Geraldine R Dodge Poetry Festival, afterwards

My original idea was to write down the title of each poem I heard and then underline the notable ones and try to write something about them but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. So, what I have below is the next best thing. I only wrote comments about a few poems or poets. I have also included some links to whatever poems I could find on the net.

I noticed a higher proportion of humorous as well as extremely gut-wrenching poems than in the past.

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I went for Saturday and Sunday. It rained both days, a little on Sat, tons on Sun. I saw/heard some poets new to me and some familiar ones. Some impressions:

I got there in time for the 11 o'clock session on Saturday. Wandaring around, I saw Susan Jackson, who had a soft voice but stunning poetry, Ken Hart - a poem about him dating was one I noted and I think it was Brenda O'Shaughnessy whose language impressed me as especially lively.

In the main tent from 12:45 on I heard Peter Cole, who is very interesting, Linda Pastan, whose (Disobedience? In The Garden?, "I was never meant to be a God.") I remember from an earlier festival or hearing it somewhere else. A great dog poem. Later, Chris Albani was both funny and grippingly real in his tales of cruelty.

(Here is Chris reading on Friday)




Sharon Olds' poem(s?) on the death of her mother were moving and she did some of her Odes.

I went to the Bray Pond tent to hear Coleman Barks, Ted Kooser and C.D Wright. I hadn't heard Coleman in the morning Rumi session but he read more of his own poetry in this session. Ted and C.D.'s poetry didn't move me to write any notes on them.

(Here is Coleman reading on Friday)

I then went to the Gazebo to hear people read Whitman. One man in particular had memorized various sections and brought them to life by picking up a blade of grass while talking about it and otherwise using what he had around him. Brilliantly done!

The evening program's poets and poems who stood out in my mind:

- Simon Armitage two poems, one on a childhood school physics experiment where he had to shout to see how far a voice could carry (called The Shout) and I Am A Sperm Whale.

- Patricia Smith's riveting poem about the people who were left behind in a nursing home in St Bernard parish during Katrina. "... Leave them there..." repeatedly whispered. Gut-wrenching. (See the book Blood Dazzler.)

- Robin Robinson, from Scotland: Wedding The Locksmith's Daughter.

- Martin Espada's poem Alabanza about the food service workers in the World Trade Center tower on 9/11, teaching, at the end, the others how to sing. Another emotionally wrenching poem. See a movie version of it here.

- Franz Wright's poem that had in it, or was it an aside, that the IRS doesn't allow deductions for cloudy days.

- Kevin Young's poems "Aunties" (from Jelly Roll) and odes "To Pork" and "To Boudan."

I didn't stay after the break because I had to go back home and give my cat her insulin shot as well as get up early the next day to do the same, so that I could make the Rumi session then.

Sunday

I arrived before the Rumi session started and it got off to a little bit of late start anyway. Some lines I noted, but are roughly paraphrased here: the world is drowning in sorrow. What is the point of trying to know God? Be like a dog howling for its master. In the yearning, you will understand. There are many ways to kneel, as each instrument is singled out. (I'm guessing that the sound crew didn't play a track that Paul Winter wanted them to. He kept signalling them but I didn't hear any sfx or backing track. They did play some whale songs last night... The sound, by the way, was better than last year. Other than the heavy rain drowning out Billy Collins at times, EVERYTHING was audible and excellently handled. That tent is a fishbowl acoustically. Last year it was muddy unless you were sitting in a good spot. This year, it sounded good, if not a little loud, everywhere I sat.)

I wasn't sure where I wanted to go after that, and despite the hard rain, I headed to the farthest tent, the Bray Pond tent, to hear talk of poetry and animals. Mark Doty, as always, read beautifully. His poems about grackles in Houston "Theory of Beauty (Grackles on Montrose)" and goldfish eggs and him saying the chief of the Nez Perce' indians had told him, life without animals would leave humans with a loneliness of spirit. Very true and we are doing it anyway.

Maxine, Joy and Billy's readings and poems were good but I didn't write down any notes on them. Maxine and Joy had several horse poems. I don't understand horses but they helped.

I then still wasn't sure who I really wanted to see so I picked Kevin Young. Coral Bracho was new to me. Her poems were interesting, especially the one about water, "Agua de bordes lubricos. Both the English and Spanish versions were beautiful. I was tempted to make a short film, trying to find the sights she saw. In my mind's eye, I could. I don't think I could do that on film/video though. I might try. Kevin's poems I noted were about grits and chitlins.

The rest of the day was spent in the main tent.

I'd heard of Robert Haas and never seen him before but I didn't "get" most of his poetry. He did have poems about the death of his brother that were poignant. The line that 'poetry is dreams sent to school', to roughly paraphrase it, stuck with me.

Maxine's poems didn't stand out for me.

Ted Kooser had at least two that I noted: one about a skater and another about his wife washing her hands. "That is I"(?) too?

I hadn't seen Charles Simic before but nothing stands out.

I've heard Billy Collins read a few of the same poems at every Dodge Festival I've seen him at and was hoping he'd do some different ones. He did but repeated these: Tension, The Golden Years, The Trouble with Poetry and Litany. (He also read The Revenant at the poetry and animals session.) A new one (to me) that I liked, was his birthday poem. (Some readings can be downloaded here.)

At the very end they played Pat Metheny's Are You Going With Me (originally on the Offramp album), a wonderful tune I have always loved and very powerful.

I was fairly uncomfortable in the chairs at most of the stages so I squirmed abit but my back is feeling better, now that I am home.

I was disappointed that the food selection was so lackluster. Lots of junk food, not much that was good. The frozen hot chocolate at one stand was VERY good, thanks! I am suspecting that the festival doesn't have much say in what vendors are there; I'm guessing the state dictates some of that. I hope next time it's better.

Also, the main tent should have been ventilated better. I watched them open up the areas by the entrances on Saturday afternoon but most of the time it was MUCH too hot in there. If there are tents with flaps that can be rolled up more easily, I hope they use them. You feel like cattle in the feed lot when the crowd sits there helpless because the people running it aren't doing anything about ventilating it better. That kind of thing makes the festival experience unpleasant.

Overall, lots of wonderful poetry, wonderful poets, plenty to think about and enjoy. I'd say there were equal amounts of laughter as well as strong feelings on death and loss as well as a myriad of other subjects. It looks like much contemporary poetry has more humor in it than it has in the past which is an interesting development. Only one or two poets raised their voices and swore, something I'd seen more when I was growing up in the 60s.

Anyway, I look forward to the next one. Two years is too long.

Oh, and look for Festival poets on YoutTube! Their entire recorded collection going back to the first festival will eventually be available. See my earlier post for at least one sample already up.