In our last regular session of the term, we saw two poets use detail and image to open new worlds for us. Janet Warman's "Gaffney, South Carolina" tells the story of that painted water tower you see driving along I-85 toward Atlanta and how the peach economy came to that part of the world. Knowing the :"inside story" behind all this helped us enjoy a warm and kind poem.
Affection is also what Toi Derricotte feels for Julia in "Weekend Guests from Chicago, 1945," a celebration of the success of an African-American family ("the clunky music/of a pound of real gold charms....shoes soft as old money..."). A poem rich in physical detail hints at contrasts through juxtaposition ("an apron over a French cotton dress"), and we puzzled some over the role of Marilyn Monroe in the final stanza.
We will gather this Thursday at Penny Byrn in High Point. Again we appreciate the hospitality of Penny Byrn in hosting us, and thank Lee, Barb, Carol and Elmer for arranging it. We will look an another poem by Janet Warman, and "Hospital Parking Lot, April," by a poet highly recommended by the critic Stephen Burt, whose "Flooded Meadow" we read earlier in the spring.
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