Squibs 486-487: Charles Simic [by Alan Ziegler]

486: Charles Simic Was Generous to Children
On Memorial Day 1979, my ten-year-old nephew, Craig Luchen, was kicking around a soccer ball in his backyard during a family gathering. Craig was ahead of the curve in his soccer devotion (long before "soccer moms"), and had yet to meld with the piano, so we didn't have a whole lot to talk about. A sudden chill caused someone to say Brrrr," and I blurted out "All at once the whole tree is trembling / And there is no sign of the wind." Craig paused mid-dribble and pronounced, "Charles Simic!" then resumed his pursuit of an imaginary net. He later explained that a poet had visited his school. Now we had something to talk about. For a school assignment to illustrate a poem, Craig picked Simic's "Watermelons."

I particularly liked the tongue. I had a color photocopy made (big deal then) and mailed it to Simic (no email then). A week later, I received this post card:

I was especially touched by "My kids loved it too and were sort of proud of their Pop" (Simic did indeed respond to my book in detail.) This was the postcard Craig received:

Decades later, Craig remembers the "loon-music." And I remember that Craig was sort of proud of his Uncle.

Uncle and Nephew

487: Charles Simic Drives a Soft Bargain

In 1995, a few Columbia undergraduates wanted to invite Charles Simic to campus, particularly to talk about prose poems (for which he had won the Pulitzer Prize a few years earlier, engendering squawks from lineophiles). We had a minuscule budget. I suggested they write to him anyway and point out that we do not have access to Columbia's endowment. Simic said yes, on two conditions: We pay for his bus fare from New Hampshire, and we buy him a hamburger at the West End. We did not make a counteroffer.

Simic was warm, friendly and funny. When the students asked him about the prose poem backlash, he said, "My experience is that no matter what you do, someone is going to say something stupid about it. No matter what. There are many literary people out there who don't believe in the existence of prose poems....[My book] was the final nail in poetry’s coffin. American Civilization is doomed when shit like this wins prizes, they said. I must admit I loved it. It's always a pleasure when you can upset defenders of some imaginary virtue."

There was one more negotiation before we relocated to the West End. The students wanted to take some pictures with him, and he agreed on the condition they take one with students stepping on him. They obliged. When I reminded him twenty years later, he replied, "That’s very funny. I remember it now."

Comments

[Michael Mark]

I love Charlie and this story and this is nonnegotiable.

[David Lehman]

Terrific post, Alan. "It's always a pleasure when you can upset defenders of some imaginary virtue." Merci bien, and a toast to Charlie.

[Craig Luchen]

I remember after reading Simic’s postcard feeling starstruck, but also like I had made a friend. What a special thing for a kid, all thanks to my Uncle Alan, whose star struck me several years earlier while watching him give a poetry reading on stage accompanied by a jazz pianist. Unc., your star has only grown in mass and volume since then. Thank you for being a beacon of creative light and inspiration throughout my life. Love, Neph.

[Philip Simic]

Wonderful stories. Thank you so much for this.

Best,
Philip Simic