Introducer- Stanton Hoffman

00:00:00.00

The second reader of this evening, Dick Sommer, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and educated at the University of Minnesota where he most recently returned as a visiting Assistant Professor of English, and at Harvard. In 1958 he was a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize, and over a period of several years published his poems in the Harvard Advocate. He has given readings in Cambridge, Minneapolis, and in Oslo. Also, he does not want me to mention his scholarly publications: Dash, Which Are, Strangers and Pilgrims, an essay on the Metaphor of the Journey written with Georg Roppen and published by the Humanities Press in New York City, as well as by the Norwegian University's Press, in Norway and A Monograph, the Odyssey and Primitive Religion, published by the University of Bergen in 1962. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Dick Sommer.

 

Richard Sommer

00:01:02.36

I didn't want him to mention those. Oh I've got the deal with Roy, as well. So this is a haiku with, which you'll be glad to know also has seventeen syllables in the title. "The Haiku to Roy Kiyooka", in reply to his haiku to me.

 

Richard Sommer

00:01:31.35

The snow melts, spring water burnishes the stone, I'll hear your poems again.

 

Richard Sommer

00:01:50.84

And this is the Haiku that began the mess, this was the one that I originally threatened to read to him, and naturally will carry out my threat. Which has a slightly different title, "Haiku at Roy Kiyooka"

 

Annotation

00:02:07.93

Reads "Haiku at Roy Kiyooka".

 

Richard Sommer

00:02:27.15

And then there's the one that I think you have on that broadsheet, which as I looked at it, in all of its mimeographed splendor, struck me as sounding a bit, now, like the theme song of the Central Intelligence Agency, but I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean it that way when I wrote it.

 

Annotation

00:02:55.59

Reads haiku first line "The little known eye..."

 

Richard Sommer

00:03:13.90

I'm as you've heard, I'm responsible for having written some criticism, sorry about that, but I hope to make it up with the next poem, which is also on your broadsheet. Called the meaning of--"The Meaning of Poetry".

 

Annotation

00:03:36.94

Reads "The Meaning of Poetry".

 

Richard Sommer

00:04:19.01

And this next poem, you'll be very happy to know I have my wife's permission to read.

Annotation

00:04:26.71

Reads first line "The figure eight..."

 

Richard Sommer

00:05:02.71

You're going to be out of luck if you don't play chess, for this next one. You may be out of luck if you do, but that's has more to do with the poem than your ability at chess.

 

Annotation

00:05:23.54

Reads first line "How much wildness in that horseman's eye..."

 

Richard Sommer

00:06:27.81

Roy's given us a series of poems in praise of 'her', I don't know who 'her' is, but I have another name for her myself, she's called the Lady of Situations, and that's the title of this poem. You know, situations in the sense of she's always getting involved, or people are always getting involved. This is that Lady of Situation. And, oh yes, there's some erudition in this one too, there's a marvelous drawing taken from the tomb of Tuthmosis, which appears in the Skera, Egyptian Painting Volume, and you might look it up because she appears there as a tree, a breasted tree, and giving suck to a Pharaoh, it's quite interesting as a painting, anyway, that's in here too.

 

Annotation

00:07:34.30

Reads "Lady of Situation".

 

Richard Sommer

00:09:29.78

The, I noticed that the Brotherhood of Railroad Engineers has arranged to have separate drinking glasses, or they're trying to get themselves put into the sanitary code, I think this is Roy's. This must be mine, still water. This next one, I wrote the day following my seeing of a movie that I hope many of you are familiar with, it's the Russian version of Don Quixote, a lovely film, beautiful adaptation of the myth of Don Quixote, and Sancho Panza in the terms of the revolution to come, and I was particularly fascinated to the title that was given to Don Quixote, in this film, so I used it for the title of the poem.

 

Annotation

00:10:54.32

Reads "Don Quixote de la Manchesky".

 

Richard Sommer

00:13:25.46

This next one takes it's title, this is another area of that reference, takes its title from a little known and very important folk ballad, I had to put something in ethnic here, so this is it. It's, the title is "The Other Side of the Mountain", and it comes from that little song that begins "The bear climbed over the mountain to see what he could see, but the other side of the mountain was all that he could see".

 

Annotation

00:14:05.40

Reads "The Other Side of the Mountain".

 

Richard Sommer

00:17:15.89

Incidentally, you must not get the idea that the mountain, you know, came entirely from the, from the, from the song. It, you can find it on the Greater Barrington Quadrangle, for the appropriate section of the Massachusetts of the US geological survey, it's right on the map. It's really there, it's got position. This poem is in four sections, there are three narrative sections and then there's a short epilogue. And it's called "My Loveliest Enemies". I don't think there's any point in keeping you in suspense about this, my loveliest enemies are birds. And that's the punch line, so now you know it and you can listen to the poem.

 

Annotation

00:18:24.33

Reads "My Loveliest Enemies", parts 1-3

 

Annotation

00:21:07.51

Sound fades

 

Annotation

00:21:08.11

Continues reading "...and the crows moved too..."

 

Richard Sommer

00:33:12.37

And here's the epilogue

 

Annotation

00:33:19.90

Reads "Epilogue" from "My Loveliest Enemies".

 

Richard Sommer

00:35:52.45

It's a race against not time but against the creeping gelatination, I think is the world of my lower extremities, and I'm sure the creeping sleepiness that is likely to affect you. This next, excuse me, here's to you! This next poem requires an erudite explanation too and I'm sorry for that. I hope, actually, it's not necessary. Alcowen [sp?], the Charles the King, Alcowen [?] was an 8th century scholar who was brought from his, from the York diocese, to the court of Charlemagne, and there became the principal architect of Charlemagne's attempt to bring Latin and latin culture to the Francs. You might say, I suppose, that he was the first of, first great humanist, but we'll see what his latin is worth in this poem. This is a letter, written by Alcowen [?], actually it was written by me, presumably written by Alcowen [?], to Charles the King.

 

Annotation

00:37:33.81

Reads "Letter written by Alcowen [?], to Charles the King".

 

Richard Sommer

00:41:46.51

And this poem is, has a title, and a subtitle. The title is "Concentration" the subtitle, "Homage to Eva Jerome".

 

Annotation

00:42:06.39

Poem is never read.

 

Annotation

00:42:12.32

END OF RECORDING.