Barnard Poetry Series Finds Unique Voices

The Women Poets and Writers at Barnard series is completing its 21st year of celebrating female accomplishment in poetry.

In its first event of the semester on Tuesday, poets Meena Alexander, Mary Jo Bang, and Mónica de la Torre for the most part delivered the spirit of the program—the empowerment of the female voice. In their distinct styles, these poets also illustrated what Professor Saskia Hamilton, the director of the program, aims for the readings to be: a “balance of aesthetics.”

Following tradition, three Barnard students introduced the poets, providing factual background alongside personal remarks and analyses of the works. This seemingly simple tradition in fact enriched the significance of the event. The young Barnard writers immediately situated themselves within the same creative sphere as the guests, participating in a dialogue among female writers that has been establishing itself for years.

In the words of de la Torre, “sound is not as frontal as vision.” Hearing poetry is a far different experience than reading it. One does not capture the tone, mood, and meaning through letters and punctuation, but through pitch and pace. One cannot fixate on one word at a time and carefully rip it apart—instead, one must follow the words as they come, grasping only what one remembers. Alexander conquered her audience through her soft, slow, lyrical voice that rose and fell with the emotions expressed in her poems. This transformed a simple word into a key note, a delicate image into a physical presence.

The process of reading proved equally relevant in Bang and de la Torre’s work. Bang’s sharp and sometimes fast rhythm harshened neutral words and created a tenser atmosphere. In other instances she employed a low and slow conversational tone. These disparate tones came together in her last words to the audience: “There is so little to say.” When she articulated this, a lingering anger and boredom behind her words built in the room. Indeed, she was barely enthusiastic when introducing her poems.

Before reading her poems, Bang explained, “I decided to limit myself or else I would spend the rest of my life re-writing those poems.” (The poems are in her book Elegy, which is dedicated to the child she lost.) Both her introduction and conclusion thereby gave off the impression that she is not writing about what she wants to, which is seemingly counterintuitive to the passion behind poetry.

De la Torre’s voice was essential to her work: strongly and loudly pronounced English words were woven among the softer lyricism of Spanish ones. The work she read described the lists people create in their lives. The style of her writing created the very effect of lists—isolated words and jumbled thoughts expressed at monotonous paces. This style helped accomplish the poet’s theme, though it failed to intrigue the audience. Unfortunately, de la Torre seemed to sense this when she decided to skip over a part of her poem.

Although the authors sometimes expressed insecurity with their own work, all of them projected their words with confidence. The writers showed that a poem’s character is not only born of its words, but also of its underlying emotions, which were carefully delivered through the authors’ voices.

The Women Poets and Writers at Barnard program offers a contemporary voice in poetry in an intimate environment. When it comes to poetry, attending a reading certainly adds another dimension to the weight of words.