Honor Thy Father

-Poet and Writer Honor Moore Explores Her Relationship with her Father in her new Memoir, The Bishop's Daughter

This is the poetry blog. I am not in the wrong place. So why am I sharing my experiences from Thursday night's memoir reading by Honor Moore? Well, first, Moore is a poet and she is well known at The University of Iowa as she taught here in 1996. She currently lives in New York where she self proclaimes to be working on more poetry and another memoir.

This reading was from her newest book, which happens not to be specifically a book of poetry, but a memoire that touches on writing and the process of writing, especially poetry. Poetry plays an important role in the book and clearly, in Honor Moore's life. She read one section of the book in particular that deals with writing very personal family business in the form of poetry as a way of dealing with issues that seem overwhelming in print. Her writing was encouraged by her mother and disapproved of by her father, the well-known Episcopal Bishop of New York, Paul Moore.

This reading was important on so many levels. First, here in Iowa this past week same-sex marriage has been approved by the courts. As Moore's father was bisexual and married to her mother, fathering 9 children as well as maintaining a 30-year relationship with one man; one had to wonder, listening to her read, if these issues would have been relevant if her father had been free to marry a man. I thought about asking this question, hypothetically, to Honor Moore, but decided against it, as it would have been purely speculative in nature.

I enjoyed her reading very much; was interested and inspired by her poetic writing style. The Bishop's Daughter is a personal memoir, but the language, description and view is from the eyes of an established poet, so the material is far from dry or simply factual. There is a rich story woven in this book, a poet's perspective of a sensitive issue, a child's image of her father, a woman's acceptance of her father as a human being rather than an icon. This work is not 'poetry' per se, but it is poetic prose. It is lyrical story-telling at it's very best and the most interesting thing about the reading is that the book is a memoir. There is something in the literal and not fiurative that draws me to this work in particular.

It is also interesting to note that Honor Moore mentioned that most of her poetry touches on the women's movement and her relationship with her father in one way or another, so by reading the memoir, it gives the reader better perspective and understanding of her works of poetry, Red Shoes (2006) and Darling (2001). She has also collaborated on several works, edited a book of poetry from the women's movement and written a biography, White Blackbird about her grandmother, Margarett Sargent.

So, now you know why I'm writing this review in the poetry blog. I hope it inspires you to pick up Honor Moore's newest book, or perhaps touch back on some of her previously published poetry with a new perspective. I know I certainly enjoyed participating in the reading!

-Elizabeth Green