Kim Stafford and Kevin Bowen Visit Suffolk
Article by: Julia Dawidowicz

“It’s not all terror: keep singing.” These were the parting words that poet Kevin Bowen left the audience to reflect upon after Thursday’s thought-provoking poetry reading, and they certainly captured the spirit of the event. At 7:00 PM Bowen joined contemporary poet and essayist Kim Stafford to read selected poems at the Suffolk University Poetry Center. The jovial night featured witty anecdotes, nostalgic family memories, and themes of war and peace.

Kevin Bowen, in addition to being a poet and translator, is the director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Its Social Consequences at UMASS Boston, and is also responsible for bringing some of the first Vietnamese poetry to the United States. He was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War from 1968-1969, and imagery relating to his experience in combat surfaces throughout many of his poems

Kim Stafford, who visited several English classes at Suffolk, is the author of a dozen published books, and teaches writing at Lewis & Clark College in Portland. He is the son of the distinguished poet William Stafford, and is the executor of his literary estate.  Stafford opened his poem, “Blue Brick from the Midwest,” with a touching story about how its inspiration came from a secret stack of blue love letters discovered in his father’s drawer after his death, written by his mother decades ago.

The two poets (both of whom have long established connections with Suffolk’s Creative Writing Program and its director Fred Marchant) took turns reading their poems aloud for the intimate audience, which consisted of both students and visitors. Stafford even brought out his guitar to conclude his performance with a haunting song he had written about three young boys who were killed in a bombing in Northern Ireland.

What makes a poetry reading so special? According to Stafford, “A poetry reading is like a spiritual ritual where we come together and really listen to a few words. We’re all busy in our lives. We have conversations; we talk on the phone; many layers; it’s hard to pay attention… Whenever I go to a poetry reading, after the reading of a poem that really connects for people, there’s just a little beat of silence when we all circle back to the privilege of being alive; of being in each other’s company; of being called to do important work in the world… I try to design the reading for the creation of that resonance… People are not so much moved by what I bring to the reading but reminded of a richness in their own lives. That’s what I hope for.”

Indeed, it seems that the poets’ thoughtful and dynamic deliveries did create an air of profound reflection and in the Poetry Center. “I really liked Kim Stafford’s reading especially the way he read very slowly… which really gave you time to absorb his words and reflect on them,” said Emily Frontillo, a senior Creative Writing major at Suffolk, after the reading.  Blerina Tare, a junior Business major, said, “I never even knew the Poetry Center existed!  It was a really interesting experience. This was my first poetry reading I’ve seen here, and I would definitely come back for another one.”