Poetry saving America Day 17 #NationalPoetryMonth

[UPDATE: we don't know how we missed this, but we did. Here's Hoagland's section from his "Twenty Pieces" essay:]

poems teach aesthetics that are of broad application
Another dividend of even a basic investment in poetry is the way it refines our sensitivity for tone, for subtleties of inflection, which in turn enables us to navigate the world more skillfully. Take the delicate, tentative mix of irony and affection in “The Geraniums,” by Genevieve Taggard:

Even if the geraniums are artificial
Just the same,
In the rear of the Italian café
Under the nimbus of electric light
They are red; no less red
For how they were made. Above
The mirror and the napkins
In the little white pots . . .
. . . In the semi-clean cafe
Where they have good
Lasagna . . . The red is a wonderful joy
Really, and so are the people
Who like and ignore it. In this place
They also have good bread.

Taggard’s poem, delivered in a reflective, tender, meditative voice, is about aesthetics. It asks an interesting question: Can a thing be simultaneously false and beautiful? Is the modern world, with its manifold illusions, nonetheless an environment in which the soul can find nourishment? What do we see and what do we habitually ignore? Can we train ourselves to appreciate anyenvironment? Consider the loveliness of the humble fake flowers! To cultivate an ear for tone is, oddly enough, to cultivate one’s own perceptual alertness. In “The Geraniums,” irony and wonder (the “semi-clean” cafe and the “wonderful joy, really” of red) collaborate intricately in the speaker’s casually unfolding voice. To develop an ear for such delicate modulations is in fact a survival skill that can aid one for a lifetime.

About the only other hints we could find for why Tony Hoagland included "The Geraniums" by Genevieve Taggard as the sixteenth of Twenty Poems That Could Save America came from a BloodAxe Books web page on Hoagland and his books, which included a video that we haven't watched yet. If we're tracking this correctly, of the five examples listed under the American poetic voice, only Taggard's work carries into the "Twenty Poems" list.

Tony Hoagland: The American Poetic Voice
What is most distinctive about the American poetic voice? It may be its democratic vernacular, its elasticity, its plainness of style, its life-giving vulgarity, its pragmatism, its materialism, its self-regard, or its humour. All of these features are embedded in that mysterious element we call Voice, that rhythmic undulating metabolism which transports and delivers whatever "information" a poem contains. In this talk, given at Ledbury Poetry Festival on 3 July 2017, Tony Hoagland uses examples to analyse, admire and illustrate some of the specific secrets of the American voice, providing a means for considering the craft of any poetic voice. His examples include poems by Frank O'Hara, Ezra Pound, Louise Glück, Adrian Blevins and Genevieve Taggard.

Italian cafe with red artificial geraniums?

Photo by J. Harrington

Is there something in particular about an the American poetic voice that could save America? Let's consider one by one the reported characteristics Hoagland mentions [our assessment]:

• democratic vernacular [probably not]
• elasticity [maybe]
• plainness of style [possibly]
• life-giving vulgarity [yes and no]
• pragmatism [definitely]
• materialism [probably not]
• self-regard [probably not]
• humour [absolutely]

Your mileage may vary. Our biases are showing. Fake, but good-looking, geraniums, detract little if anything from the primary purpose of an Italian cafe, one that's semi-clean at least. The food is good. The bread is good. That's more important (more authentic?) to the people who go there for the good food and the good bread. They tend to "ignore the small stuff." There's an aphorism we need to better take to heart. Is the glass half full or half empty? When you go to a restaurant is it for the ambiance or the food? Would you let artificial geraniums spoil a good plate of lasagna? Is America becoming too preoccupied with supercilious details? Are we focused more on what separates us (real versus artificial geraniums) than on what we have in common (good food)? Are we letting our differences ruin a good family meal? Are the differences only unimportant, artificial details? What are our priorities that could save America?

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