Last night, longtime Santa Rosa resident Dana Gioia, shared poems from his latest collection "Meet Me at the Lighthouse." The event was free and open to the public and held at the Healdsburg Community Center. The torrential rains had stopped which encouraged an enthused, well attended audience. Mr. Gioia's has the distinction of CA's Poet Laureate 2015-19. He's the recipient of the Presidential Citizen's Medal and Walt Whitman Champion of Literary. Award I was pleased by the tribute his poems directed to our state and specifically to my former home, Los Angeles. Gioia himself born and raised in LA prefaced his first poem saying, "It might not be favored by those here." Hmmm....It did brace me to take umbrage but my rancor was assuaged by the melodic reading which had a jazzy flair and by Gioia's overall dynamic recitations. Gioia shared his love for jazz and having attending clubs in the LA area while a studying at USC. The Lighthouse refers to his favorite nightclub he often attended thanks to not being carded. The poem exudes a youthful energy with a melancholy sheen for his glory days. All the readings were done by rote. He stumbled over his second reading and referred back to his book. Gioia discussed the value for memorizing poetry and reciting aloud. He said he "tries working in the air, not just on the page." The second of the 10 and 1/8th poem he recited was entitled "Pity the Beautiful," an homage to LA. A huge fan of Yeats, Gioia compared the fleetingness of beauty, "...bloated, not noticed gods anymore." Gioia was no less flattering upon self-reflection as in "Moth" questioning the "ludicrous imposter in the mirror." In all the poems shared an irrepressible spirit prevailed "...fragrant with memories." Gioia shared the background and reading of "Tinsel, Frankincense and Fir" about his mother's affection for the dime store ornaments she cherished. "Nothing too little to be loved. Death brings gifts we can't reciprocate." My favorite poem of the night, "Praise of LA" was prefaced by Gioia painting a picture of viewing the city from a bird's eye view of the Hollywood Hills. "Pulsing anger of traffic in a city of Angels, silent, shimmering in the trajectories' ecstasy cohabitating with despair. We're all immortal shinning with lies tonight. Where else can you become a star?" I was most touched by Gioia explaining the private, fragile language shared with his wife. He said "a marriage of many years happens beyond words - an intimate language which will disappear with us; a tribe of two in a sovereign secrecy." Gioia stressed poems are meant to invite the reader in. I was entranced throughout the evening. The 1/8th poem: "Here lies Dana Gioia, A poet who can say. He didn't even have an MFA. "
Great stuff!!
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