Different aesthetics, different traditions, different perspectives—women’s poetry is far from monolithic. The Women Poets at Barnard reading series showcases all of these diversities and provides grounds for intellectual conversation. Tonight at 7 p.m., the poets themselves—Paula Meehan, Alicia Ostriker, and Gretchen Mattox—will take part in this conversation in Sulzberger Parlor.
Professor Saskia Hamilton, who has coordinated the Women Poets program since she began teaching at Barnard in 2002, described the combination as serendipitous. “Some of these poets have been on our ‘wish list’ for a long time. For example, Paula Meehan just happened to be coming to this side of the Atlantic for a book debut. All three are readers we’ve long wanted to have,” she said.
A celebrated Irish poet, Meehan offers inklings of Irish folklore and charged eroticism in her work. She will undoubtedly read from her latest work “Painting Rain,” written in 2009, and might throw in some currently unpublished works as well.
Ostriker, a prominent fixture in the ’70s feminist movement, is also a highly appropriate speaker for this event. “Modesty in women’s personalities and writing was the only acceptable thing,” she said, when asked to comment on feminist gains. “Women who wanted to be outrageous or intellectual or sexy—not permitted. Now it is.”
With “The Book of Seventy,” whose recent debut coincides with her 70th birthday, Ostriker continues to push gender roles, showing that female sexuality doesn’t have an age limit. From this work, Ostriker plans to read “Demeter to Persephone,” her take on a Greek coming-to-sexual-maturity scenario. She described its subject as “a pretty universal scene, that mother-daughter scene.”
Mattox, a one-semester alum of Columbia’s Master of Fine Arts creative writing program, is the newest of the three on the women poets’ scene. As such, her style is still evolving. Regarding her upcoming book, “Flower Compass Sutras,” Mattox said to expect a “return to the cover of darkness” palpable in her first work, “Goodnight Architecture.” However, she also retains the “western sensibility” that she acquired upon moving to California, apparent in “Buddha Box” through its generous use of space and line. What does she want to read most, though? “The poem I wrote yesterday,” she said.
Events like Women Poets at Barnard indulge not only the audience but the writer as well. According to Mattox, they satisfy “a deep desire to be heard and to hear myself, because my poems are often much wiser than the small self of my personality.”
“Even for those who are experts at reading poetry on a page, the poet’s voice, expression, body language give an insight and intimacy that a page just can’t quite do,” Ostriker said.
The first part of the Women Poets at Barnard reading series will take place tonight at 7 pm in Sulzberger Parlor on the 3rd floor of Barnard Hall. The event is free and open to all Columbia University students as well as neighborhood residents. The second reading will take place on November 10th and will feature Suzanne Gardinier, Matthea Harvey, and Katie Lederer.
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