Associate Editor Lisa Low: Poet and middle/high-school English teacher Leah Umansky’s “Tender,” which appears online and in issue 17.1, expertly moves through webs of meaning, word association, and language play to describe the complexity of a relationship ending. We were so excited to hear her perspective on writing and teaching life, especially as the school year begins this fall. As our first feature on teaching outside of the university, here’s her take on a writer’s day job!
How would you describe what you do for your day job?
I’m a middle- and high-school English teacher in Manhattan. I also chair the department, run our award-winning school literary magazine, and direct an elective program called Scholars, where I teach poetry workshops. Like my writing life, as in my day job, or teacher life, my enthusiasm and my passion is my daily guide.
What do you enjoy about that job, and what are some of its detractions?
I enjoy the students. It’s all about the students. I also love running the magazine to get kids passionate about reading and writing. I love when kids get pieces accepted into the magazine; the joy is remarkable. I worked on the magazine when I was in high school, and I’ll never forget having my first poem published.
I love seeing kids get excited about a particular literature unit. I love reading aloud in class, and I love when the bell rings and kids come into class super excited to talk about the previous night’s reading.
Of course, there are many detractions, but I guess that’s true for any job. The work never ends, there’s a ton of grading, and of course it’s mentally exhausting. It’s worth it, though, because there is nothing like seeing a student’s confidence grow, or seeing a student succeed. I really love seeing students take pride in their work. For example, one of my great joys is having students fall in love with poetry. Most are usually disinterested or think they hate it, and then you read a poem that engages them, and you see the lightbulb go off. It’s magic.
How, if at all, does your day job inform—or relate to—your writing life?
I wouldn’t say being a teacher greatly informs my writing life, but it definitely inspires it. It definitely inspires my reading life, as well. I read a lot of new poetry, I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I try to attend a good number of readings. In doing so, I am exposed to a lot of work that I then bring into the classroom. Additionally, living in NYC, I am very blessed that I can take students to poetry readings, and for many of these teenagers, this could be their first reading they’ve ever attended—that can be life changing! I’ve seen it!
In terms of my own writing, every so often something a student says in class, or something a teacher might say in the faculty room finds its way into a poem. Also, students are constantly introducing you to things and sharing information with you. I’ve had students send me YouTube videos or links to books they were talking about in class, etc. You never know where inspiration will strike you.
To be honest, I think my life as a writer really informs my teaching life. I think that’s the stronger point. Students are always asking me about my books, and that is a gift. I am always telling students to take pride in their work and to believe in themselves, and that comes from years of developing a thick skin as a writer. Often students don’t want to ask questions in class or don’t want to share their work, and I respect that, but the writer in me thinks, Well, talking about your questions and your experiences will surely help other students in the room. I think it’s important to have a strong sense of self, and so much of that is the job of a teacher—to help foster that! I always like to encourage a sense of positivity, responsibility, creativity, and risk.
What creative projects are you working on right now?
Right now, I am finishing up my new hybrid/creative nonfiction manuscript which I started under lockdown. It’s a book about the natural world, about living, dying, womanhood, and about possibility and hope. In the upcoming year, I’m hoping to start a craft book on poetry and a memoir.
Leah Umansky is the author of two full-length collections, The Barbarous Century (2018), and Domestic Uncertainties (2012). She earned her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has curated and hosted The COUPLET Reading Series in NYC since 2011. Her creative work has appeared or is forthcoming in such places as the New York Times, Los Angeles Review, Iron Horse Review, Poetry, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, and Massachusetts Review.
