Graham's poem about Klimt

Analyzing paintings is a difficult task for me unless it is something that really grabs my attention. If it is too abstract, I lose patience. For a poet to have the desire to look deeply at a painting, especially to the point of creating a poem in response to their observation of the painting, is wonderful. It helps to add such depth to the understanding of what may have been going through the painter's mind as they created a piece of art. It is like a critical analysis that has turned into a type of commentary on their work.

At first glance at Klimt's painting, Beech Forest Buchenwald 1 (1903), I would never have been able to interpret anything close to what was captured by Graham in her poem, "Two Paintings by Gustav Klimt." The mere mention of Buchenwald makes this painting and poem intense and emotional. Graham notes Klimt's artistic style of incorporating shiny, glittery paints into his paintings in the lines of her poem that state, "Although what glitters on the trees; catching the light; and yellows glittering." It also appears that she many be connecting her concerns about the annihilation of the environment and nature as we know it to the annihilation of the Jews during the Holocaust. This seems evident when she states, "the sum of these delays is the beautiful, the human beautiful, body of flaws; stand in rows, anonymous." All of these beautiful people were killed because Hitler viewed them as flawed and they stood in rows (lines) waiting to be killed in cremeatories and gas chambers. There is a relationship that has been intertwined between the destruction of the trees and the destruction of the Jews with both being tied to, "The injustice of the world." Graham captures the visual features of the painting such as the colors "the blue air, the yellow trees," the glistening features of the paint, the shadows of the tree limbs "into the avenue of mottled shadows," the trees, and the season being autumn "one autumn afternoon." However, she goes deeper than just the physical features by creating a parallel relationship between the forest and the concentration camp, "crossing this yellow beech forest, this buchen-wald."

After mentioning Klimt's death, the poem takes a turn in a different direction focusing on a painting of a woman. The focus is on her vagina "a woman's body open at its point of entry; between her legs; over this mouth of her body." A simile is then incorporated in which brings back the mention of the colors used in his paintings, "we are drawn to it, its blues and yellows glittering like a stand." Her use of the word "pleasure" to end this poem makes me think of her use of "lust, desire, and passion" in "I Watched a Snake." Graham seems to connect these human emotions to the intense things that are happening around us or that have happened already.

As I looked at these paintings again after reading Graham's poem a few times, I began to hear the forest speaking to me. I was able to imagine what the trees may be saying if they could speak and the raw emotion that filled that beech forest. I was envisioning all of the trees being bodies marching along falling from time to time as tree leaves and limbs fall to the ground and die. I see the painting of the woman signifying that just as the Jews were viewed in such a limited and negative way, women can be viewed not for who they are or how they appear but just for one use, sex.

"One Train May Hide Another" by Kenneth Koch

"One Train May Hide Another" is read aloud by Kenneth Koch on http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15592. The tone he used as he read this poem reflected a sense of calmness and pause, which went along with the overall message of the poem. He did not rush through his reading, but instead took his time to slowly and clearly emphasize each word and each line of the poem. The pace at which he read gave the audience a chance to respond with laughter at humorous points and to have a chance for reflection during other points in the poem. It was like when you have a nicely seasoned juicy steak at a restaurant and you take your time to savor each bite, as opposed to rushing through the meal and barely getting to appreciate the time and dedication the chef gave in preparing your meal. The poet read in a way in which you could really appreciate and understand each word that he thoughtfully and carefully placed in the poem, which was the result that he had been striving for.

The repetition of the phrase, "One may hide another," emphasizes that we should take the time to pause and really look at the whole picture. We should not be impulsive in our decisions but instead should look closely at all of our options. We should look deeper than the surface of people, things, and situations and take the time to really process what and who is around us. His continuous repetition of this phrase demonstrated how strongly he believed that we should appreciate the whole picture when viewing something and not just the individual parts.

This thought is truly reflective of the tone of the New York poets, who didn't just look at and reflect on their own poetry but that of the other New York poets, as well. In addition, they opened their lives and minds to the work of the artists from that time period. They spent a great deal of time looking closely at and analyzing one another's poems and art. They were a very reflective and collaborative group of people. This is demonstrated by this incredible poem that was inspired as Kenneth Koch saw a sign at a railway crossing.

Poetry reading at The Village Bookshop in RVC

The Village Bookshop reviews describe it as a great little bookstore with friendly helpful staff and a nice variety of books to choose from. Many nice events are scheduled here and among those are poetry readings.

Walking into a poetry reading for the first time was a bit awkward. The room was set up with the chairs and couch nicely organized all facing forward where the poet would be speaking. There was a quiet pleasant atmosphere in the room and snacks for all to share. It was apparent that just about everyone knew each other and who the newcomers were. On Friday night, October 2, at 7:30PM, everyone anxiously awaited the arrival of the poet who would be presenting her poems. By 7:45, it became clear that Larissa Shmailo, who was the poet to share her poetry that night, was not coming. The announcement was made that it would be open mic night and a sign up sheet was passed around for all to have the opportunity to share what they had written.

Wayne had a reflective tone to his poetry. Each poem spoke of his life's journey and how he was looking back upon special moments or things that struck him as important and worthy of being described in detail. His poetry centered around luck, sand, and reflections. Wayne's use of end rhyme helped to provide rhythm to the poem, which made it easier to follow along and grasp his message. Wayne is an older man who seems content in life and uses his poetry to analyze and highlight his life's journey. Anyone who appreciates looking back upon fond memories and cherishing the details of objects, things, and moments in your life, would enjoy listening to Wayne's poetry. I appreciated the calming voice he used as he read and the peaceful tone that came across in his writing.

Matt had a different style of writing with his poetry. His poetry centered around the thoughts that are going through his head. I was able to picture the topics that he spends time thinking about and how his thought process works. "If I" was written with numerous questions about different directions the speaker's life could have gone in and what may have happened if he had done or been any of those things. Matt used imagery in his poem, "Mystery" to illustrate the many mysteries that exist in life. The vivid language used helped me to visualize the many things in life that he views to be a mystery. His use of metaphors in his poem, "Who am I," left a sense of mystery about who he really is as a person. He writes with a stream of consciousness in "Nothing," which consists of a bunch of rambling thoughts that do not tie together and then ends with "What are you talking about?" "Nothing." His addition of the second speaker at the end of the poem adds both humor and understanding as to why the rest of the poem was full of disconnected thoughts and phrases.

Annie appeared to be a modernist style poet. She focused on topics that centered around nature and her writing was somewhat ambiguous. The conceit of the poems was not as clearly evident as with the other poets. Her message in her poem, "Fly," was the struggle of the human condition. She used a parallel relationship of "a fly struggling on his back; the wind that picked him up so he could fly; his living one last flight and will soon mingle with the dirt" to represent how humans face struggles in life; have people who help us through; and in the end we will also die and be buried. I appreciated the passion displayed in her poems.

One poet focused on two funny poems that he had written about snow and a firefly. His poem about snow was from a memory he had from when he was ten years old and noticed the individual snowflakes that had fallen on his winter jacket. He used descriptive language throughout the poem to describe the action of the snow. His poem about the firefly also focused on the action of the firefly and he used personification to help the listener to develop a relationship with this firefly as the speaker of the poem had. The firefly was "thinking, feeling, and chatting."

Floyd's poetry centered around anger and disappointment in the relationship that he had with his wife and his feelings of loss around the lack of time that he is able to spend with his grandchildren. His poetry appears to be an outlet to express the feelings that are weighing heavily on him.

Listening to the various poets share their poems with such pride and passion helped me to appreciate poetry in a different way. Observing the value the poetry held for each of these poets and the connection that it allowed them to have with those around them was a powerful message that I will carry with me.