Sharon Scholl

Oyster River Pages: What role does the artist/writer play in society?

Sharon Scholl: I don't have any role that matters in my society in general. The best I can do is touch a few individual lives with a sense of companionship and understanding.

ORP: How has your writing changed over time?

SS: My writing hasn't gotten "better" but has gotten cleaner with less diversionary material. I think I'm getting closer to the core of things.

ORP: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

SS: I've never gotten any advice about writing in general, just good critiques on the work at hand.

ORP: Who do you hope reads your work and why?

SS: I'd like people who claim they don't understand poetry to read my poems, because I'm sure they would change their minds.

ORP: How does this work connect to your personal experiences/identity?

SS: Writing poetry is deep mental/emotional labor, but something that clarifies life for me. The poem about my grandson's wedding is taken from life, and my amazement about the whole history of this child who is now becoming someone with a history I will not live to witness.

Sharon Scholl is a retired professor of humanities and world cultures who convenes a poetry critique group and is poetry coordinator for the Florida Heritage Bookfest. She has chapbooks Summer's Child and Message on a Branch in circulation. Individual poems are current in Sky Island Journal and Red Wolf. Find her poetry here.