Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern reading two poems entitled “Lilies” and “She was a Dove”. These poems were read aloud at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival. “Lilies” was about Dr. Stern waiting in traffic and one of his beloved fans trying to reach out to him. Stern makes it clear he wanted to speak with the individual more but could not pull over so left him with simple words of wisdom “read more”. Gerald Stern read this poem with a comical twist to it which made the poem that more enjoyable to listen to. “She Was a Dove” was read in a more serious matter. He talks about his lost love. You could hear the emotion in his voice as he reads the poem. Stern states in the poem “but I abused her” so presumably he is not with her anymore. The listeners can tell he loved this woman dearly and regrets what he has done to her. All in all Gerald Sterns poem readings were a delight to listen (and watch) him read. He uses proper tone (of course because it his poem) and shows emphasis on key words. I really enjoyed this video. reading two poems entitled “Lilies” and “She was a Dove”. These poems were read aloud at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival. “Lilies” was about Dr. Stern waiting in traffic and one of his beloved fans trying to reach out to him. Stern makes it clear he wanted to speak with the individual more but could not pull over so left him with simple words of wisdom “read more”. Gerald Stern read this poem with a comical twist to it which made the poem that more enjoyable to listen to. “She Was a Dove” was read in a more serious matter. He talks about his lost love. You could hear the emotion in his voice as he reads the poem. Stern states in the poem “but I abused her” so presumably he is not with her anymore. The listeners can tell he loved this woman dearly and regrets what he has done to her. All in all Gerald Sterns poem readings were a delight to listen (and watch) him read. He uses proper tone (of course because it his poem) and shows emphasis on key words. I really enjoyed this video.

Poetry Reading

The poetry reading I attended was at Thomas Edison High School. The poetry reading was very insightful. A relative of mine told me about the past event and I thought it would be perfect to attend since the assignment is due soon and it is always fascinating to take a trip down memory lane (since it is my old high school). To my surprise the young adolescents who were up on stage last Saturday had some very deep emotions. Teenagers have written some of the best poems that I have read so far. Maybe it is because of the emotional change and stress they go through that most of them resort to writing poetry as a break from society. Honestly I went there not knowing I was going to hear some really good poetry. A young girl named Mel read her poem entitled “Cost”. Her poem was an emotionally deep, heart breaking piece of literature. It was about a broken heart and the affection in her voice seems that her poem is a personal experience. A line that really stuck out was when she said “I very highly doubt you ever cared, constant lies proved that you are nothing but scared”. That line stood out because it is true, individuals only lie when they are scared of the truth. I felt this young girl’s pain and had this feeling of sadness casted over me. Another poem I liked was by another girl named Pricilla. Her poem was entitled “With Days of Tomorrow”. This poem was a happier one and yet again it was about love. The speaker used a lot of metaphors in this poem. Comparing her love to the nature “Emotions of leafs falling sending messages of weather change, this spirit of mine blossoms, sending messages of changes becoming in my world today”. I actually had a chance to speak to these girls personally after the poetry reading. It is amazing how their emotions differed, however that was very evident in the poetry they read. I was able to get a chance to talk to them both and get a copy of both poems. I read them once again to understand more of what was going on in their heads at the time they wrote them. Mel actually told me she had written the poem the same morning. After this I came to a realization that poetry is a form of writing developed to express ones inner thoughts and emotions. Not only mentally but physically as well. In some manner poetry is a creative way one explains their understanding. Some speak of death, love, life, family etc. impressively leading to a famous path, being critiqued and having publication in various places lead to a poet becoming famous. These young girls have the skill to become someone famous in the poetry world.

Grahams Poem on Klimts Paint

With the recent class discussion on ekphrastic, there is nothing better to describe the term with then the poem written by Jorie Graham “Two Paintings by Gustav Klimt”. Even looking at the title alone the reader apprehends that this poem (which is one piece of art) is going to describe paintings (which are another piece of art). The poem in some ways comes to me with confusion, for the poem appears to be describing the first photo shown above, if not mistaken entitled "Birches". The painting I found to be very transcendent, and when gazed upon, I found myself becoming lost. It is a very deep image and seemingly, feels never ending. Graham elucidates in the first two stanzas that the imagine represents a dreary vicinity. However, he goes on to affirm that “The dead would give anything, I’m sure, to step again onto the leafrot” (Lines 14-18). The second half of the poem was hard to find an image on. However, the second image posted at the top comes very close. Showing some scrutiny for this photo as well, I fell into a wayward mindset. The conceptual grasp the portrait gave me had me staring at it for some time. I really admired the second painting a lot, but mostly I adored the way Klimt articulates his art work. Nevertheless, the uses of ekphrastic by Graham to describe these paintings by Klimt are extravagant and unique.

"One Train May Hide Another" Read by Kenneth Koch

Kenneth Koch did a fascinating job delivering the poem “One Train May Hide Another”. The entitled poem signifies that we should not rush through life. We should slow down and see what we are missing because there are a lot of beautiful things out there in the world to discover. The tone of the poem, perhaps the tone that Kenneth Koch uses while he conceives this poem aloud is reposing. He read without any hastiness, and it went along well with them poem. Kenneth Koch read the poem in such a manner that you can apprehend and truly admire every single line of the poem. New York School poets seemed to bring much more to poetry then just words. They brought the adventure of the big city itself into each poem they wrote, and we all know how much life New York City has. They were very intelligent in what they did and Kenneth Koch’s reading of “One Train May Hide Another” was a reflection of how creative and passionate the NYS poets really were.

Poetry by Langston Hughes - The Weary Blues

This video was absolutely amazing. The way the poem was read and how the mini videos corresponded with the poem. It was kind of old school, black and white but never the less it was great. The video kind of made me feel first hand what the people were going through. The emotion of the speaker and the pictures flashing before us kind of gave us an idea of how people over came these obstacles and tried to make the best of what they had. Video clips of people having fun dancing and smiling, that is what the Harlem Renaissance was about. Even though their was a lot of racism at the time, those people made the best of the situation and videos like these make me happy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyqwvC5s4n8