Laura Villareal for Word for Word Poetry, June 16, 2015
Featuring Four Way Books
On June
16th, after an afternoon of heavy rain, the sun came out just in
time for an evening of evocative readings by poets from Four Way Books. The
lambency of the setting sun against the buildings surrounding Bryant Park
provided an idyllic backdrop for the readings.
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Andrea Cohen |
First to
read, Andrea Cohen, whose resonant lyrics set the tone for the evening by
evoking an immediate and sustained hum of appreciation from the crowd. Cohen,
an author of four books and recipient of multiple awards including the PEN
Discovery Award, read from her most recently published book Furs Not Mine that came out this April. Cohen read thirteen poems, one called
“Clasp” in which she says, “because the desire to hold/ fast what we hold/ dear
is as old as sanity. / Great griefs are antidotes/ for lesser sorrows.” The
final two lines present a paradox that exemplifies the erudite incisiveness of
Cohen’s work.
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Elizabeth Gray |
Following
Cohen, Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr. read seven exciting poems from her book Series| India. In her reading, Gray gave
the audience a taste of the journey spanning from New York to India that is woven
in her book. Series| India is
composed of a complex sequence of poems that commingles shifting and juxtaposed
perspectives, which Gray demonstrated in her reading by providing poems from the
point-of-views of two characters. The plot points she revealed were tantalizing
enough for several audience members to remark that they needed to know what
else happened in the book. Her poems not only gripped the audience through
their fascinating narrative, but also had a gorgeous sonic appeal. For example,
“The Jeweled Deer” contained skillfully attentive lyrics, such as: “in a forest
of strange trees, a clearing, where he and I / would gather delicate
renunciations” and “shook its slender antlers of ivory, beckoned, and shyly, / dappled
in diamond and topaz, disappeared.” Gray’s work is filled with these
spectacular images and sounds.
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Gregory Pardlo |
Pulitzer
Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo, whose two young daughters were among the
crowd for the evening, read from his award-winning book Digest which probes a range of topics, most notably fatherhood. During
the reading, Pardlo jokingly mentioned that he couldn’t read “the grocery
store” poem (“Problema 3”), because one
of his daughters didn’t like it since it has to do with his other daughter. One
of his daughters giggled and the other frowned at his remark before Pardlo read
“Problema 2” and “Problema 4;” both poems that deal with fatherhood from
different perspectives. In “Problema 4,” the speaker asks his father for a
tattoo. His father says “no” to which the speaker says, “How can I beautify what I do not possess and
call it anything but graffiti?” The line is seemingly simple but creates a
stunning visual image that delves into the philosophical. Pardlo’s work
investigates the everyday finding a reservoir of questions and ideas that
reverberate yet to be explored intuitively and logically.
Daniel Wolff closed the evening with three poems from his book The Names of Birds. Chronogram
appropriately describes Wolff’s poetry as: “Seldom exceeding a page, airy
offerings suggest fleeting glimpses through binoculars.” Acknowledging the
opaque, fleeting quality of his work, Wolff read two of his poems, “Common
Crow” and “Bufflehead,” twice to allow the audience a second chance to absorb
their depth and to reflect on the larger questions posed in his work. In full “Common
Crow” reads as:
“I could name this Worship, this
call from somewhere in the top of
the elm.
Could point to the obvious strain
of the caller:
head lowered, tail rising, gross
throat stretched.
Could declare that prayer was as
common and coarse
as need. And what would that make
me?”
Terrance
Hayes described the process of poetry as: “Poems are not read, they are reread.
Reread the poem, then read between the lines, then look at it, then watch it,
then peek at it: handle it like an object. Contemplate its shadows, angles and
dimensions.” This is how Wolff’s poetry must be approached.
The
evening showcased the transformative quality of words and way language can
reach people viscerally and intellectually when brought together by skillful
writers. Special thanks to Paul Romero for curating the Word for Word Poetry
series.
LauraVillareal is currently pursuing an MFA at Rutgers University—Newark, where she
also teaches Composition. Her work has appeared in Persona Literary Magazine
and is forthcoming in Dos Gatos Press’ 2016 Texas Calendar.
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