John Stigall facts for kids

John Stigall (born November 4, 1951, died November 12, 2009) was an American poet. He was also a professor of English and a special poet at Chattanooga State Technical Community College.

John Stigall's Early Life and Teaching Career

John Stigall studied at the State University of New York at Cortland, where he earned his first degree. He then went on to get a master's degree from the State University of New York at Brockport. In 1980, he wrote his master's thesis, which is a long research paper for a higher degree.

After finishing his studies, he moved back to Chattanooga. There, he became a professor of English at Chattanooga State Technical Community College. He was also known as the "poet-in-residence," meaning he was a poet who worked at the college.

He started the college's own literary magazine called The Phoenix. He was also the editor of this magazine. In 2001, an edition of The Phoenix was dedicated to him. John Stigall also won awards, like the Outstanding Young Educator Award, for his teaching. Later in his career, he was invited to read from his book, Broken Mirrors Reflect the World, at big universities like Pennsylvania State University and SUNY. His book, Subjects for Other Conversations, was even taught in classes at Pennsylvania State University for a while.

John Stigall's Books

John Stigall wrote several books of poetry. Here are some of his published works:

• In Avant Gardens (1983)
• Broken Mirrors Reflect the World (1990)
• Schizofrenzy (1993)
• Subjects for Other Conversations (2001)
• Smiling From the Ancestral Face (This book was not finished)

Poetry Themes and Influences

John Stigall's poetry was shaped by many things in his life. He wrote about his experiences living in the streets of New York. His poems also explored ideas from existentialist philosophy, which is about finding meaning in life. He also wrote about his personal journey with Christian beliefs.

A very important theme in his work was dealing with racism and prejudice. These are unfair feelings or actions against people because of their background.

In 1990, a professor and a psychologist quoted from his book Broken Mirrors Reflect the World. They used his words to talk about how some groups of people might feel left out in school settings. John Stigall wrote:

Racism is stupid. ..... Yeah, prejudice is like a house dog hunching on your leg. But you got to shake it off or it'll really screwwwwwww your head up.

In 2002, a positive review of his book Subjects for Other Conversations was published. His poem "Another Version of As Told in the Tombs" also appeared in a literary journal. Another one of his poems, "Worship," was included in the literary journal Number One in 2006.

John Stigall's Spoken Word Recordings

John Stigall also recorded his poetry with a progressive rock group called Losfer Words. He made two CDs with them. He also released a two-disc collection of his own works.

In 1994, John Stigall and David Flower, who started Losfer Words Records, were on a radio show. The show was called The Mentors and was on National Public Radio (NPR). They talked about how they turned John Stigall's book Broken Mirrors Reflect the World into a CD called Into the Life of this World. They also announced that John Stigall would be featured on Losfer Words' Eye of the Storm CD.

His CDs feature him reading his poetry. The readings are set to original music by Losfer Words. This music includes different styles, from Blues to New Age.

John Stigall's CDs

• Into the Life of this World (1996) - This CD included poems from Broken Mirrors Reflect the World. It also had early versions of poems that later appeared in Subjects for Other Conversations.
• Another Conversation With the Bard (1998) - This CD was based on poems from Subjects for Other Conversations.
• Into the Life of this World (1999) - This was a new release of the first CD with different music.