The O'Neill Literary House was filled with the words of recently deceased African-American poet Gwendolyn Brooks February 14, at 4:30 p.m. Washington College students and faculty filled the living room to capacity to honor the writer who passed away December 3, 2000.
Brooks visited WC approximately twenty years ago one Monday in March to read her work. In her honor, her works were read aloud in the O'Neill Literary House.
Professor Bob Day remembers her visit to one of his poetry classes: "She told my students, 'You are not students. You are poets. I am a poet. We are all poets.' They were riding high for weeks after that."
The first reader to honor Brooks was English department Professor Jacqueline Jones. Jones recalled, "I saw her at a luncheon. I will never forget how the crowd was energized the minute she entered the room, and how adults giggled when she passed by them. I'll always remember her opening remarks: 'My best defense is the present tense'."
Jones read two poems in Brooks' memory, including one entitled "The Mother," which details a woman's struggle with abortion, as well as "When You Have Forgotten Sunday, The Love Story." Jones explained that this particular work is "my all-time favorite poem by Brooks."
Senior Ben Clausen followed with three poems: "Strong Men Riding Horses in the West," "The Near-Johannesburg Boy," and "Tornado at Talladega."
Clausen pointed out that some of a writer's best works need not be lengthy when he commented on "Tornado at Talladega": "It's short, but I really enjoyed the imagery of the scene."
Caryn Lazzuri, also a senior, read "Riot," and "A Lovely Love." Describing "Riot," Lazzuri said: "Its point came across so clearly to me - I knew I had to read it. 'Our Lovely Love' is a much quieter poem, but beautiful. It sounds so simple when it's read, but there's so much to it."
Senior Jake Klein read a poem called "The Boy Died in My Alley," about a murdered young man discovered by the police, and the questions that ensued. He also chose to read "Five Men Against a Theme."
Professor Diane Cousineau also participated in the day's celebration, and offered her impressions of Brooks' previous reading at WC.
Said Cousineau, "She had this air of confidence and integrity - I think it was the most diverse audience I have ever seen for a reading.
As she spoke to the crowd, she had the most wonderful sense of humor. I'd like to recreate the opening of that reading by reciting the poem 'A Song in the Front Yard.'"Freshman Angie Haley then read "An Aspect of Love Alive in the Aspect of Fire." She explained, "I picked the poem I read because it was something I understood and related to personally, which is generally why I like Brooks - she's an easy poet to get into."
Senior Dennis Wilson gave an almost staged reading of "The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock." Dressed in the costume of a fedora and vest, and writing on a pad of paper, he created the illusion of the poem's creation as he recited it. Wilson also read a section of Brooks' prose, Maude Martha, section fifteen, entitled "Kitchenette."
"I found in her voice some kind of impossible balance between the abstract and the concrete, the gray and the blue, the elegiac and the colloquial," said Wilson. "I was moved and grateful for the opportunity to speak her words from the inside and, for the moment, step into the river of what she left behind."
Professor Kathy Wagner then closed the reading without reading at all.
Instead, she played Don Lee reciting the poem "Gwendolyn Brooks," named for the author, and Brooks reciting "Kitchenette Building" and "Obituary for a Living Lady."In the words of sophomore Max Orsini, "You could hear the poet's voice resonate in the Lit House."
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