An Unlikely Poet
Having an engineering background makes me an unlikely poet. As an undergrad, I studied Geological Environmental Engineering at Queen’s University. I studied engineering because I wanted to help people. I became a poet because I saw a unique opportunity to be of service while using my creativity.
Engineering involves the study of risk; a unique preparation for the risks of being an artist. Risk taking and being a poet are inextricably linked in a culture that does not usually celebrate the arts with financial support. Telling the truth is the primary occupation of poets. It’s not usually a welcome siren. It makes people uncomfortable and can be a call to action in an age of overwhelm. It’s not typically a lucrative financial pathway.
In fact, if my first measure of success as an artist was financial, I would have quit this career before I began it. Financial success is rarely the primary motivation for artists to develop their work. Writers take financial risks when pursuing artistic work for which there is little to no immediate financial payoff. There’s sometimes a long term financial pay out. That doesn’t make artistic pursuits less necessary but often out of reach.
When I decided to work as a poet, I was met with confusion and disappointment from my parents. I had to take on other work to make it possible to do artistic work. When working retail, strangers would see my engineering ring and ask why I wasn’t earning more money. I needed an answer more brief than an elevator pitch and didn’t have it. How did my career choices become subject to public scrutiny?
As an undergrad, I had used my creativity to solve open-ended problems involving geological science and materials. As I examine how I do my work as a poet, I see the influence of engineering on my creative work. My writing process is problem solving oriented; it’s highly iterative. I’ve set specific constraints for myself to see how writing outcomes change. My approach to writing is systematic and design-oriented. I create new work by writing often and developing my craft.
In my second chapbook, I published a poem about the power of the imagination called Math + Poetry. The last lines of the poem are, “Use whatever measurement and translation you need to get it right. Imagine and you will have all the answers you need.” These lines speak to finding a way to be yourself through using your imagination. An imagination not locked into a binary of science or creativity, of math or poetry. Our most creative work is in making a life for ourselves and it requires all of our capacities.
Artists find ways to create the necessary time, money, and infrastructure to survive and create. Engineers ask, how to achieve desired outcomes while limiting undesirable and catastrophic outcomes. Measuring, assessing, monitoring, and controlling risk are essential engineering processes and tools. How does the on-going application of this knowledge affect the lives of those who study this discipline? I use this skill set to better manage the risks of my career as an artist.
There are distinct socioeconomic factors that affect my own and each person’s real ability to manage the complexity of risk taking. Without a university education and without scholarships, I doubt I would have become a poet. I needed a supportive environment to nurture my inquisitiveness and creativity. And it couldn’t have been a simple list of pros and cons that I used to make this important career decision. While lists are useful tools, they don’t provide the deep insight into possible unintended outcomes of our decisions. A risk management framework is a more comprehensive approach and was, no doubt, helpful to me.
Deciding to be a poet requires I apply my creativity, determination, and resilience to work towards artistic outcomes. I’m thankful that being able to look at risk through an engineering lens was a transferable skill I could apply in my life as an artist. I used it to find the courage to step into the great, wide, unknown of how to be an artist and am now writing to you with 13 years experience.
