Article by: Tom Logan
This week, Suffolk University was blessed with having the honor of two celebrated poets, Joan Houlihan, as well as our own Fred Marchant, to talk about their new books, as well as give a few readings.
First up for the evening was Joan Houlihan to talk about her newest book, The Us (Tupelo Press, 2009). The Us is a collection of poems that detail the lives of a neo-lithic tribe called “The Us,” and their struggles with a neighboring tribe known as “The Thems.” This story is narrated by Ai, the protagonist, who is highly revered in the tribe. Houlihan read parts of the book detailing the tribe’s struggles with “The Thems,” the tribe’s rituals and hardships, and the tribe’s exodus from the island they were living on.
Fred Marchant read a few poems from his new book, The Looking House (Grey Wolf Press, 2009), as well as a few from his other book, Full Moon Boat (Grew Wolk Press, 2000). He spoke mostly about the barbaric nature of war, of the courage it takes to stand up to those who would make war and say, “I will have nothing to do with this.” Merchant read very compelling anti-war not only the physical sense of war, but all war between the mind and spirit.