Poetry with a Side of Political Activism

The poetry reading given by Mark Nowak on April 24, 2009 at Prairie Lights focused mainly on his new book Coal Mountain Elementary.  This book included poems and pictures of coal miners in West Virginia and China.  Many of the topics zoned in on the continuous problems, accidents, and danger the miners encounter on a daily basis.  The pictures in the book were presented via slideshow during the reading, creating visual interest in addition to the traditional audio pleasure of a reading.  His poems had an easy, talkativeness that made them simple to understand, but still poignant.   

 

I found the combination of these two mediums very moving, especially considering the subject matter.  As Nowak mentioned later in the Q&A section, no other profession excluding the active duty military has a deathwatch like mining does.  Every morning husbands kiss their wives goodbye for what may very well be the last time.  I found this fact very sobering.  Why is mining still necessary?  This was the question Nowak posed to all of us through his reading.  Though he was using the art of poetry, his main goal was to inform the public of the situation miners across the world today find themselves in. 

 

One of the most prominent subjects in his reading, and his book, was the Sago mine catastrophe.  I found myself mildly embarrassed to only have a fuzzy memory of this event.  Twelve miners, who had been reported alive, were actually dead as a result of an explosion in the mine.  One of Nowak’s poems describes this horrific event and what it must have felt like to be one of the family members of those twelve miners. 

 

However, this is only one event that happened three years ago.  Nowak stressed that this happens around the world, nearly on a daily basis.  Miners are still in great danger today, yet, little has changed in these past three years to prevent another disaster like Sago from happening again.  Nowak is working hard to change this fact.  His book discusses these problems; he is actively touring to promote his book, and reading selections from it in forums similar to Prairie Lights.  He also suggested that audience members become involved as well.  His webpage http://coalmountain.wordpress.com/ links to current events involving mining accidents, and he suggested going onto PBS to look up further information on the Sago mining disaster. 

By: Shannon Green

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

Meaning and Inspiration

My first poetry reading. I was not sure what to expect as I entered the cozy, crowded corner of the Prairie Lights Bookstore adorned with green chairs, and took a seat amongst the towering shelves of books lining the walls. The mood in the room is mixed. Some, like myself, appear clearly apprehensive, as though they, like myself, have never attended a poetry reading before. They sit in silence, eagerly anticipating the reading. Others--frequenters of such events, I would assume--chat away with one another. Shortly after seven, a woman takes the stage to introduce the reader.

Zach Savich is introduced to the crowd as a graduate of the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop and winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize. He is described as having the ability to capture the mergence of romance and reality within his work. These are topics of particular interest to me. As he takes the stage, I am relieved at his noninvasive presence. He appears to be almost as nervous to be speaking as I am to be there. 

He begins by posing the question, "What do people imagine when they're writing poems?" I consider this. Where do people draw their inspiration? And how does that define them as a poet? He answers for himself through out the reading, telling the audience that he draws inspiration from his friends and coworkers, as well as legendary figures such as Don Quixote. Shakespeare, and Charlie Chaplin. Many of his poems are reminiscent of others' thoughts and happenings. I find it reassuring that he, a prize-winning poet, draws inspiration from those he looks up to. I am inspired.

In terms of his work, I found the poems themselves a bit confusing. I could not tell where one poem ended and the next began, or whether they were a series of longer poems. Between what I deem to be poems, he stops and addresses the audience. He speaks to some people specifically, primarily friends and people he has gone out with the night before. He sympathizes with those who feel bored by the long, rambling poems that don't speak to them and promises to read only his most meaningful material and finish at a reasonable time. He finished ten minutes later, presenting the whole reading in just a little over half an hour. 

In the short time that he presented, I listened carefully to his work to try and find that important meaning he had described. The moment when it all makes sense. It was in his poem inspired by Don Quixote that I discovered the line which inspired me the most. Buried within the long, confusing poem was the notion that everything is "out of order, but related." This notion struck a chord with me. This line alone helped me to understand the rest of his poetry--his constant jumping from topic to topic--the disconnect within and between every work. It made me delve deeper into his words and search for my own interpretation of ways in which the random, disordered topics relate and connect to make sense. I believe that I was able to discover the 'meaning' Savich had implied: it is unique to every individual based on their personal inspirations and interpretations. 

-Caitlin Ward

The Reviewer Listens to a Poet Contemplate the Third Person

At 6:59 p.m., Prairie Lights is already brimming full with hopeful poetry lovers, sullen required attendees, and everything in between. Why ever they came, they certainly did come on Thursday night to see Jill Bialosky read from her newest collection of poems, Intruder. They sat cross-legged in the aisles and stood at the back, peering over shoulders. Many of them carried notebooks—possibly for personal use, but more likely to record some proof that they attended. Many classes at the university require that students attend poetry readings, and as a result the audience reeked a little of assignment. It is not all the time that an odd crowd takes over the personality of a performer, but I confess I worried a little how Jill Bialosky would handle us.

The answer was gently. She approached us calmly and gave us near constant smiles and eye contact that she maintained for the entire hour. It was a little reminiscent of a nice aunt or family friend. To introduce her work, she softly described her writing process and the way it lead her to dealing with identity: the “I” in poetry, she said, could be the poet or a character, that is, autobiographical or simply universal. To investigate, she found herself with the construction of “a poet” rather than an “I” in her work. In fact, the personal pronoun does not seem to appear in Intruder at all. Instead, Bialosky uses “she” as the poet and the character, with titles like “The Dream Life of the Poet” or “The Poet Contemplates Her Calling.” The concept seemed intriguing and worth exploring, but it read a little like The Poet Trying to Tackle a Theme Halfway. Instead of breaking down voices and exploring the difference between the “I” voice and the character voice, she simply merged them into “the Poet,” a character that is based on the “I.”

The most memorable poem seemed to be “The Poet Discovers the Significance of the Old Manuscripts.” The on-class-assignment students, who up until this point had been scribbling (or at least doodling) in their notebooks, sat up and listened to this one. Here, “the poet” discovers erotic Chinese poetry that she describes as “cruel.” Bialosky read, in her soft-spoken way, about how the “epic masterpiece…wanted to devour its reader with desire…They’d been drinking…days of unwrapping long beautiful robes…cut her with a knife.” A girl in the front row had been lulled to sleep (which I could understand, given Bialosky’s gentle, melodic voice) but her head snapped to attention here. Silence followed this. “Strange poem,” she murmured.

It was odd that she characterized these erotic Chinese poems as featuring “blood and darkness” but still having “gentleness in tone.” This is exactly the way I would characterize Bialosky’s poetry. Despite being “devoured,” drinking, and being “cut…with a knife,” there were also “long beautiful robes” and “epic masterpieces,” not to mention the sweet little voice that read it.


Despite her efforts to interact with her audience with warmth, eye contact, and more introduction than was even necessary, the audience sat in almost audible silence during the question portion of the reading. They either were so in awe that they could think of nothing to say, or they simply felt awkward. Either way, Bialosky quietly wrapped up the reading, notebooks were closed, and the audience went home.

Was she, as Booklist suggested, a creator of “stormy poems of love, disruption and resignation?” Perhaps not. Did I fully understand her takeover of identity as “the poet?” Definitely not. But were the poems aesthetically pretty and gentle enough to be enjoyable? Perhaps so. As a whole, Intruder left me feeling as ambiguous as her third person narration.


Reviewer: Nora Heaton