Chris Banyas
Life Editor
“Crisis on Infinite Earths,” an epic DC Comics crossover from 1985, may seem a strange source of inspiration for poetry, but it is just the sort of thing that inspires Bethany Schultz Hurst to write.
Hurst has been at Idaho State University since 2003, and in that time has published individual works in various literary journals, such as “Cimarron Review,” “The Gettysburg Review,” “Rattle,” and others.
Schultz Hurst teaches mainly creative writing courses, something she developed a love for at a young age.
“I remember in first grade we made books and my first one was called something like ‘The Valentine Fairy,’ and it was on red, heart-shaped construction paper,” said Schultz Hurst. “It was so much fun. I’ve always liked storytelling and the written word.”
Schultz Hurst attended Colorado State University for her undergraduate degree and Eastern Washington University for her Master of Fine Arts degree before coming to Pocatello and ISU.
In 2008 Schultz Hurst was one recipient of the ISU Distinguished Teacher Award.
Recently Schultz Hurst was named the winner of the 2013 Robert Dana-Anhinga Prize for Poetry, which includes $2,000, the publication of the submitted manuscript and a reading tour of Florida.
This prize is unique in that where literary journals publish works from many different authors, Anhinga Press publishes a complete collection of poems by one single author.
The title of her work, which will be available through Amazon.com, similar outlets and possibly even the ISU bookstore sometime in late September of 2014, is “Miss Lost Nation.”
“Overall I think one of the threads that ties [the poems] together is an interest in identity and place,” said Schultz Hurst. “It’s kind of a take on the beauty pageant, miss whatever, Miss Colorado, Miss Idaho. This idea of you represent the place you are from.”
One of the poems that will be featured in “Miss Lost Nation” is entitled “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” and is one of the works that Schultz Hurst is most proud of.
“I like that one because it represented a new way that I began approaching writing poems,” said Schultz Hurst. “Before, my poems were a little bit shorter and more contained and that one gets a little bit weirder.”
The original DC Comics run of “Crisis on Infinite Earths” inspired Schultz Hurst in the way that the issues tried to resolve all of the complications that arose with all of the different universes.
“The speaker in that poem is using some of that comic book language to try to reconcile her own responses to tragedies or crises that she has encountered,” said Schultz Hurst.
Schultz Hurst has learned much on her way to this publication, which she passes on in the form of advice to her students and anyone interested in creative writing.
“I think that reading a lot is really important, because it’s a conversation, I think, so if you’re not aware of what’s being written or what people are writing about, then you are in a vacuum by yourself,” said Schultz Hurst. “Even if you are disagreeing, you need to be a part of that. Write as often as you can and turn the editor off. That’s something that I still struggle with.”
