Page 24 - Litteratteur Redefining World December issue

Litterateur redefining world December 2020

"The light comes slowly"

My depression vanished. The poem suddenly

came alive, "the urge to kill" becoming "the urge
to killowatts," to energy. Its seemingly obvious
discovery that literature was made out of letters
was extraordinarily liberating, and its concluding
lines, only half-understood when I wrote them,
"the page is not the / natural dividing point,"
thrust me into an entirely new direction. A
sequence of such poems followed.

Such poems were tremendously exciting, but,
apart from Adelle, I had no audience and no idea
where to present my work.

Meeting poet Ivan Argüelles in 1985 changed

almost everything.

I had known Ivan's wife, Marilla, because she
taught at Sean's elementary school, Park Day
School in Oakland. I also knew that Ivan was a
widely-published poet, but I hadn't read much of
his poetry. I ran into Marilla at a party given by
an old friend of Adelle's mother. I had recently
gotten to know Ishmael Reed, whose daughter,
Tennessee, was attending Park Day. I mentioned
Ishmael to Marilla, who told me that Ivan might
be interested in meeting him. I said, "Maybe I Jack Foley hosting “The Performance
can arrange that," and was introduced to Ivan, Poetry Bash,” National Poetry Week, Fort
Mason, San Francisco. 1988. Photo by
who gave me two of his books to read. Jenny Chu.

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