oral tradition Archives - VSVEVG (very simple very easy very good)VSVEVG (very simple very easy very good)

Philippe Halsman, Eva Marie Saint, 1954, from The Jump Book

My poetry project, Where I live: a Devotion to Poetry, wherein I memorize, recite and post 52 poems in 2014 is coming to an end…ahhh…I know I’m sad too. I chose the poems I did for lots of reasons: to make statements, confound, entertain, to reveal a bit of myself, but always with the presentation in mind, not too long, too difficult, something that reads well out loud.

These last few poems will be simply for me. Just poems I like. I hope you’ll like them too. Hear this week’s poem, Song in my Heart,, by Diane Suess.

When I was in my early twenties I lived in Iowa City, Iowa, in the midst of some of the great poets of our age: Marvin Bell, Jorie Graham…Gerald Stern…Mark Strand

I waited tables at a decent establishment, the professors of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop often dined there. They were all decent people, but Mr. Stern only one I really looked forward to seeing. I even had a little crush on him, which baffled me because though he was kind and charismatic, he wasn’t really my type: 30 years my senior, with a grey halo of hair and a santaesque figure.

Now I understand why I was infatuated with him. I read and wrote poetry, but Mr. Stern lived poetry. The poem I recite this week could easily have been a monologue I greedily eavesdropped on while waiting on him.

Living poetry is what this project has been about. By devoting myself to internalizing great poems I hope to make poetry my home, the place that I come from. Mr. Stern gave me my first inkling of what that might mean. With gratitude and respect, I offer my recitation of Gerald Stern’s, Bolero.

Back in the Saddle.

This is such an outstanding piece of writing. A perfect piece of flash fiction, storytelling distilled. And it’s a great poem!

It is an honor to recite, Making a Fist, by Naomi Shihab Nye. Hear it Here!

VSVEVG (very simple very easy very good)

Abby Smith writes about complexities of the simple life.

Tag Archives: oral tradition

Let the Wind Decide

Song in My Heart

Living Poetry

Making a Fist

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