Poet reveals his 'dark humor'

In an intimate setting, award-winning poet Len Roberts read a variety of poems, mainly from his recently published collection Dangerous Angels, to about 20 students and faculty members yesterday afternoon. Roberts selected a few of his own poems to present at the public reading after he sat in and helped critique the works of a creative writing class on poetry. Many of the pieces he read centered around his family and his Catholic grade school days. Others touched on human transience and the mystery of God. Roberts said his work is "emotionally direct, very imagistic...dealing with family primarily...dark humor." "I like dark humor," he said. "You can talk about things and not make it too heavy. I think my humor carries through the dark side of my poetry." Roberts, who has published five poetry collections, introduced each of his pieces and explained the circumstances and ideas behind each poem. Since the audience consisted mostly of English majors or students in creative writing classes, Roberts also spoke of his "inspiration" – namely his past. "Many authors have said that the first 10, 11 years of your life are enough for inspiration because you are so alive and experience so much...My first three books dealt with my memory of my family, which was dysfunctional for the most part," he said. "I think I've written my way through the experiences," he added. "Now, I'm trying to find other ways to write about other things...I've been on a riff lately. I've been reading the Bible and Milton about angels and religion for the past few years." Although his collections cover a wide range of subjects – including death, growing up, staying young, family relationships and religious rituals – the poems Roberts chose were geared toward his audience, young college students. "My favorite poems were about growing up in a Catholic school," College senior Jessalynn Bird said. "Even if you didn't grow up in a parochial setting, you could relate." College sophomore Shawn Walker said, "He had a great balance between humor and seriousness. I especially liked the poems about his relationship with his son. They had such delicate, sensual images." "I liked how, even as he peoples his poems with family members and religious characters, all his poems are irreverent," said Greg Djanikian, acting director of the Creative Writing Program, who invited Roberts to the University. "The sacred and the profane are united. Even though he's being repressed by a situation, he's still rebelling." Roberts, who teaches English composition, American literature and poetry at Northampton Community College, has received numerous grants and awards for his work. His book Black Wings was a National Poetry Series winner. The Philomathean Society partially sponsored the reading.