Susan Browne’s love of poetry goes back to age 10 and a neighbor’s gift in Long Beach, Calif.
“She brought me over a book of poetry, and I was immediately captivated by it,” she said, letting out a light laugh at the memory.
In high school, Browne was influenced by musicians like Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen, and in college by W.B Yeats, Denise Levertov, Gary Snyder, and Galway Kinnell.
Although her first major was philosophy, she quickly switched to literature and poetry, and then specifically to poetry.
Today, Browne is a DVC English professor and an award-winning poet, whose latest book, “Zephyr,” will be published next fall. Recently she was named winner of the 2009 Poetry Book Editors Prize by Steel Toe Books.
Although she sometimes uses her poems in class, Browne said she relies mainly on the work of others, because she doesn’t want to pressure students into liking her poetry simply because she’s their teacher.
“I sometimes do the writing with my students, and we share what we’ve done.” she said.
Having taught at DVC since 1985, Browne said teaching sometimes gets in the way of her writing.
“Time is essential,” Browne said. “It is one of the most important elements of the development of craft.”
However, teaching is also a great career for a writer, she said.
“You are always immersed in teaching what you love and learning along with the students.”
The original title for her upcoming book was “Dear, Ephemera,” but her editor requested the change. One of her favorite poems in the book is “Zephyr” and wind is mentioned in her poems 12 times. “Zephyr” means wind.
“I’m happy, though,” Browne said. “I like the wind, not the blowing hurricane-in-your-face wind, but the kind that gently lifts your hair.”
She said she is excited to have this, her second book, published, because, like Walt Whitman, she believes “a poem is not finished, until someone has heard it.”