Dr. Robert Randolph, chairperson of the English and Foreign Languages Department, was recently selected for publication in an anthology about coffee, published by World Enough Press, with his piece, “Cup of Blues.”
Randolph said he responded to a call from World Enough Press for poems about coffee a few months ago, and was excited to see his submission had been accepted. In “Cup of Blues,” Randolph imagines seeing old blues guitarists playing in his coffee and reflects on the memories that image creates. Randolph said the poem took years to perfect, as he worked toward developing the idea.
“Poets do things like that, re-weave time and the world we are in toward new meanings,” said Randolph. “This one, like almost all of them, has roots that go back a long time: years. I try to write the poem, but in some ways, I have to wait for the poem to own itself, take up its own identity inside all my trying; and then I have it – or it has me.”
Randolph was also recently nominated to receive the Pushcart Prize, which honors creative writing from small presses. Each small press and journal editor can send up to six works published in a year to the Pushcart editors, who select pieces to be published in a special anthology. This is Randolph’s sixth time being nominated for the honor.
“I am grateful my writing has been noticed in that way,” he said. “Although I have been nominated that often, I have yet to have a poem included in the anthology for the next year—maybe this time.”
Randolph holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilmington College, Master of Arts degrees from both Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University.
For more information about “Cup of Blues” or about the Pushcart Prize, contact Randolph at rrandolp@waynesburg.edu or 724-852-3473.
Founded in 1849 by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Waynesburg University is located on a traditional campus in the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania, with three additional sites located in the Pittsburgh region. The University is one of only 22 Bonner Scholar schools in the country, offering local, regional and international opportunities to touch the lives of others through service.
