Poet, poet/author participate in NMSU English Department Zoom reading

“This is me, more than vocal, more than written,” is a line from one of the poems third-year New Mexico State University poetry student Alejandro Ruis del Sol read during a Zoom reading Friday afternoon, Oct. 16.

Sponsored by the NMSU English Department, the reading featured a number of poems written and read by Ruis del Sol, and a reading from poet and author Carrie Fountain from her young adult novel, “I’m Not Missing.”

“Alesandro, your poems were transcendent,” Fountain said.

Ruis del Sol, who came to NMSU from Florida in 2018, is a published poet and poetry editor and has participated in poetry readings in Las Cruces and elsewhere.

Fountain, a native of Mesilla and an NMSU graduate, has had her poems published in “The New Yorker” and the “American Poetry Review” among other publications. She is a National Poetry Series winner and was the 2019 Texas poet laureate. “I’m Not Missing” was published in 2018.

Her reading from the novel was as Miranda meets Nick, the boy who stood her up at the prom when they go to the Fountain Theatre to attend a movie for extra credit.

“Why did he have to be wearing his forest green hoodie, my very favorite of his garments?” is a line from the book, along with, “There was such a thing as two people getting ice cream, no strings attached.”

Miranda also talks about never returning her prom dress to the store where she bought it because she “couldn’t stand the idea of answering, ‘No,’” she’d never worn it, “’I never got the chance.’”

“I am a very proud Aggie,” Fountain said before beginning her reading.

For more information, visit english.nmsu.edu.