On Thursday, Jan. 7, 2022, this year’s Baird Symposium author – renowned poet and author Tracy K. Smith – was scheduled to make her arrival on the Kingswood Oxford campus, but unfortunately, due to COVID-19-related concerns, her visit had to been postponed to Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Smith is the 39th Baird Symposium author since the program began in 1984. She is an American poet and educator who served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019. She has published four collections of poetry, winning the Pulitzer Prize for her 2011 volume “Life on Mars.” Her memoir, “Ordinary Light,” was published in 2015 and was nominated for the National Book Award for Nonfiction. Her visit has been eagerly anticipated across the entire KO community, as all English classes have studied at least one of her works in preparation for her arrival.
Upon her arrival, Smith would have first attended the annual dinner with the senior Symposium classes. She would then have given a highly-celebrated Symposium speech to both the Upper School and the Middle School the following day, along with holding a separate Q&A open to the entire community.
Symposium classes will continue to meet into the second semester during various lunch periods in order to maintain momentum up until Smith’s visit, while other English classes carry on with their study of Smith’s work in order to remain engaged with her poetry until her arrival.
“Many Upper School English classes are still studying poetry and Smith’s work, so the timing will probably be great,” English Symposium teacher Mela Frye said. While the Symposium students were disappointed to hear about the change in plans, they are still very excited for Ms. Smith’s visit and are grateful that Mrs. Frye was able to schedule times for them to continue to come together before the big day.
“Upon hearing the news, I was initially slightly worried that our Symposium class would lose some momentum from class time, but I was happy to hear that we plan to get together before Feb. 8, and maybe read some of her poetry and get back into that mindset,” senior Symposium student Elsa June Ciscel shared.
When asked about the postponement of Ms. Smith’s visit, senior Symposium class member Caroline Boardman similarly expressed her initial disappointment but growing excitement. “I’m very happy that it was postponed rather than cancelled completely,” Symposium senior Aliza Sadiq said. “It was obviously pretty sad initially for us as a class who have been really working towards this event for the whole semester, but health is the most important thing, especially in these times.”
Both Symposium classes understand the importance of KO’s health and safety precautions that are working to keep everybody safe, and they are thankful for the opportunity to continue their deep dive into Smith’s work and ultimately visit with her. “I’m excited to witness the Symposium students engaging with Smith,” Mrs. Frye said. “They know her work intimately and thoroughly but don’t know her as a real person, and this visit is the center of the venn diagram for them. I’m also excited to witness Smith discover these extraordinary students and all the ways they’ve engaged with her work since September.”
KO students and faculty alike look forward to this integral and special part of the KO experience. “There’s something really poetic about having to wait just a little longer,” Mrs. Frye said. “Our daily lives are not structured in a way to easily accommodate patience or silence or much complexity, which is exactly why we need poetry, and exactly why we can wait.”
