Poet and Professor of English Robert Creeley read from his work at an event titled "Poets Against the War" in Smith-Buonanno 106 Friday night. The event featured Creeley's reading and also included student poets and jazz musicians.
Introducing Creeley, Professor of English William Keach said the poet "has always been there since the Vietnam War era as a person and as a poet in the movement, fighting against barbarity and corruption."
Creeley's reading established an intimacy with the audience, which was silent as he read and responded with warm laughter and applause, to his remarks.
"The saying, 'If God wanted us to vote he would have given us candidates' is not quite as funny as it used to be," he said.
Creeley's selected poetry explored notions of ownership - how the American habit of "taking care of our things" has come to mean "preventing other people from touching them." Yet Americans, caught in the turmoil of war, lose that sense of ownership, which becomes "displacing and so bleak," he said.
As an aside, Creeley shed light on the creative process and the forces that dictate his literary decisions. The decision to use one word or language over another is often made based upon visceral feelings that certain choices evoke, he said.
Introducing the poem "En Famille," the poet said, "I don't know French. I thought 'En Famille' was cozy and containing. I just liked the way that sounds."
Toward the end of his reading, Creeley questioned - through a poem titled "Have We Told You All You Thought to Know?" - if witnessing or experiencing suffering is a necessity in life. Addressing the problems of whether war is inevitable and if its absence from human experience is a possibility, the poem asks, "Must humanness be its own reward?"
In his introduction, Keach spoke passionately about the need to "reignite the anti-war movement, which had a powerful beginning and then faltered."
The presidential race between Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and President George W. Bush has created a poor climate for the political process to effect change, Keach said.
"I know many of you will vote for Kerry, who was recently quoted as saying that he's tough and will use the unilateral deployment of troops if necessary," he said. "It's depressing to think he is the alternative to Bush."
Throughout the event - the brainchild of Senior Lecturer in American Civilization Paul Buhle - student musicians, including soloists Justin Bachorik '06 on piano and Joshua Bronson '06 on saxophone, performed jazz pieces. The music seemed to echo the sense of collective uncertainty felt during times of risk and upheaval.
The second segment showcased student poets and spoken-word artists, including Sage Morgan-Hubbard '05. Her pieces conveyed her desire to understand how women's bodies and minds are affected by war and to see a more prominent women's voice in anti-war activism.
"Because we are able to give birth and life, it is harder for us to declare, rage and fight in war," Morgan-Hubbard told The Herald.
Poetry and folk movements have always been a force of resistance during times of war, Morgan-Hubbard said. The most current groups of "poets against the war" came together when First Lady Laura Bush last year canceled a White House symposium that would have included anti-war poets.
"It came across as though she was scared that these poets would be too vocal about their political views and speak out at the White House about things, in particular the war that the Bush administration is waging right now," Morgan-Hubbard said.
Morgan-Hubbard said she has long grappled with determining the role of the poetic tradition in the political arena.
"It is a way of engaging folks, providing a beat to the movement - it unifies, it sustains, it keeps us going," she said.
