Poets House sure knows how to put on an open house. The new digs are a thing of simple & spacious beauty (no more the dark cramped quarters of a lib rm). I got there at about a quarter past noon, it wasn't crowded @ all-- plenty of rm & space (can't belabor that point enough) to sit & marvel @ their lib collect'n. Lookg thru the stacks i came across this self-made book called "Pirate's Laughter," by a New Orleans based poet. I liked how it didn't have that mass-produced look;that freedom of choice & indiv personality went into the multicolored pages, the author on the cover dressed like a female pirate & smoking a pipe. The second half of the book was exactly that: The second part of the book-- the spanish version of the poems. Anyway, it was all really interestg & bcuz i've been thinkg of making my own book of poems-- note making, not publishing-- i could take heart that it could be done well.
At about 1pm, I left to enjoy Battery Park's gorgeous stretch of trees & immaculateness, along the waters of the Hudson, that kept tempting me fr the glass-sided overview of Poets House 2nd flr. After watchg the various maritime activities, & the Statue of Liberty in the distance, I wandered down to the pavilion where the evts were to take place later in the afternoon. Eventually, the fact that a band was warming up behind me started to filter into my consciousness. Yep, it was Natalie Merchant, & her guitarists, doing sound check.
Sigh. There are so little words to discribe the indiscribable feelings of finally hrg Billy Collins rd in person. Natalie Merchant described all the poets, who rd before her perf as "Titans": Several of my pesonal favorites, and possibly a coupla new ones. I take back everything i've ever said about Galway Kinnell. It's been, maybe, six yrs since i've heard him rd in person & it was a bit of a shock to see him so grey-haired, lookg like the elder statesman i suppose he is. He had two truly hilarious poems: One about Robert Frost being a chatterbox & the other about how eatg oatmeal is so boring it's advisable to do so w/ company (even if imaginary), aptly titled "Oatmeal."
So many great rdgs: Cornelius Eady did a 9/11 poem he had written just after those events-- which was appropriate, considerg how beautiful & resilient Battery Park City have risen fr those ashes. I was excited to see Marie Howe again, after already hrg her rd @ one of Bryant Park's poetry series this summer. "What the Living Do" is one of her most wrenching poems & it was so symbolic of the feelings of death & renewal that i always feel around this time of yr. Samhain again my friends.
And Natalie Merchant, how to describe my long ago college yrs? In the 90s when Tigerlily, her debut solo album, was on rotation at every college radio station across the country. How "Wonder" had us all convinced we were going to change the world.
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