A Poetic Proposal
Copyright © 2000 by Dave Badtke
Are you tired of spending big bucks at your nearby soulless movie megalopolis where rancid buttered popcorn and a soda can cost as much as a wondrous entrée at Victor’s in Benicia or at Port Costa’s Bull Valley Inn?
And, having paid, are you then tired of the movies that have, with few exceptions, the same-old stars replaying reprises of the same-old tired plots produced with multi-million-dollar special effects that max out audio technology with metal-crunching, beat-heavy, meter-pegging, rock-n-roll soundtracks?
And are you tired of taking your children to the video rental store only to fight with them over which movie to rent, leaving with movies that compromise your principles and that leave your kids irritable after they’ve watched them?
And are you tired of the same-old TV programs, the same-old talk-radio and news programs, the same-old best-selling, brand-name authors like Grisham, Clancy, Ludlum, and King, and the same-old traffic and shopping-mall congestion, and the same-old weekend haunts where you search for something different only to find everything the same.
And are you especially tired of wanting to be a millionaire or of wanting to marry a millionaire or of being a millionaire?
Are these the modern-world burdens bearing down on you so hard that you’re finally beginning to understand, after all these years, what Jean Paul Sartre had in mind when he wrote "Being and Nothingness"?
Then you, my friend, are in need of a big change!
And before you buy airline tickets for Europe or Hawaii, consider an entertainment which is much cheaper, much closer to home, an activity that was an art form enjoyed by tribes and civilizations long before people knew how to write their names on cave walls and IOUs. Consider an activity that you, your children, your grandchildren, your parents, and your grandparents can do and enjoy together or individually.
Consider poetry and poetry readings.
Whoa! you say. Hold on. Poetry month is over, finished. It’s old news. We’re already well into May.
Don’t you believe it. Poetry can be there for you when you need it.
Consider, for example, Ruth Blakeney, a published poet with cutting-edge insight and a mellifluous, touch-of-the-south reading voice, who conducts a poetry reading every second Sunday of the month at 4:30 at the Valona Deli in Crockett. The Valona’s intimate setting, with subdued lighting, small tables, a bar along the back wall, and a grand piano, feels like the jazz club it becomes at 6:00 in the evening when the Terry Henry Jazz Trio takes over the stage.
Ruth starts off each reading with a featured poet who, much like a jazz soloist, sets the mood by reading some of his poems, by riffing on his favorite themes. Recent featured poets have included Richard Silberg, Co-Editor of "Poetry Flash", Gail Ford, whose "Poison Pieces" exquisitely detail life, and Tim Bacon, whose haikus cleverly twist the listener’s mind into 17-syllable knots. An open mike follows during which members of the audience read their poems and we listen, as one listens to music, sometimes in lock-step with the poem’s words, and other times, when the poem is more difficult to understand, entranced by the poem’s meter, rhythm and sounds.
And consider an event you may have missed, the April 30th poetry reading organized by Benician Eliot Schain, who is also a published poet and teacher in Martinez, that was held at Arts Benicia with Open Studio art forming an elegant background. Eliot, Laurie Duesing, a Professor at Solano College, and D. Nurske, Poet Laureate of Brooklyn, along with a few members of the audience, read their poems in a setting and with a style that reminded me of a chamber music performance.
But it was later, after Nurske’s reading, that I became obsessed with the thought that Brooklyn had a Poet Laureate and we didn’t. I checked around a bit and confirmed, as I suspected, that none of the Carquinez Strait towns had one.
Which brings me to my poetic proposal: We of the Carquinez region should select and fund Poet Laureates, with one accomplished poet with a strong community commitment chosen from each town surrounding the Strait, who would work together to increase poetry in our communities. Over time, this distinguished group would help us address the societal dilemma so eloquently described by William Carlos Williams: "It is difficult / To get the news from poems / Yet men die miserably every day / For lack / Of what is found there—"
If you agree and would like to help in this endeavor, please contact me.
- Dave Badtke can be contacted at:
www.CarquinezReview.com; Dave@Badtke.com; PO Box 763, Benicia, CA 94510; or by calling 707-479-7702.