The Poetic Engineer

The poetry of locomotion can be hypnotic.

It has been suggested that engineers and words simply don’t go together. In fact, the general line of thought is that engineers and creative writing go together like oil and water.

I grew up in a small farming town in the beautiful swampy northeastern corner of North Carolina. It was (and still is) known for its high level of unemployment. During the winter of my junior year, the distinction of being poor farm kids earned our class a visit from a poet.

That little white lady was eccentric as all get out. But she had a real African drum. She beat that drum and taught us how rap and haiku and even math were knit from the same cloth.

I still have the small book of poems that our class created. But more importantly, the love for metered rhymes and math is still with me. It helps me communicate in dynamic, engaging ways that make favorable impressions. That, to me, is the purpose of any piece of written work.

The engineer that hates writing is a crippled engineer. As an instructor of future engineers one of my goals is to shatter the myth that engineers don’t make good writers. The professional engineer that does not write, does not exist.

It has been said that if you don’t want to write in your profession, don’t major in engineering. Major in literature or history instead.

Your thoughts? Leave a comment below.