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Sunken Garden Poetry Festival
(T)he main objects, to amuse, to titillate, to pass away time, to circulate the news, and rumors of news, to rhyme and read rhyme, are yet attain'd, and on a scale of infinity.
-- Walt Whitman
Courtesy Hill-Stead Museum/Northeast magazine |
This year, Weekend Edition Saturday again brings you the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. It's the next best thing to attending the festival itself, held in a hollow on the grounds of the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Conn.
This is the 11th anniversary of the festival, which is co-sponsored by the museum and The Hartford Courant's Northeast magazine.
Steve Straight
Aug. 24, 2002
 Listen to Steve Straight's recitation of "Lesson."
Steve Straight is a professor of English and director of the poetry program at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Conn. The Water Carrier (2002) is his first full-length book of poetry. His first novel, In a Different Light, is forthcoming from Pacific Palm Press.
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"Grainy, genial, clear-as-water honesty."
Eamon Grennan
on Steve Straight
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Straight also directs the Connecticut Poetry Circuit, and for many summers he directed the Seminar Series for the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. He has given workshops on writing and teaching throughout the eastern United States and in Ireland. He lives in South Windsor, Conn., with his wife and her two daughters. He reads his poem, "Lesson."
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Night of Fresh Voices
August 10, 2002
Listen to Laura Mandelberg's recitation of "Onions."
Listen to Jennifer Steele's recitation of "Singin' Ain't My Forte."
The Night of Fresh Voices is sponsored by the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival and the Community Division of The Hartt School at The University of Hartford. The event features high school winners of the 10th annual Young Poets Competition. Featured here are two of these young poets.
Laura Mandelberg attends Simsbury High School in Simsbury, Ct. Mandelberg will be a senior this fall and is editor of the school's literary magazine, Spectrum. She won first place in the White Pines College First Annual Poetry Competition and was published in A Celebration of Poets and The Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans. She reads her poem, "Onions."
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Jennifer Steele will attend Howard University in Washington, D.C., this fall. Steele began actively nurturing her writing when she was in the sixth grade. She says that the writing of Langston Hughes and Sonia Sanchez significantly influenced her. She reads her poem, "Singin' Ain't My Forte."
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Marilyn Chin
July 27, 2002
Listen to Marilyn Chin's recitation of "The Floral Apron."
Marilyn Chin was born in Hong Kong in 1955 and raised in Portland, Oregon. Her poetry celebrates what she calls her "hyphenated" Chinese-American identity. Her poetry has appeared in The Iowa Review and The Paris Review. Chin's numerous honors include two Fulbright Fellowships, a Stegner Fellowship and four Pushcart Prizes. Her most recent book of poetry is Rhapsody in Plain Yellow: Poems.
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"She writes with a toughened lyricism."
Publisher's Weekly
on Marilyn Chin.
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Chin has written three books of poetry including The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty and Dwarf Bamboo. She also co-edited Dissident Song: A Contemporary Asian American Anthology and co-translated The Selected Poems of Ai Qing. She teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University. She reads her poem, "The Floral Apron."
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Wesley McNair
July 13, 2002
Listen to Wesley McNair's recitation of "Charles by Accident"
New Hampshire native Wesley McNair is best known for his candid portraits of hardworking, and hardscrabble, New Englanders. McNair's poems have been featured in The Best American Poetry and the annual Pushcart Prize anthology. His awards include Poetry Magazine's Eunice Teitjens Prize and Yankee Magazine's first prize for best poem of the year. His newest book of poetry Fire: Poems will be published soon by David R. Godine.
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"By the faculty of his attention -- to people, to their talk -- McNair's compassion turns itself into art."
Donald Hall
on Wesley McNair.
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McNair has written seven books of poetry. He has also edited two anthologies, including the New England favorite, The Quotable Moose: A Contemporary Maine Reader. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Rockefeller, Fulbright and Guggenheim Foundations among others. He directs the creative writing program at the University of Maine at Farmington. He reads his poem, "Charles by Accident."
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Vivian Shipley
June 29, 2002
Listen to Vivian Shipley's recitation of "Ode on a Beet."
Vivian Shipley has received numerous awards for her poetry, including the William Faulkner Society's Marble Faun Poetry Prize in 2000. Her most recent collection is Down of Hawk.
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"Narrative skill, exuberant language and cadenced music..."
Colette Inez
on Vivian Shipley.
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Shipley has written 10 books of poetry, including Fair Haven, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2000, and Crazy Quilt, a 2000 Paterson Poetry Prize Finalist. Shipley is the Connecticut State University Distinguished Professor and the editor of Connecticut Review. She reads her poem, "Ode on a Beet."
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Yusef Komunyakaa
June 15, 2002
Listen to Yusef Komunyakaa's recitation of "My Father's Love Letters."
Yusef Komunyakaa has received all the major accolades for poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize for his collection, Neon Vernacular. His most recent book, Pleasure Dome, contains more than 25 years worth of previously published poems and more than a dozen new works.
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"Perhaps the single most original poet of his generation."
Garrett Hongo
on Yusef Komunyakaa.
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Komunyakaa's previous collections include: Dedications and Other Darkhorses, Lost in the Bonewheel Factory, Copacetic, I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head, Toys in a Field, Dien Cai Dau, February in Sydney, Magic City, Neon Vernacular, and Thieves of Paradise. Komunyakaa is a professor of Humanities and Creative Writing at Princeton University. He reads his poem, "My Father's Love Letters."
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Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Web site
Last year's festival
The Sunken Garden Poetry Festival is recorded and produced by independent producers Phyllis Joffe and David Budries.
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