![]() She never lost sight of her literary sense and ambition and pursued it with a lot of diligence, patience, and openness.” “Judy is someone I admire so much,” Treseler said, “because she pulled off the trifecta of having a successful professional career, having a writing career with two books to her name and many publications in journals, and being a wonderful person. Over the eight years the two poets have known each other, their mutual respect has grown. She has a vast network of poets she knows.” Hoyer doesn’t give Treseler suggestions on poets to invite to the series. She’s just the best.” Now named the Judith O’Connell Hoyer Poetry Reading Series, the program brings two new poets to campus each year for readings and craft discussions with students. With this idea, Hoyer approached Treseler, whom she describes as a “writer, teacher, poet extraordinaire. “I wanted the students at my state college to have an experience that’s available to students in other colleges in the Worcester community.” Through this series, students would be able to hear poets read and also meet them, ask questions, and get answers. Hoyer knew right away she wanted to help fund the series. The reading was the first of a poetry reading series that Treseler was trying to run on a shoestring budget. In 2013, Hoyer attended a poetry reading at Worcester State, organized by English professor and poet Heather Treseler. “The fun thing is when you get to the end of a poem and think, ‘Oh, voila!’ You realize something you didn’t think of before. Her best poems, she thinks, are “about something that I know really well.” Nevertheless, one of her favorite things about writing poetry is surprising herself. Most of her poems tend to be about herself and her experiences in some way. “If I can’t come up with something, I go for another walk, read, maybe bake some cookies.” Walking, reading-all of that counts.” She does sometimes face writer’s block, but she has a way to deal with that. “I’m always thinking about poetry,” she said, “always. She has published a chapbook- Bits and Pieces Set Aside (Finishing Line Press)-and has a full-length collection, Imagine That, coming out next spring from FutureCycle Press. ![]() Her involvement in the poetry world has also afforded her a chance to be in a community of other like-minded people. She describes the years since retiring as “a little like being an adolescent.” Poetry has helped her access great depths of emotion. It was only after she retired in 2005 that she was able to pursue that dream. ![]() Upon completing her degree, Hoyer put aside her dream of becoming a poet herself to focus her energy on her family and her career as a school psychologist in the Medway, Mass., public school system. Hoyer, who had loved poetry her entire life, attended every reading she could and saw all three poets when they read in Worcester. When Judith Hoyer was a student at Worcester State in the 1960s, poets like Robert Frost, Randall Jarrell, and Archibald Macleish were household names. Judith Hoyer ’65 shares her love of poetry with a new generation. ![]()
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