This year's final Poetry, Prosecco and Pasta evening featured First Nations (Delaware) poet and playwright, Daniel David Moses, reading from his book with the deliciously intriguing title, Sixteen Jesuses.
In the conversation with him, moderated by Moira MacDougall, Moses told of how wrote his first poem one weekend when he was in grade 11 when he bet his best friend - he believes it was ten dollars - that he could write a piece with an abab rhyme pattern after an English class in which they had studied a poem with that rhyme pattern - a poem that had impressed the best friend, but left Moses decidedly underwhelmed. However, in writing that poem, despite his disdain for the rhyme pattern, he discovered that something interesting was going on with the language, and so the poet in him was born.
Interestingly, though, he is much less cavalier with his work since, laboriously editing and re-writing until he is satisfied with each piece. In Sixteen Jesuses, Moses confessed, only one poem landed whole on the page: "Some Grand River Blues", and only because it had been swimming around in his head for a long time before he penned it.
When asked if it was difficult working across genres - playwriting and poetry - Moses responded with a succinct metaphor: "No matter what shape the jar is, that's my voice inside it."
Of course, the food at Grano was, as it always is, understated and exquisite, and all the more delightful accompanied by a glass of prosecco.
All in all, it was memorable sultry summer evening. We look forward to next year's Poetry, Prosecco and Pasta.
No comments:
Post a Comment