Westminster Poet for 2024-25 January Gill O’Neil Visits

Racial identity, personal history, and the power of everyday moments are central themes in the poetry of January Gill O’Neil, the 2024-2025 Westminster Visiting poet of the year. O’Neil read a selection of her work in an all-school assembly and participated in class discussions on Feb. 25-26. This year marks the 26th year that the school has welcomed an acclaimed poet for a two-day visit as part of the Westminster Poet Series, which began in 1999.

O’Neil beautifully and articulately walked the community through pieces of her life story by reading excerpts from several of her books and poems, which highlighted significant moments in her journey as a writer, mother, and wife. 

“O’Neil is a poet of extraordinary warmth and insight,” said former English teacher Michael Cervas, who initiated the Westminster Poet Series and the Friday Nights at Westminster reading series.

Born in Virginia, O’Neil earned a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University and later attended New York University for graduate school. She is the author of four poetry collections, including her most recent, Clinton Road. She has said that poetry “gives us a chance to revisit stories and to educate, to uncover hidden miracles in the ordinary.”

O’Neil’s poetry often explores themes of race, family, history, and nature, weaving personal experience with broader social commentary. Her poem Glitter Road captures this sense of wonder and transformation:

“These days I will take my miracles however they appear, / a dusting of light on a road I almost missed. / I stop. I wait. I see the world shine.”

In her poem Hoodie, O’Neil reflects on the fears of raising a Black son in America, highlighting the tension between safety and identity:

“A gray hoodie will not protect my son / from rain or the New England cold. / I see the partial eclipse of his face / as his head sinks into the half-dark.”

O’Neil’s poems also celebrate food, community, and resilience. In Praise of Okra traces the vegetable’s journey from Africa to American kitchens, reminding readers of the endurance of culture and memory:

“You were brought from Africa as seeds, / hidden in the ears and hair of slaves. / We took the unused and the throwaways / and made feasts.”

Throughout her career, O’Neil has been recognized with numerous honors, including fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Cave Canem. She has taught at institutions such as Salem State University and the University of Mississippi, where she was awarded a fellowship in 2018.

O’Neil currently resides in Beverly, Massachusetts, where she continues to write and advocate for poetry’s place in everyday life. She believes poetry should be accessible, offering meaning, and insight to all who engage with it. As she states in Be Mine:

“For many years, I have been my own Valentine, / treated myself like a special occasion. / I buy my own candy and flowers, / accept the handmade cards of my children, / and call it enough.”