At his Wednesday night reading at Russell House, poet Frank Bidart engaged his listeners with his infectious passion for poetry. Bidart read new works and discussed the most important elements within his poetry.
“The Seduction,” a long autobiographical poem, is based on a relationship Bidart had in 1983.
“I went through the torments of hell to finish [the poem],” Bidart said. “I’m going to try to make this poem the last poem about this relationship, and summarize it here.”
The audience responded particularly well to “The Republic,” a poem inspired by a bad dream. In the poem, Bidart describes the bodies of exhumed Gettysburg soldiers. The poem had powerful political connotations.
“It is about the idea that this government is ruining what the United States stood for in the world,” Bidart said. “If it’s any good, it will not just be an anti-Bush poem, but be about the past coming and saying that you’ve betrayed the legacy we left here.”
Later, in a break from free-verse poetry, Bidart read a sestina, one of the most difficult forms. This detour surprised and enthralled the audience.
“I really enjoyed his sestina because it touched on blending old forms into modern poetry, which is something I try to do in my own writing,” said Chiara Di Lello ’10.
Ultimately, it was Bidart’s performance of his poetry that had many audience members talking after the reading.
“He was a bit of an actor, and that was noticeable. It was cool that he had his own style,” said Jacob Greenberg ’08.
“What spoke to me about his poetry is that he chooses to use voice in a way that is personal yet distinct, instead of superimposing his vision on the minds of his readers,” said Michelle Garcia ’10.
Bidart appeared to enjoy sharing his poetry as much as the audience enjoyed receiving his words and performance.
“I’ve only given this reading a couple of times–they’re new poems,” Bidart said. “People were very reassuring afterwards, but I don’t think I can see very clearly how the sequence [of poems] works. It was a wonderful audience and it was wonderful to read in this room.”
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