmerman managed to secure employment as a landscaper, proofreader, community college adjunct instructor and advertising salesman.
"I had simultaneous occupations that kept me conspicuously fit but below the poverty level for several years," said Zimmerman. "After a year as an artist in residence within the city of Buffalo and another year as a reporter for a Vermont weekly newspaper, I emerged from the chrysalis of penury in 1979 as an instructor at MCC. I like it here in heaven."
In the fall of 2008, Zimmerman was one of the MCC faculty members brought together by Emanuel DiPasquale to help compile "Middlesex: A Literary Journal."
"'Middlesex: A Literary Journal' sprang like Athena from the head of our poet in residence, professor Emanuel DiPasquale, former poetry editor of the long-famous, now defunct magazine Chelsea," said Zimmerman.
It took most of the year to solicit, edit and design the first issue of the journal. Its value, especially as an ongoing venue, lies in the opportunity for members of the MCC community to display their considerable talents to a world often dismissive of those who work in and graduate from community colleges, said Zimmerman.
"When our student literary magazine, Myriad, took several major prizes two years ago in competition with every other college and university in the country, it showed that elite institutions have no monopoly on talent," said Zimmerman. "I believe that MCC confirms and extends that fact."
Zimmerman also teaches two classes per semester and encourages his students to explore the arts and write poetry. Write poems in many different forms from around the world. Read the oral poetry of illiterate people. Rhyme, don't rhyme, study etymology, read the dictionary; when it says see also, see, said Zimmerman. Remember that your audience probably doesn't yet exist. Create it. Converse with poets, start with the dead ones. Listen to recordings of starting with Walt Whitman and moving chronologically to the present. Imitate them, then put those imitations in a box and keep it closed for ten years, said Zimmerman.
"I believe people should read poetry that they don't immediately understand, as well as poetry that speaks to them immediately and transparently. I hope that some of my own poems represent both varieties," said Zimmerman.
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