John Poch hosted a live reading of his poetry on April 8 in Ness Auditorium. This reading was the last event of the Wittenberg English Department's "Reading Series 2026."
Poch is an English and Creative Writing professor at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. He has published eight poetry collections and won multiple esteemed poetry awards, according to Slant Books.
During his visit to Witt, Poch attended two dinners with university faculty, staff, and students. He also visited Marjory Wentworth's Advanced Poetry Writing class where he spoke to students about his personal trajectory and path to becoming a poet. Wentworth, who also directs the university's Writing Center, described the visit like having a casual conversation. "It was interesting for them to hear his stories."
At the reading, Poch summarized his journey from pursuing nuclear engineering at Georgia Tech to focusing on poetry. He described sitting in a nuclear physics class, listening to his professor teach about lump burnable poisons, but Poch was busy writing poems in his notebook. "I was like, 'I need to get out of here. You don't want me in a reactor.'" It was the moment he chose to follow what he was passionate about.
Inspired by Springfield's Haitian community, Poch decided to read his poem "Port-au-Prince," which was about a real experience he had on a missionary trip to Haiti at the age of 15.
Poch also read his poem titled, "The Island," which he wrote about his wife for their wedding. Other poems he read included "The Missing Child," "The Cross," "The Plaza of Good Success," and the titular poem from his most recent published collection, "The Future of Love." Many of his poems pulled from his Christian faith, his time abroad in Spain, and his experiences and thoughts about love.
When answering questions near the end of the event, Poch was asked "What makes a good love poem?" Writers, he said, should aim to write the opposite of cliches or at least use them to do something new and surprising. He also advised writers to avoid excessive sentimentality. "One thing I like to tell students is, 'Don't shove a puppy down my throat. Puppies are good, but they should not be shoved down my throat or in my ear.'"
Poch's most recent book was published last month and is currently available for purchase. Poch concluded by saying his 25th anniversary is coming up, "so please buy my book so I can take my wife on a nice trip."
