May 19, 2017

Poetry Friday--2017 Mass Poetry Festival Review

Two weeks ago I attended the Mass Poetry Festival in Salem, Massachusetts. It's my 7th year attending, if my memory serves well. I make a weekend of it and stay overnight in a B & B even though Salem is less than an hour's drive from home. I really took the opportunity that the rain gave me, to relax and to not be obsessive about packing in as many sessions as possible. Today's post will only hit on a few of the events and activities that I did manage to take in.

The first session I went to had the amusing title, "Doughnuts and Death: A Baker's Dozen of Emily Dickinson's Most Depressing Poems." Actually it was a giant Emily Dickinson gossip session with most of the discussion going to Dickinson's love of Judge Otis Phillips Lord (who was a friend of her father's and two decades older than she).

We were told that the Judge playfully called Emily, "Jumbo." Here's a picture of Judge Lord (it is an engraving from History of Essex County, Massachusetts and obviously is based the photo you can see here.


As for her "most depressing poems," it seems that between the ages of 10 and 25, Emily lived next to a graveyard! No wonder death was addressed in her poetry!

And, speaking of doughnuts, here, Emily has written the recipe for "Kate's Doughnuts."

I definitely have some reading to do on Miss Emily's life!

At a reading by Andrea Cohen and Tom Sleigh I found it fascinating that Tom Sleigh's parents ran a drive-in movie theater. He told us some of what it was like growing up at the drive-in! At times I'm more interested in the poet than the poetry.

I do enjoy humor, and at poetry readings things can get a little angsty, so I made it a point to attend, "Not Without Laughter," a reading from the anthology by the Black Ladies Brunch Collective. The printed program had this to say about the anthology: the work "centered around finding joy, even in the most painful of times." I loved hearing how the women wrote poems in response to each other's poems, too.

Another reading I attended was given by Kazim Ali and Rigoberto Gonzalez. Ali mentioned that he took all his poems and made a text cloud of the most-used words. He next took the text cloud words and put them together to make a new poem. Fascinating!

Each year at the festival there is "The State of Poetry" session held. Here are some tidbits from this year's discussion:
Kazim Ali stressed that his poetry is not political, because "it is my life."

Marie Gauthier said that contemporary poetry is the same as the state of the world, "in complete disarray."

Rigoberto Gonzalez reads poets who went through difficult times to see how they got through. And he thinks that poetry lasts because of the craft.

Elizabeth Powell stated that "we are commodifying each other." And this: "poetry is the Snapchat of literature."

I learned about the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival, which is, "a celebration of the meeting of poetry and the visual arts at the intersection of film--poetry movies!" We viewed many of the short films of the past three years. Interestingly, a poet is not allowed to be filmed doing a "reading" of his/her poem. The films are more like illustrated poems. Here's one:



Make your way over to Whispers from the Ridge where the Poetry Friday Round-Up is being hosted. See you next week when I'll wrap up my Mass Poetry Festival review.

22 comments:

  1. What an inspiring experience! How I wish we had a similar event on my side of the continent, to my mention my own country.

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    1. I think if you went looking for them, you'll find them. I'm always amazed at how many events I find out AFTER they've occurred, and they took place practically next door.

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  2. Wow, that's video is really gorgeous and moving. Wonderful poem. Thank you for sharing -- can't wait to show my son.. .maybe he will do one for me. :)

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    1. I hope you can work with your son on a project. I look forward to seeing it. I assume he has some knowledge of the technology...

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  3. So much to take in. I imagine you did love returning to your B & B & pondering all you have heard. The video is a lovely end to your sharing. I love the thought of "highway of veins". Thanks, Diane!

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    1. Actually, I returned to my room exhausted and ended up asleep!

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  4. Don't miss the Emily Dickinson movie with Cynthia Nixon -- A Quiet Passion. We just went to see it last weekend, and it was very good. Lots of liberties were taken, as you expect with these movies, but I think it gives some good insight into why her poetry is, most often, less than cheery. -- Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com/blog/

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    1. Yes, I read about A Quiet Passion, it is on my list.

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  5. Wow! Thanks for sharing some of the highlights from the weekend. It sounds like an incredible experience. I would have made a beeline for the humor session--and went for humor in my poem this week to counteract the serious things around the world.

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    1. Humor is a great relief. Have you seen the anthology Seriously Funny: poems about love, death, religion, art, politics, sex, and everything else?

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  6. What a fabulous review....gosh, it makes me want to go next year! And, the treat of a night at a nearby B&B is just the ticket. So happy for you to get time to be immersed in the art of poetry. That Emily Dickinson...STILL full of surprises. I would have loved that session. Thanks so much for sharing. What a fun time you seemed to have had.

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    1. Emily is certainly a surprising discovery--I learn a little bit here and a little bit there.

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  7. Sounds like an interesting, filling weekend. I love this: "Poetry is the Snapchat of literature." Thanks for this visit to an event I'll probably never attend.

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    1. Maybe not attend Mass Poetry Festival, but I'm sure there are plenty of festivals out your way.

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  8. I'm not sure Whitman's Song of Myself is the snapchat of literature, but perhaps haiku. I love that video, both the words, the exploration of depression and the shifting views, internal to external to internal. I was almost too jealous to read your post, but I'm glad I did. Someday, I'd like to go, too.

    I knew a boy who mowed the grass on a cemetery. No one complained if he was too slow or played loud music.

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    1. I think by "Snapchat" the speaker meant "soon to be gone." The posts on Snapchat disappear quickly.

      Haiku, though small, have lasted through hundreds of years--far longer than Whitman! ;-)

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  9. Sounds like an interesting and inspiring day, for sure, Diane! I enjoyed the poem movie you shared... her young cartographer's license made me think of your poetic license. :)

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    1. Isn't it a great little film? Quite accessible.

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  10. How very intriguing! I want to read more about Emily's life, too. Especially the graveyard poems!

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  11. Diane, I have always loved Emily Dickinson's poetry. I never knew she lived near a graveyard. That must have been gloomy indeed. Thanks for sharing other information from the conference. I can imagine that you had a wonderful weekend.

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  12. A workshop titled "Doughnuts & Death" just HAS to be intriguing! Glad you enjoyed the weekend...sounds fun!

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  13. What a wonderful poem movie, I'd love to try one of these. I also can connect with Marie Gauthier saying" that contemporary poetry is the same as the state of the world, "in complete disarray." Thanks for sharing your day with us Diane!

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