“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency,” stated Martin Luther King in 1967 during his speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break silence.” 

Evidently, King’s words have continued to be a source of inspiration for today’s revolutionaries, creators, writers, activists and people in general. This rings particularly true for Viebranz Visiting Professor of Creative Writing Ana Maria Spagna who followed this theme of  “the fierce urgency of now” in her essay “Out of the Box,” which was published in Camas — a magazine out of the University of Montana. 

“Out of the Box” is also centered around fishers, which Spagna described as “a mussel and weasel-like animal that have gone almost extinct in the Cascades Mountains where I live.” Spagna further explained that she and her wife happened upon a reintroduction of fishers into the wild. “So it is a combination of those two things [the urgency of now theme and fishers],” said Spagna. She also drew on other experiences that filtered into the essay, such as moving her mother-in-law into assisted living and her mother running a food pantry. 

“Another interesting thing about this particular essay…right in the middle of when I had written a draft and turned it into the editor’s Covid hit.” As a result, Spagna had to rework the conclusions she had come to in her original draft. “Urgency is a lot different when you’re just stuck inside,” she stated. 

Spagna also explained that the fishers she and her wife had observed were stuck in small boxes as they were carried out to be set free. “Suddenly I had a lot more empathy for those fishers in those boxes when we’re all stuck at home,” she continued. 

So how do we maintain urgency and/or inspiration amid a global pandemic? For Spagna, someone who used to go out and find stories, creating poetry has helped. “I find that that fits the time,” she said. “They tend to dive right to the depths of things, which I think all of us are feeling a little tender right now, so it’s a good genre for that.” 

Professor Spagna shared “Out of the Box” and some poetry with the St. Lawrence community on Feb. 4 via Zoom through the SLU Writers Series. The next Writers Series event is scheduled for March 25 and will be led by visiting writer Lesley Nneka Arimah. Make sure to check it out!