Armin Tolentino and LaRae Zawodny on the Power of Poetry
I was so moved by the Celebration of Poetry at the Magenta theater on March 10 that I asked Artstra Chair LaRae Zawodny and outgoing Clark County Poet Laureate Armin Tolentino for permission to reprint their remarks. I am very grateful to both Armin and LaRae for their service to the poetry community. It is my hope that publishing their beautiful words here will inspire those in our community who were present at the event. Christopher Luna
Image from video by Angela Cochran
LaRae Zawodny
Why POETRY?
Preparing for today, I felt a need to answer this question, at least for myself. I reflected … for months. I realized that poetry charmed me very early on in the form of lullaby and song, comforting and melodic. Then there were books with rhymes and pictures, adding the visual magic of words. The classics for children…you know them. Playfulness of sound with silly drawings to match were Edward Lear’s gift to me.
A more serious encounter with poetry played out countless Sunday school mornings when “what does it mean?” challenged me to interpret stories …to learn lessons from strange words in cadence unfamiliar.
The door opened for me…come right in, have a love affair with language. It is endlessly mysterious, amusing, magical, full of possibility, powerful.
Why am I sharing this personal story with you? There are many poets in the house today, each with a story of “why poetry?” Others may be here just to support a poet, with hopes of getting home in time to see the Oscars.
Maybe, listening today, a door to poetry will open for you. There are many doors. Poets, all of you, please know that YOU ARE recognized and honored today.
In the words of poet Rita Dove: “Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.”
To quote Leonardo Da Vinci, “Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.”
Truth is elusive. Today recognizing truth is, without exaggeration, a survival skill. We count on communication, predominantly linguistic, to solve problems, from the personal to the world stage.
We have a basic, some say “essential” human need to express ourselves. How well do our communication skills serve this need to express ourselves…to connect…really.
Today, with an epidemic of loneliness, many people feel unheard. In the political arena, it has been said “we don’t know each other.”
A university teacher laments “language is careless”. Responses to friends …reduced to an emoji, appreciation? an iconic thumbs up. Love?…a tiny electronic image. And the number of things we “love” is amazing.
Should we not, then, listen mindfully to those who seek with great care… just the right word, the turn of the phrase that will resonate, be heard.
Let us honor the poets, their voices honed into artistry, who write and speak their truth.
Armin Tolentino
Thank you to the Clark County Arts Commission and to ARTSTRA for your commitment and advocacy for artists of all disciplines. You make our County a richer place to live.
Thank you Gwendolyn Morgan and Christopher Luna for your mentorship and friendship. Thank you Susan for accepting this role and for all I know you’ll do to make poetry alive for Clark County. So proud to be part of this lineage with you three.
Serving as poet laureate for my community has been the greatest honor I’ve experienced as a writer. Over the last three years, I’ve focused on fostering spaces for people to write. These generative workshops were only possible because of following organizations with whom I’m so grateful to have partnered:
- Community Organizations and Businesses: NAACP Vancouver, Summer of Pride Clark County, Plas Newydd Farm, Cascades Presbyterian Church, Willamette Writers, and Inspired Learning of Yacolt
- Schools: Cascadia Montessori School, Ridgefield High School, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, Clark College
- Bookstores: Birdhouse Books and Vintage Books
- Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries: Vancouver Community Library, Cascade Park, Ridgefield, Washougal
- Residential Facilities: Knights of Pythias Retirement Center and Clark County Juvenile Detention
As varied as these communities and participants are, the mechanics to these workshops have been identical. We welcome each other and sit down to an empty page. And, without judgement or editing, we fill the emptiness with whatever surfaces with zero regard for whether what we’re writing makes sense or is any good.
In these workshops I’ve talked plenty about the joy of writing. The exhilaration of uncovering a phrase or image we didn’t know was inside us. I’ve talked plenty about the sheer fun of playing with sounds and structures, the mouth feel of words. The lingering warmth of connection when we realize our words made a reader feel something.
What I haven’t talked much about is the fear. Mostly because I don’t have to. Everyone who writes knows that fear. Fear that we don’t know what to say. Fear we know what to say, but don’t know how to say it.
Fear that we’ve written it the best we can and our ability is simply inadequate to ever capture what we’re really feeling. Fear that we’re not good enough and will never be.
When we all gather as writers in a shared space, we recognize that Fear is in the room and we need neither resist it nor feed it. We have plenty of chairs. Fear can pull one up and stay if it likes. I won’t kick Fear out but I also won’t offer Fear a drink.
Because, what I’ve learned writing alongside you these last three years: you’re going to do this regardless of the fear. For many of you, writing isn’t a choice. This craft called you. So, writing isn’t a matter of banishing fear because, over time, the pull to write is simply stronger and more persistent than the fear. Every time I face a blank page, I have to admit to myself that I don’t know how to write a poem. But I’d still like to try. Over and over.
So thank you all for allowing me to face this fear alongside you. As Susan begins her term, I know you will show her the same support and outpouring of welcome I’ve experienced. Reach out to her. Find out how you can support her projects but also her own writing. She will undoubtedly show up for us, so let’s learn how we can show up for her. We as a County are better when we share this space, our words, and our fears and joys.
PRINTED MATTER VANCOUVER 