The Monthly interviews American poet, Molly Rice – Part 2 – A calling for teaching

You went to college?

I came from a working-class family, and I was the first person in my family to go to college. My family didn’t really encourage me, my parents didn’t encourage me to go to college, although my grandparents were enthusiastic. My mum and dad really didn’t want me to go, and they didn’t want to help pay for it.

When I finished the degree, I owed a lot of money; in fact, I would have owed that money until the day I died, except President Biden just waived college fees for some students – and I was one of them.

You become a teacher?

I always wanted to be a teacher. I felt I had a calling for teaching. I would teach the little kids in the trailer park; I would pretend I had a school, and I would read poems to them.

I thought I was going to be a music teacher first, but I was also an actor, so I combined the two in a way, and I settled for Theatre Education – K through 12 – so that I could teach theatre in a public school.

I minored in English, and I took every literature class I could go to, everything from modern poetry to British literature.

William Shakespeare

But at this point you are no longer writing poetry?

I would buy a lot of poetry and I would read poetry, but as I said, once I started teaching that just took over. You spend all your time on other people’s stories rather than your own. And you are always busy, very busy.

To find out more about the work of Molly Rice see the following link – www.mollyrice.com/home

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