Jan Seale’s poetry seems to be going places

McAllen’s most prolific writer Jan Seale has seen her work published in hundreds of magazines, collections and anthologies, but only once on a bus. As part of the “Poetry in Motion” project of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Seale’s poem “Big Bend: Lion Warning,” appeared for several months above passengers heads as they shuttled to and from their destinations. The poem is also included in the newly released anthology A Student’s Treasury of Texas Poetry (TCU Press, $29.95), edited by Billy Bo Hill.

The collection spans the entire chronology of Texas poetry, from the earliest poets like our former (Texas) president Sam Houston (who knew?) to our most famous contemporary ones like Carmen Tafolla and Naomi Shihab Nye. Mercedes’ favorite son Rolando Hinojosa-Smith is also included.

Seale got involved with the project after Hill approached her. “He especially wanted poems about place and time in Texas,” Seale said.

A native Texan, Seale didn’t find it hard to cull her oeuvre of poems to find one on the Lone Star State. “Big Bend: Lion Warning,” was inspired by a trip to the West Texas national park.

“I saw this sign and was struck by the matter-of-fact tone of the admonition, as well as the way we could take the words and apply them metaphorically to certain lion countries of our lives. With just a little tinkering on my part, it worked as a poem,” Seale said.

Another of Seale’s poems that appears in the anthology was inspired by a person, rather than a place. “Hill Country Bird Woman” is a portrait of a fascinating, wonderfully knowledgeable, sharing bird guide who lives in Kerrville.

“And These Signs Shall Follow Them That Believe” is a narrative poem about a starry night near San Antonio when Seale’s eldest son guided her to see through his telescope a group of stars called The Trapezium Cluster, described by Seale as “three diamond apples where none were before.” She hopes the poem speaks to the “faith and the trust we have to put in each other.”

Seale rarely struggles to find inspiration for poetry.

“At any given time, I have dozens of poem ideas ‘cooking’ both in my notes and in my head,” she said. “I choose to write poems only about things, people, or ideas that interest me. Our world is always offering us gifts of recognition, beauty, and meaning.”

Described in the author bios of the book as one of Texas’ “most versatile writers,” Seale favors poetry as her medium of expression.

“I’d have to say that poetry is my mother tongue. But I do really enjoy telling a story, either in poetry or prose.”

The anthology is intended to be used in classrooms across the state, and Seale, who often teaches workshops on writing, offers her own advice for aspiring poets.

“Read, read, read the poets you feel a kinship to. Attend poetry readings and listen for the rhythms.

Write often and about a variety of things. Enjoy your endeavor and be satisfied that you are filling a meaningful slot in the artistry of the world, whether you are widely read and published or not,” she said.

As for that poem on a bus up in Dallas, Seale was delighted. “It just goes to show that we writers should tend to our business of writing, and trust that our words may be used in ways we haven’t dreamed of,” she said.

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Martin Winchester is a book critic for The Monitor. He is an English teacher at IDEA College Preparatory in Donna. Send comments to mwinchester@ideapublicschools.org