Visiting Writer Series
The third year of the Department of Writing's Distinguished Visiting
Writers Series brought poet and essayist Adrienne Rich
and poet Sharon Olds to IC last fall.
Rich, who visited in early October, changed the format of her
talk from a lecture to a question-and-answer discussion because
she said her prepared lecture did not seem appropriate after the
events of September 11. Students and faculty shared their thoughts
with Rich about how art can heal in times of tragedy and crisis.
The next day, at her reading of poems from her long and brilliant
career, the overflowing audience in the chapel was especially
moved by a poem about her appreciation of New York City. Rich
also read her poem "Women" (excerpted below), which Machan had
performed when she was a student at Northwestern University.
My three sisters are sitting
on rocks of black obsidian.
For the first time, in this light, I can see who they are.
My first sister is sewing her costume for the procession.
She is going as the Transparent Lady
and all her nerves will be visible.
 Rich
and IC students enjoy a light moment as Katharyn Howd Machan,
associate writing professor and faculty liaison for the visiting
writers series, holds up one of Rich's first volumes of poetry,
whose back cover photo shows the author in the early '60s.
New York State Poet (1998-2000) Sharon Olds delighted students
and faculty in late October with her poetry, grace, and humor
as she gave a public lecture and reading and taught a master class.
Her poetry reading sparkled in unexpected ways; the audience both
laughed and cried. One moving poem about her mother was written
during her week in Ithaca and used imagery drawn from the gorge
she visited after reading a book on Ithaca's geology. Another
poem about her mother, "The Last Evening" (excerpted below), appeared
in the March 4, 2002, issue of the New Yorker.
Then we raised the top portion of the bed,
and her head was like a trillium, growing
up, out of the ground, in the woods,
eyes closed, mouth open,
and we put the Battle arias on, and when I
heard the first note, that was it, for me,
I excused myself from the death-room guests,
and went to my mother, and cleared a place
on the mattress, beside her arm, . . .
 Olds
and her master class ended a week together by reciting the poems
they had memorized to an open audience. Shown celebrating after
the event are Olds (center), Machan (bent backward; she is also
a performance artist), and students in the master class (student
poet Cuda is third from the right of Olds).
André Cuda '02, a drama major who
is minoring in writing, was part of Olds's master class. His poem
"Data 1," which he wrote during the class, won honorable mention
in ByLine magazine's open theme poetry contest. He was
listed in the February 2002 issue. He also won honorable mention
in ByLine's March 2002 contest for "Jesse," a poem of loss.
(Machan received special honorable mention in the March contest
for her poem "When the Sky Splits Apart, Usually," and David Flanagan
took first for "A Valediction for My Father on the Occasion of
His Dementia.")
| Data 1 |
It's a thin moment
just before sleep
lying in this space
slowly
feel the warm
drift off the hard edge
into things without surfaces. |
Sleep
an easy solitude
a sure thing
breath muscle bone
keeping pace
my mind a punctured balloon
wild into darkness. |
Photo of Adrienne Rich by Sheryl D. Sinkow
Photo of Sharon Olds by Barbara Adams
|
