Let me tell you a little about Yusef Komunyakaa. He is a distinguished Senior Poet at New York University. He is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. He has written nine volumes of poetry. He has written a book of essays. He has co-edited two books about jazz poetry. He has been published in numerous journals. His poetry volume, “Neon Vernacular” won him a Pulitzer Prize, and he has won a list of other awards.
The creative writing program, the John C. Hodges Better English Fund and the Quality Enhancement Program, otherwise known as the Ready for the World program, are bringing him here. He will be giving a poetry reading at the Hodges Library Auditorium tonight at 7.
This is my pick of the week from the calendar.
Poetry is underrated, and it escapes the attention of many of us that poetry is an art still being practiced by some in our own day. For some, myself included, that is a comforting fact.
Perhaps the reason we’ve been turned against poetry is that we were not taught it well in high school or even in college. I noticed in poetry classes that there are some people who pull something out of the poetry and others who remain disappointed that it doesn’t hold the mind by instinct like TV does.
I’m not trying to be elitist, but poetry is a joy to its audience and an art to aspire for skill in. I still have my Norton Anthology of Poetry from my poetry class, and you’d be surprised how often I look something up. Most of my favorites are poems from long ago. Some people love archaic or epic poetry. Well, Komunyakaa has written a verse play about the epic of Gilgamesh (basically the oldest piece of writing known) with Chad Gracia serving to help dramatize it. This is the first time the Gilgamesh story has been written as a play, to my knowledge. It doesn’t get much more epic than this. If you only go for modern poetry that you can quickly understand based on the world the way it is today, well, Komunyakaa is alive and well. It’s hard to get much more modern than that. He has written extensively about his experience in Vietnam.
Novels may come out on top of short stories unless you’re a screenwriter or short on time, but a well-written poem is the wasabi of writing. It hits you quickly but has great impact. It can change your whole mood. It can telepathically create a feeling, emotion or outlook like a song can. It is a painting of words. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words — but a poem of 200 words can be more descriptive, and everything is subject to poetic appraisal. The emotional and spiritual realms are open to rather direct exploration with poetry as a tool.
In poetry, we see the power of words, and that lesson is always needed. Lay this paper down on your lap for a few moments and think about the importance of language, writings and rhetoric.
Poetry also has a way of being more valuable for learning who you are and what you believe. You may agree or disagree with the message of a poet, and you must choose sides. Poetry is a great way to make arguments, to explore the nature of life and to adventure into human behavior. What should it be? How are we to feel about life in different circumstances? How should we behave, and what is the nature of this feeling or that feeling? Poetry has this quality in a way more direct than music, which can skirt around issues or meaning altogether and still be entertaining. It seems more direct about feeling and meaning than visual art, and it may carry much more emotion than prose does, if loaded properly. I am not saying that visual art, prose or music is restricted from doing anything poetry can do (with the right artist), but poetry study seems to lend itself, unavoidably, to certain tasks. As I said about dance, this is an ancient art and an art revered by a wide-range of traditional societies. It is not something we should lose respect for or interest in.
You may like Komunyakaa’s poetry or you may prefer something else, but if you have any interest in poetry, attending his reading is not to be missed unless your previous engagement is of the highest order of importance. You will only be a student for a time, and great opportunities like this may come to UT every day, but Komunyakaa won’t. If you have no interest in poetry but care about jazz, you aren’t off the hook. Don’t miss this night to learn something else about jazz and this man.
This is a great opportunity to experience something different. It will break up your workaday grind. Check it out. This is probably the biggest Writers in the Library event yet.
