By KRISTIN KNAUTH
With tones swinging from witty to bitter to joyful to profound, six noted poets launched National Poetry Month at the Library on April 9 with readings from their own works.
April 1996 is the first annual National Poetry Month, a celebration of poetry and its vital place in American culture. The launch, which took place in the Northwest Pavilion of the Jefferson Building's Great Hall, was one of hundreds of events being held throughout the country this month to highlight the achievements of contemporary poets and introduce more Americans to the benefits of reading poetry.
Before an overflow crowd of more than 400, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry Robert Hass introduced former Poets Laureate Rita Dove, Anthony Hecht and Mark Strand, as well as Carolyn Forch‚, Linda Pastan and Charles Wright.
"National Poetry Month is a wonderful way to celebrate the richness of the voices in our midst. 'So many uttering tongues,' as Walt Whitman said," said Mr. Hass.
The artists and their works were presented with little or no formal introduction, in some cases without even giving the poems' titles. This seamless approach allowed listeners to become absorbed in the rhythms and meanings of the poems without distractions.
Ms. Dove (Poet Laureate 1993-1995) began the proceedings with "Lost Brilliance" from her book Mother Love, describing Persephone's experiences in hell, and continued with a series of uncollected poems, including "Freedom: Birds' Eye View," which she said was inspired by the view of Capitol Hill from the poet laureate's office in the Jefferson Building.
Carolyn Forch‚, author of three books and a teacher at George Mason University, greeted the crowd with, "It's rather overwhelming to see you all celebrating poetry like this!" Her selection included "The Garden Shukkei-en," from her volume The Angel of History, about a garden in Hiroshima that was restored as a memorial after World War II. Ms. Forch‚ said she toured the garden with an elderly Japanese woman who was in it when the atomic bomb was dropped in 1945; her poem recounts the woman's words to her:
Do you think for a moment we were human beings to them? . . . Do Americans
think of us? . . .
We have not, all these years, felt what you call happiness.
But at times, with good fortune, we experience something close. . .
And in the silence surrounding what happened to us
it is the bell to awaken God that we've heard ringing.
Anthony Hecht (Consultant in Poetry, 1982-1984) presented, among others, "The Message," from his forthcoming volume Flight Among the Tombs (Anthony Hecht 1996):
Fuscus, my friend, go tell that lying . . . Wait!
Hold on a moment. Let me reformulate
The sort of thing I'm after. Tell her she,
Whether she likes the thought or not, will be . . .
Or, rather, let me put it another way.
Say that you left me reveling, and say
Everyone says how good-natured I am.
And let her know I'm happy as a clam.
Linda Pastan, Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1994 and author of nine books, focused her selections on the power of books and writing. In "Prosody 101" she contrasted formal teaching about poetry with the teaching of experience:
When they taught me that what mattered most
was not the strict iambic line goose-stepping
over the page but the variations
in that line and the tension produced
on the ear by the surprise of difference,
I understood yet didn't understand
exactly, until just now, years later . . .
as I walked in
you laughed and lifted me up in your arms
as if I too were lacy with spring
instead of middle aged like the camellias,
and I thought: So this is Poetry.
Mark Strand (Poet Laureate 1990-1991) presented five short poems called "The Dog Poems," followed by "Some Last Words." Charles Wright, author of 11 collections of poetry and a professor at the University of Virginia, read "View from Laguna Beach," "Black Zodiac" and others.
The reading was followed by a reception in the Jefferson Building's Great Hall honoring Washington-area booksellers, which several of the poets praised for their support of local writers. Hass called the local bookstore "an important cultural institution that needs to be honored."
The evening affair was organized by the Academy of American Poets (AAP) with support from the Library's Gertrude Clarke Whittall Poetry and Literature Fund. AAP was founded in 1934 to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry.
National Poetry Month is a joint venture of the Library, AAP, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, educators and poets across the country.
The poetry and literature reading series at the Library is the oldest in the Washington area, and one of the oldest in the United States. This annual series of public poetry and fiction readings, lectures, symposia and occasional dramatic performances began in the 1940s and has been supported almost exclusively since 1951 by a gift from the late Gertrude Clarke Whittall.
The Poetry and Literature Center, which administers the series, also houses the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, a position that has existed since 1936 when the late Archer M. Huntington endowed the Chair of Poetry at the Library of Congress. Since then, many of the nation's most eminent poets have served as Consultant in Poetry and, since 1985, as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. The Poet Laureate proposes authors to read in the literary series, plans other special literary events during the reading season and usually introduces the programs.
Kristin Knauth is a free-lance writer working in the Public Affairs Office.