angels at the tavern door

originally posted aug 17 2007 on myspace, which i abandoned for blogger.

last saturday night, i had a great pleasure of attending a poetry reading by robert bly and coleman barks. It was a benefit for texas nafas, which i understand is a nonprofit that has something to do with poetry education, and the founder is a friend of barks, because barks came here 2-3 years ago without bly.

maybe he liked austin so much he persuaded bly to come.

anyway, it was billed as "angels at the tavern door" with a focus first on the poetry of rumi and then on each poet's own poetry. the fabulous mundi ensemble provided musical accompaniment.

i enjoyed hearing rumi (or any good poetry) read aloud by poets who are great readers-aloud. what grabbed my attention most was the contrast between the two men. coleman barks is a sweet southern man with a lovely drawl; robert bly was plain and simply a crusty old fart. i hear he's from minnesota. they obviously know each other fairly well. both write their own poems and translate those of other poets from foreign lands and from long-ago times. i think you can safely say these guys really know how to get inside a poem.

barks had rehearsed with the musicians. bly hadn't, and occasionally he tried to direct them, to comic effect.

both of them danced with their hands as they read rumi. bly read a poem by hafez too.
after intermission, barks did some shapenote singing of an old southern hymn with one of his poems and then challenged bly to "top that". bly has been writing american ghazals (ecstatic poems), and had the audience repeat a key phrase.

standing ovation, of course...with an encore.

some of my dinner companions afterwards were offended by bly making a remark that could be construed as offensive. after intermission, he asked for the house lights to be turned back on so he could see the audience. no one responded, and he grumbled something like, "you'd think they could get that right at the school for the deaf."

i can see how it could be construed as offensive, but i also had to admire bly, who seemed very present and willing to take risks and make mistakes. he puts himself out there and doesn't hide his feelings or opinions.

i hadn't been much of a fan of his before now. his reputation for iron john and the men's movement gave me an impression that he wouldn't have much to say to me, that he was primarily addressing men's issues. i was wrong. still don't own any bly poetry books, but i'm willing to, now.

several of coleman barks' poems were repeats from a few years ago. he read them well. i enjoyed hearing them again but would have liked to hear ones that were new to me.

all in all, a good evening.