I went to the PLU grad fair to order my cap and gown-- for the MFA's we're in brown with a hood, sort of like the monks from Monty Python. I did not order a class ring nor any jewelry with the word "graduate." In the restaurant we heard "Mrs. Robinson," which of course made my husband comment about the movie.
I'm happy to be coming to the end of these 3 years in the Rainier Writers Program. I've forgotten what it's like to have homework in life, to constantly have "the next" deadline buzzing in my ear like a bothersome bee. But I know I will feel a loss after this. The program has filled my time like an overflowing goblet. It's had me reading poets and books I probably wouldn't have read-- Norman Dubie's first book, all of Shakespeare's sonnets and Helen Vendler's responses to them, Lorine Niedecker who is now one of my favorites. It also allowed me to work with poets I wouldn't have had the chance to work with.
MFA programs can get dirt thrown at them by the kids on the playground, but for me, this program helped me become a better writer. It gave my writing a sort of new validation that was getting lost as my role as a mom started to take over. It gave me focus for three years as well as discipline. Without the program, I would have never done The Making for Peace broadside series; it was my second year project. There are poems I wouldn't have written and basically all this for the cost of a $20,000 car, so one less Camry for me in life.
Do I think every poet/writers needs to get their MFA? No. Not at all. If you wanted to, you could basically create your own MFA program at home for yourself (and it would probably be a lot less financially)--find a mentor you want to work with, set deadlines, read books, go to writer's conferences, take classes, interact with other writers. Each person can become a better writer or poet with or without an MFA. A MFA guarantees nothing, each writers creates their own success, a piece of paper with three letters on it won't sit down at your computer and type out a poem.
Do MFA's help people become better writers? Yes & no. For me, it did. It definitely kicked my critical writing into gear. It helped my prose more than my poetry, but it did help some individual poems. But if you end up working with a professor who wants to change your style to his, and you let that happen, you may have to retrain yourself and find your voice once again. A friend of mine who works at an MFA program in this state said that of the 14 students who graduated with a MFA in 1992, only 2 of them were still writing creatively ten years later (note: this was a full time program and not a low-res program). She also was the one who told me about poets losing their own voice in an attempt to recreate the voice of their professor. I think most of these graduates where in their 20's though. My program has 20somethings, but also people in their 30's, 40's and 50's and I think when you've been writing for so long you're less likely to imitate others and less impressionable.
But maybe just the fact that as MFA students, we *have* to write a lot. It's required to graduate and maybe just the act of writing so many poems means we have more poems to find good poems in, or more opportunities to write a good poem. I think what makes people better writers is their own dedication to writing and to craft. Not being dedicated to getting published or making money. Not talking about writing and their past success, but writing, lots and lots of writing.
I'm not much for debate about MFA programs either you want to do it or not. No worries either way. You can have success and gold stars in your life with or without it. You don't get to wear the brown gown though, unless it's Halloween, or you've started a new life with chanting. And maybe there's an extra mid-size sedan in your life that won't be in mine. Either way, we're all in this together degrees or not, funny gowns or not, and by the way, "Camry" is an anagram for My Car.
"Mrs. Robinson, if you don't mind my saying so, this conversation is getting a little strange."
