Mineral Point High School English students received a visit from author Lisa Vihos Wednesday.
Vihos is a poet, blogger, and grant writer living in Sheboygan. Currently in a position between jobs, Vihos recently took a break from everyday reality to attend the inaugural 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Salerno, Italy, where she was honored to hang out with poet activists from all over the world, share poems in multiple languages, and envision how poetry can make the world a more just and peaceful place.
Along with two chapbooks, A Brief History of Mail and The Accidental Present, her poems have appeared in Big Muddy, The Camel Saloon, Forge, Main Street Rag, Mom Egg, Red Fez, Seems, Verse Wisconsin and other journals and magazines.
Vihos received first place in the 2015 Wisconsin People and Ideas Poetry Contest and has two Pushcart Prize nominations. She is the poetry and arts editor for Stoneboat Literary Journal and is pleased to be back for her fourth gig at Best American Poetry online. Visit her blog at Frying the Onion.
While winning awards is always a wonderful thing to help validate one is on the right path, Vihos pointed out people should write because they want to and feel a calling for it. S
She told the students writing often helps her deal with her feelings and putting them on paper can be a very powerful, healing process.
Vihos was brought to Mineral Point as part of Shake Rag Alley’s Winter Writer Series.