AURORA - Bruce Bennett writes just about every day, even when he is not feeling particularly inspired.

“Writers,” he said, “have to write.”

Bennett's poems, which are at times humorous and at other times grave, have led him to become a nationally-recognized poet and beloved English professor at Wells College.

“I write for myself, but I write for others, too” he said. “Writers have to write. And they would love to have an audience, but they don't expect one.”

On Sunday, Bennett was honored by a reading of his own work that put him in the onlooker's seat and demonstrated that not only does his writing have an audience, but a devoted one, at that.

Wells College colleagues read selections of Bennett's work to an audience of admirers, acquaintances and students who came to the Morgan Opera House event to support a man they say has become a fixture of the Wells College and Aurora communities.

Auburn poet Howard Nelson and poet X.J. Kennedy, of Lexington, Mass., also read selections of Bennett's work.

Bennett has written seven full-length poetry books and at least 20 poetry chapbooks, many of which were for sale at Sunday's reading. He received his bachelor of arts, master of arts and doctorate from Harvard and formerly taught at Oberlin College. He has been a professor at Wells College since 1973 and currently serves as chair of English and director of creative writing.

“His breadth as a poet is incredible,” said Linda Lohn, an English professor at Wells College. “I would call him a serious poet with a sense of humor.”

Lohn shared a few of Bennett's poems that she said represent the homey side of the man who served as her mentor when she came to work at the college in 1990 and has since become a friend.

The agony of listening to the rambling of a self-righteous poet described in “Will Nobody Stop the Poet?,” one of Lohn's selections, - “Perhaps if we flung blood / or shrieked and grabbed his ankles” - was not a sentiment shared by Sunday's audience. Bursts of laughter interjected the verses of Bennett's more comic poems, such as “To A Doomed Moth,” a tale of a lawnmower's mission to destroy the winged pest.

But not all of Bennett's work is humorous and witty.

“There#,s often a light-hearted surface and - I'm going to say it - a deeper throb,” said retired Wells English professor Alan Clugston. “Some of them seem quite merry to listen to, but have a little twist to them.”

Clugston read a poem called “The Coast of Maine,” where Clugston said he often summers.

One of Bennett's seemingly more serious poems, it describes a failed seaside summer fling between a woman “young and lovely” and the narrator, “wise and free.”

Wells College junior Christine Becker, 18, came to the reading to support a professor who she says has given her invaluable advice about writing.

“He just believes in his students,” said Becker, who wants to be a novelist. Becker took Bennett's creative writing class last fall and said he always encouraged the class to speak openly about their ideas, to tap into their creativity and to come to him if in need of guidance.

Bennett said has been a poet since he was 8 years old. By now, poems come naturally to him. “If you are open to poems and welcome them, they will come,” he said.

But like any trade, practice makes perfect, which is why Bennett advises his students to write as often as they can.

“They shouldn't wait for inspiration,” is what Bennett said he tells his students. “It may not come.”

Staff writer Sarah Gantz can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or sarah.gantz@lee.net