The Gala Launch: A Report [by Liz Howort]

The Best American Poetry 2009 gala launch reading on Thursday, September 24 featured  prize-winning poets (such as John Ashbery, Billy Collins, Mark Doty, and Richard Howard), but it will also be remembered for the record-breaking number of readers, twenty-one poets in all, some traveling from as far as California, Seattle, Cincinnati, and Kalamazoo.

The New School's Tishman Auditorium in New York City was filled to capacity, and the standing-room-only audience responded most appreciatively and with no loss of attention from 7:15 when the proceedings began until it was Matthew Zapruder's turn to read at 8:50.

              David Lehman, the anthology’s series editor, hosted the evening, and his introductory remarks surely resonated with writers of all genres. He imparted this advice to aspiring poets: “Don’t postpone writing the poem.” A renowned poet himself, Lehman cited a passage from Nicholson Baker’s new novel The Anthologist culminating in these sentences:

            “Put it down, work on it, finish it. If you don't get on it now, somebody else will do something similar, and when you crack open next year's Best American Poetry and see it under somebody else's name you'll hate yourself.”

            John Ashbery, the first featured poet, read “They Knew What They Wanted,” a poem comprised of movie titles that were brilliantly ordered, each beginning with "They." The audience guffawed when Ashbery recited, “They met in the dark./ They might be giants” (The Best American Poetry 2009, pp. 1-2)  Mark Bibbins also had the audience in stitches as he chronicled the state-by-state oddities of America. “It is the custom in Maryland to honor the stegosaurus on Stegosaurus Day,” for example, and “Mississippi

means gesundheit in esperanto.” Prior to reading his "Freud" sestina, James Cummins brought the house down by explaining that there was something the audience needed to know prior to hearing the poem. That something, Cummins said with perfect poker face, is that Freud was an influential psychologist who lived in Vienna.

            In acts of generosity, Philip Levine read Kevin Young’s poem from the anthology and Billy Collins read Bruce Bond’s “Ringtone,” a chilling poem about the shootings at Virginia Tech. Mark Doty's poem concerned a recital of "Ozymandias," and he followed by reading Shelley's great sonnet. Princeton professor James Richardson had to cancel his appearance at the last minute, so Richard Howard read Richardson's poem before reading  "Arthur Englander's Back in School," his own poem about a fifth grade class. It’s hard to imagine anyone capturing the voice and sentiment of a fifth grader as astutely as Howard. Martha Silano’s unexpected addendum to her paradoxical poem, “Love,” with its multiple iterations of the word hate, was her tremendous imitation of a seething espresso machine.

          It is not possible to characterize all the many poets that graced the stage, but they will surely be remembered for their varied voices and themes ranging from religion and justice to the recent change in government in the United States. Hats off to guest editor David Wagoner and series editor David Lehman for compiling such a rich anthology and organizing a most memorable evening! 

        -- Liz Howort

Literary agents Glen Hartley and Lynn Chu hosted a post launch cocktail party in their nearby loft.   John Roode Catering provided gourmet food and poet Matthew Yeager served as the evening's expert mixologist.  Poet Star Black shares these photos:

l to r Mark Strand, John Ashbery, David Schloss (Photo(c)2009 by Star Black)

l-r BAP '09 contributors Tina Kelly, Billy Collins, and Susan Blackwell Ramsey (Photo(c)2009 by Star Black)

BAP series editor David Lehman (second from left) with (l-r) Katie Freeman, Molly Peacock, Rachel Shukert, and Mark Stevens (Photo(c)2009 by Star Black)

L-R Paul Violi, George Green, and David Shapiro (Photo(c)2009 by Star Black)

L-R Jill Alexander Essbaum, BAP '09 contributor Jim Cummins, and Stacey Harwood (Photo(c)2009 by Star Black)

Comments

[Molly Arden]

A great time was had by all. I loved meeting John Ashbery et. al! Thanks David for a fab bash.

[Cindy Sostchen-Hochman]

There were even a few notably unknown poets who were very honored to be in a room with such luminaries!! -Cindy Sostchen-Hochman

[JAE]

Molly-- you were there?? I woulda loved to hang with you!!!! Ack!

[Molly Arden]

JAE, I had to leave early to catch a train and you were surrounded! Next time. Molly

[Jim Cummins]

Molly, yeah, but she was surrounded by me--and I wanted to meet you, too!

[twitter.com/marthasilano]

I can't believe I lost the nerve to say hello to Ashbery and Collins. Like, what was I thinking!? I fretted about it all the way back to Seattle. But I did get to genuflect at Doty and Peacock, and it was so the best surprise meeting David L. and immediately feeling his warm, generous, positive, humorous, sweet, avuncular vibe. Cummins' "Freud" (a sestina) rocked the house, as did Bibbins' lovely tribute to these United States. Teicher's "Ultimately Justice Directs Them" stands as one of the all-time best anti-war poems. What a treat to hear him read it. Richard Howard didn't recall the phone call heard 'round the world he made to me in 1996, but he read his poem beautifully, complete with a swinging live chicken. Listening to Tina Kelley, I could almost believe in God, the Holy Spirit, Gabrielle, Mary Magdalen, the whole lot. Thanks to the hosts, John Roode Catering, and grand mixologist Matthew Yeager.

[Carolyne Wright]

I was sorry to have to miss this reading, but am in touch with David L. about possible future events for BAP 2009.

Martha S.! I read your poem for a Whidbey residency presentation that I gave in David W's stead last January--I love (hate!! :) it.

At David L's suggestion that such events be organized, we need to organize a Seattle-area reading for Northwest-based contributors to BAP 2009--perhaps at Hugo House or (better) Jack Straw or the Seattle Public Library. I am teaching in North Carolina this year, but I will be back in early December for nearly a month. Please email me--if you don't have my email, send a message to David L. and he can forward it. I will also ask him for yours.

Congratulations, all, on this phenomenal event.

[Alien Ginsberg]

Great to see a collection of blog posts by the greatest minds of my generation starving hysterical naked and all for what? For a few drachmas of Greek debt. And that includes thoughtful and perceptive commentary. Keep up the great work!!!