Featured Anthology

(Including an Original Interview with Advisory Editor Michael O'Keefe): 

The Poem I Turn To

The Poetry Behind the Performances: Top Actors Talk Inspiration

 With Audio CD: Actors and Directors Present Poetry That Inspires Them

 AJ      How did you get involved in the anthology project The Poem I Turn To? 
 

 MO      When I was a student at the Creative Writing Seminars at Bennington College Jason Shinder was teaching there.  Though I never had Jason as a teacher he was very supportive of my poetry work.  A genuine friendship developed and after I graduated we began to work on the book in earnest. 
 
  
AJ       In your experience, how does poetry inform performance? 
 

 MO      Ezra Pound said, "Poetry is news that stays news."  Another way to put it is that the art of poetry reveals a life on the page that reflects the life we are living. The actor's job, and directors and producers' job as well, is to replicate life in an artistic way.  So, as actors we are always looking for ways to enhance our insight into the little mystery we live everyday called, "Life."  William Carlos Williams said something that addresses this same topic.  "While it is difficult to get the news from poetry, people die miserable deaths every day from lack of what is found in its pages."  And for you sticklers out there, those two quotes do not contradict each other but form a paradox that empowers those who know how to read poetry and derive more than meaning or understanding from its contents.
 
  
 AJ      Many of the contributors, including you, have recorded a reading of their selected poems on CD, included as a part of the anthology.  Why do you believe that reading these works aloud is an important part of sharing these  poems?  

  MO       While it's important that poetry sustain a life on the page it can also be perceived and received when read aloud. Sometimes   this is  the preferable method for communicating what poetry has to offer.  Jason often spoke of the book, Poetry Speaks as an inspiration when we worked on The Poem I Turn To.   In the former, poets read their own work and the power of that voice heard aloud combined with the voice on the page is a powerful experience.  By asking the actors to read their selections we were hoping to provide another path to the poem for the reader.  Besides, we're all hams and love the sound of our own voices.  It was fun to do.
 

AJ      Who do you see as the audience for this book?
 

 MO      Lovers of poetry, film, television and theater will find a fine collection of favorite poems from actors, directors, and producers in the know who want to spread their connection to poetry around. 
 

 AJ     In your response to Denis Johnson's work you refer to the “dark side of transcendence.”  Are you and most poets drawn to this dark side?  Is there also a lighter side with the same depth of meaning? 
 

 MO      To transcend means to go beyond dark and light.  Denis Johnson's work often progresses from a darker world view to its transcendence.  Contrast that with Mary Oliver or Coleman Barks and Stephen Batchelor's translations of Rumi and you find poetry initiated from a side of life that may emanate more light at times.  However, these distinctions are not mutually exclusive.  Both Oliver and Rumi have darkness lurking at the borders of their pages and Johnson has a lighter touch at times. So, to answer your questions: Yes, some, but not all poets are drawn to transcendence and some choose darker means.   Others choose a more well lit path.  Great poets go beyond all distinctions of dark and light to a deeper place where those distinctions are at once eliminated and made clear.  As for myself, I don't know anything about transcendence except that I do know you don't have to leave home to find it.  Anyone who's watched, "The Wizard of Oz" knows that.
 

 AJ       What question do you wished I had asked? 
 

 MO      I wish you had asked me what it was like to work with Jason Shinder up until his recent death.  Further, I wish I could convey the depth of my respect for his skills as a poet and editor and the inspiration he provided through his resiliency while facing mortality. But to attempt that would strain the form of this interview.  While we're on the topic of wishing, I wish that I could have spent more time with Jason before he died, but the demands of my career and his kept us on separate coasts.  Finally, I wish you'd asked if I think this anthology could convey a hint of the power of poetry to address this issue of death and the life we lead up until it claims us.  I would have replied, "Yes, yes.  Yes, it certainly can convey that and much more. Just ask Jason Shinder.  And if you can't hear his reply read his poetry. He has a great deal to say on the matter."

2008 Amy L Jenkins