Civic poetry is out of favor.
By civic poetry, I mean poems written for the public to commemorate a public occasion. You heard an example if you watched the Obama inauguration and heard Elizabeth Alexander recite her "Praise Song for the Day." The reading added scope to the event and everyone seemed to like the idea of a poet writing original verse for such an occasion.
But Ms. Alexander was only the fourth poet asked to read a poem at a presidential inauguration. The first was Robert Frost (Kennedy), then Maya Angelou (Clinton), and Miller Williams (Clinton). A fifth poet, Jimmy Carter's fellow Georgian James Dickey, wrote a poem for Carter and read it at the inaugural gala the evening of the inauguration. (You may have heard of Dickey as the author of both the novel and screenplay, "Deliverance," the evil twin of romantic comedy.)
State and local occasions are also at times marked with poetry. In Gloucester, mayors have sometimes asked poets to compose and read. The World War II Memorial committee asked for a poem for its dedication. Poets are sometimes asked to write and read for private events, such as weddings and funerals. Next month, this column will announce the winner of the Quarterdeck poetry contest, a civic poem to commemorate the Man at the Wheel Massachusetts quarter.
But if civic poetry is such desirable thing, why is it not more common? Why is it not a part of all ceremony? Why is it generally out of favor?
There are three reasons and the first two, the most important, are the fault of poets.
First, too much modern poetry is vague and indigestible — even by other poets. Buying their books serves more as initiation rite to closed social circles than an opening to wide fields of idea, sense, and emotion. Along the bell curve of bad poetry there are some Goliath reputations based on work that no one reads and fewer understand.
Second, too many modern poets look down on civic, occasional poetry. Poets who don't shy from scribbling out their millionth precious thought scorn poems marking a new bridge or a new governor taking office. One left-handed compliment paid Andrew Motion, the English poet laureate whose term ended in May, was that "he didn't embarrass himself."
The third reason for the lack of civic poetry is that the public, aware of the first two reasons, shy away from asking for poems to bless events. There are marvelous, understandable, clear poets working today, like Ted Kooser, Charles Simic, Linda Pastan, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, or Louise Gluck — the last a great proponent of simplicity in poetry. But these poets, for the most part, have not yet worked themselves into standard textbooks. So the public, reared on Frost and Auden and listening for echoes from high school, is disappointed. The civic invitation does not go out.
Civic poetry is usually accessible to an attentive, general audience. I don't mean that it should "talk down" or be "watered down," but simply that it should use basic language.
A chemist talking to chemists might say, "Pass the crystalline solid disaccharide." You and I would say, "Pass the sugar." Often, since it is read out loud, civic poetry relies heavily on sound: rhyme, internal rhyme, assonance, consonance, refrains and other similar devices. And civic poetry, like all poetry, should be good: insightful, well crafted, fresh.
Last, civic poetry should be positive and uplifting on the topic community. The poem Dickey wrote at Carter's request, "Strength of Fields," is a good, perhaps great, example of civic poetry. It closes:
Lord, let me shake
With purpose. Wild hope can always spring
From tended strength. Everything is in that.
That and nothing but kindness. More kindness, dear Lord
Of the renewing green.¬ That is where it all has to start:
With the simplest things. More kindness will do nothing less
Than save every sleeping one
And night-walking one
Of us.
¬ My life belongs to the world. I will do what I can.
John Ronan is poet laureate for the City of Gloucester.
Poetry on Paint
Call it Ekphrastic Friday!
This Friday, the North Shore Arts Association is sponsoring "Poetry on Paint," a talk in which I will discuss how visual arts can influence and inspire poetry. The event, which starts 7 p.m., will use slides of some famous and local art works (Delacroix, Hopper, Degas, Berkman) and I will read poems of mine inspired by them. Anyone interested in either art form or how ideas cross the frontier between them are invited.
The Quarterdeck Poetry Contest is extended one day, to Aug. 24, because the 23rd is a Sunday. Entries should be mailed to Box 5524, Gloucester, MA, 01931.
— John Ronan
