Yerba Buena Center Freedom of Art Blog
Click on the link above for pictures from the 2/12/event.
And here is my take on the event:
Just got home from the event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. It was
FANTASTIC!!! Lawrence Ferlinghetti's art work, on those painter's tarps, was really good in
person. I really do like the swan painting but my new favorite is the one of
the statue of liberty representing the forced globalization of U.S. policy. Of
course, the man who would be king (if he would only let me crown him!) got up
and said a few words before the reading. He was right on in his defense of free speech
and his offense at the Bush administration and their restrictions of our civil
liberties. I think Lawrence should be the person laureate of the planet but that
is just my opinion!
The reading of HOWL was really special - they divided it into four
segments- former poet laureate devorah Major reading the "I have seen the best
minds of my generation" part of the poem, current laureate Jack Hirschman
reading the Moloch! section and former laureate Janice Mirikitani reading the last third of the
poem. Jack's interpretation was the best - he managed to read with both dignity
and fervor and captured not only the spirit of the poem itself but the cadence
and rhythm and musicality of it - he is truly a star. There was a fourth
section, a sort of addendum, called "Footnote to Howl" -The Holy holy holy
section, featuring Khalil Anthony. It was performed as spoken word and sung word,
accompanied by a Cellist. Tied it all together beautifully. A wonderful event.
I feel so blessed to have been there. Wow!!! And we had PERFECT seats, dead
center about five rows back.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Jack has a beautiful, beautiful reading voice. His noontime reading at the SoL show was amazing - his voice just rolled through that meadow. He knows how to pitch it perfectly.
Post a Comment