Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Natasha Trethewey, a professor of English and creative writing at Atlanta's Emory University, was named the Library of Congress' 19th poet laureate on June 7.
What a very boisterous fall! The campaigns were offensive and loaded with gall. Maybe the nastiest since the Adams and Jefferson brawl.
The to-do over referees was nearly as bad. The first games of football were tragic and sad. The fans were fuming ? they'd sorely been had.
September was in fact so loud and contentious that most people had no idea another season also began last month ? one far removed from primaries and pigskins. The Library of Congress' 2012-2013 literary season began on Sept. 13 with an inaugural poetry reading by the United States' 19th poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey.
Trethewey, a professor of English and creative writing at Atlanta's Emory University, is the author of four poetry collections. According to The New York Times, Trethewey has "devoted much of her career to resurrecting or recreating the histories of people who don't often make it into poetry books."
Librarian of Congress James Billington describes her poetry as "in the mold of Robert Penn Warren, our first poet laureate consultant in poetry. Her poems dig beneath the surface of history ? personal or communal, from childhood or from a century ago ? to explore the human struggles that we all face."
What is the poet laureate and what does he or she do? It's obviously not a position that attracts either Page One headlines or Hollywood gossip pages.
The official title is the poet laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. The poet laureate is appointed to the position by the librarian of Congress, and the term runs from October to May. During that period, America's lead poet is charged with raising the "national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry."
The job actually has very few official duties other than the inaugural reading, giving a lecture or two and attending events when requested. It's not exactly a job with rock-star status, and the perks aren't particularly great either. And no one has ever gotten rich being poet laureate ? it pays a measly $35,000 stipend.
The Library of Congress intentionally keeps the duties light so that the incumbent can spend as much time as possible working on his or her pet projects. Every poet laureate has brought something different to the position. Trethewey is determined to use her time to bring poetry to the widest audience she can reach.
"Poetry," she says, "is one of those things people turn to when they need a way to speak the unspeakable. That's because poetry not only can celebrate our joys with us, but it can also mourn with us our losses."
Here's hoping she has fabulous success in her efforts ? especially bringing poetry back to the schools. Fortunate indeed are those children lucky enough to still be taught and encouraged to write poems.
Poetry can teach us to appreciate beauty and symmetry. It helps to expand our imaginations and teaches us to be creative. With the virtual demise of personal, hand-written notes and letters, we need poetry in our lives to help us relate to one another. Poems have made us better creatures. They have gentled and refined us and have taught us to appreciate life.
Poems can be short, "Fleas: Adam had 'em," or epic, like the Hindu poem "The Mahabharata" ? 10 times the length of the "Illiad" and "The Odyssey" combined.
Poems can be funny, sarcastic or even poke fun ? Harvard alumnus John Bossidy's "Boston Toast" is a good example:
And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod.
Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots,
And the Cabots talk only to God.
Poetry can scare us. James Whitcomb Riley's "The Goblins Will Get You (if you don't watch out)" can still make children look nervously over their backs or scramble under the covers when the lights are off.
Poems can tug at our hearts. What parent, watching little girls grow up far too fast, can read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Children's Hour" without catching one's breath?
Poems have taught us history. How many of us know the story of Paul Revere's ride thanks to Longfellow? Or remember that "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue"?
Poems can change public opinion and force us to hold a mirror to ourselves. Oliver Wendell Holmes' "Old Ironsides" saved the USS Constitution from the scrap heap. William Blake's book of poems, "Songs of Innocence and Experience," took a hard look at industrial England.
Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" sends a message of hope and resilience. Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and Edgar Guest's "They Said It Couldn't Be Done" inspire and encourage and can recharge the weary when life gets tough.
Over the coming months we will hear about politicians, and we will hear far too much about the antics of Hollywood celebrities and pro-football players. What we aren't likely to hear much of is Trethewey and her efforts to promote poetry. And that's rather sad. Her work and the work of those she encourages will feed us in mind and soul. I wish her much success.
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