The backdrop screen that reads “Open Vision’s Forum” makes Robert Pinksy seem minute, slouching behind the podium resting on his elbow. Yet, with his powerful message and voice, Pinsky’s presence over-powered the Quick Center on Feb. 27.
“We [the U.S.] are without the unifying folk culture,” stated Pinsky. The thirty-ninth Poet Laureate of the United States, Pinsky entered the Kelly Theater at 7:30 p.m. to speak on the importance of poetry as part of a folk culture.
According to Pinsky, many other cultures possess a unifying folk culture in which there is a “snob-value” connected to poetry. He feels as though our country advanced the form of poetry, not the unifying appreciation for it.
Pinsky does believe that poetry is popular amongst our nation. “Contrary to popular belief, many Americans love poetry,” stated Pinsky. He said that if one were to ask a custodial worker or a fireman to pick their favorite poem and recite it at a poetry reading, they would comply.
This idea gave birth to his archive known as “The Favorite Poem Project.” The project is a collaboration of published poems in which every day people send in their favorite poems with a letter explaining their personal connection to the particular poem. From this project stemmed a book entitled “American’s Favorite Poems,” a web site, and 50 short video documentaries.
“On a human scale, [poetry] is intimate,” stated Pinsky, which is why his book gives access to the glorious works that are intimate to others.
While Pinsky spoke about poetry as a whole possessing its own personal melody, his own collection of poems read like pages of music.
In his latest collection of poems entitled “Jersey Rain,” many of his poems do have a form of rhythm to them that flows throughout the poem. The creative styling of his poems also fluctuates as much as the sound within the lines of his poems.
For example, Pinsky incorporates many Greek myths into his poems that at times serve as adjectives to the subjects of his poems. In his poem “To Television,” he compares the T.V. to Hermes, the messenger god. He writes:
Homey miracle, tub / Of acquiescence, vein of defiance. / Your patron in the pantheon would be Hermes.
Here Pinsky writes by tossing out fragments of images towards the reader, which will eventually fuse together to form a beautiful language.
In a more personal poem, which shares the title of the book “Jersey Rain,” Pinksy writes about poetry and how his view on it has changed. He writes:
Now near the end of the middle stretch of road / What have I learned? Some earthly wiles. An art/ That often I cannot tell good fortune from bad/That once had seemed so easy to tell apart.
Here there is an ABAB rhyme scheme where the end word in the first line rhymes with the third line and the second line rhymes with the forth. Also in this particular poem, which reflects a style common in his other poems, the words act as notes and the song of the poem is sung within each stanza.
“[Pinsky] has a thoughtful style… sometimes it reads like Jazz music,” stated Timothy L. Synder, Ph.D. and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “He brought the life within and the life between us through poetry.
Pinsky’s professional and intellectual appearance made both faculty and students appreciate him as well as poetry.
“We’re grateful to have Robert Pinsky on campus because he is a great communicator and can communicate his love of poetry to a wide audience,” said associate professor Dr. Kim Bridgford of the English Department.
“I was very impressed with how insightful and passionate he was about poetry and tying it into life in general. He was able to provide meaningful and practical applications to poetry,” stated Adam Sheehy ’02.
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