"The Heroes," "Litany"

Today is that last day of the John Ashbery Festival. I know that we've been covering the heck out of this, but, hey, we're big fans. Unfortunately, I did not attend last night's reading. I believe I put my reasoning most succintly to a co-worker Friday afternoon (after a long, long week), "I have brain worms." What that means? Well, that's anybody's guess, but I feel that it explains itself in a circular way. Today, however, I summoned my resolve and removed myself from the couch. Ashbery's "The Heroes" and "Litany" were performed and read at the Bowery Poetry Club. I'll premise this re-cap by saying it was the best reading I have ever been to.

"The Heroes"--It's a long cast list, so I won't reproduce in its entirety, but the key players were David Lehman (Theseus/Astyanax), Vincent Katz (Patroclus), Patricia Spears Jones (Circe), and the "disembodied voice of God," John Kruth (Narrator). Vicki Hudspith, the director and chorus, informed the audience that no read-throughs or directing had occurred beforehand, so we were left to the spontaneity of poets, which proved to be, as one would expect, rather funny.

The choicest moment was when Circes mused about her enchanted girdle:

Circes: I shall wear this girdle and every man who sees me in it will fall hopelessly in love.

Narrator: She slips on it. Oops. She slips it on.

Despite the merriment, the performance made room for true Ashbery moments:

Ulysses: The only thing we know about each other is that we happen to be in this room.

The play concluded to happy applause, though we didn't realize what unlikely treat we were to experience next. For those familiar with "Litany," you know it exists as two parallel columns of text. Mr. Ashbery chose to read the columns simultaneously, with the help of James Tate, Ann Lauterbach, and Dara Weir, to accurately represent the poem. Initially, I thought that this was going to be a well-intended disaster, but Mr. Ashbery proceeded with confidence and a sly smile, saying that "Maybe in all that gets lost, you'll find something."

So they began; and after subtle adjustments of timing and mood, the audience sat with open hearts. The simultaneous reading produced some stunning effects. Whenever one poet paused, allowing the other's voice to emerge from the din, the singularity of the remaining voice claimed absolute attention. These moments existed not solely from dramatic effect, but also in their impeccable content. "The purring of some donkey," "choreographed intrusions," "not forward into the ring of the other shouting," "waiting is forgotten like thorns in the memory," "cacophony performed its useful function, "parallel tide, related function."

Even when the voices ran together, the language determined where focus was kept. At no point was the audience lost, and I've never before wanted to hear someone speak as much as I did when James Tate was left alone to conclude the reading. I could think of no better conclusion to the entire festival.

So I bid farewell to a weekend of collective interest. I have lots of reading to catch up on.

Comments

[Karen Hildebrand]

Well stated. I loved it too!

[ポロ]

POLO ラルフローレンコンピュータプログラムが正常に記録された、会話が良いです。セッションの終了時に、ホストが評価を行うために私の本のために聴衆を求め、ポロそれは破壊や評判、サイト50は、ためらうことなく彼の印、男性のホストを調達し、言った、混在だが、それでも破壊される人々がより多くのああです、29人はブランドを破壊挙げた。残念ながら、それはあなたがプログラムのリスト上で良い本を予約できないようです。