Outside the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach’s Old School Square, Cara Nusinov posed for a photograph by the sculpture she designed to pay homage to poetry.
“Art makes poetry touchable,” she said as she stood by the Polka Dot Poetry Peacock, which she created for an art-in-public-spaces project in Coconut Grove. “I imagine people enjoying the poems affixed to the peacock and telling others, or going to the library and checking out books by the poets.”
Nusinov’s comments were very much in the spirit of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, which closed its eighth annual season Jan. 21 after a week of readings and workshops that attracts some of the biggest names in poetry, and its most ardent students.
This year’s special guest was Charles Wright, a renowned American poet who teaches at the University of Virginia. This year’s faculty included Kim Addonizio, Cornelius Eady, Claudia Emerson, David Kirby, Thomas Lux, Gregory Orr, Chase Twichell and Eleanor Wilner.
The festival was founded by Miles Coon, Delray Beach poet, snowbird and retired businessman.
“Poetry is a method of survival. There’s something about the rhythm and concentration of language that’s profoundly human,” said Coon, who came to poetry late in life. “We turn to poetry at weddings, at funerals, at times of disorder, and that’s because death and love are the driving engines of most poetry.”
Lux, Coon’s former professor in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College, has attended dozens of poetry festivals in his professional lifetime and the Palm Beach Festival since its inception.
“Miles has created the classiest and the best poetry festival in the country. What’s rare is that the primary focus of the festival is teaching,” Lux said. “In one week’s time, we do the equivalent of a half-semester’s worth of graduate work.”
Lux then quoted American poet Stanley Kunitz’s poem, The Layers: “Oh, I have made myself a tribe out of my true affections, and my tribe is scattered.”
“This event gives the tribe a chance to meet again,” says Lux.
On Saturday, the Crest Theatre auditorium was at capacity for a 2 p.m. panel discussion with the eight members of the faculty. Poets and would-be poets of every size, shape, color and age milled around discussing the art form.
They were also anticipating the evening’s lineup – a coffee house, party and performance poetry event featuring New York poet Vanessa Hidary (the Hebrew Mamacita) and Jamaal May, a two-time individual World Poetry Slam finalist.
The afternoon panel gave each poet the opportunity to choose one of his or her favorite poems to read. A discussion over whether form is restrictive or can open you up to creativity gave rise to a spontaneous discussion on ikebana, Japanese flower arranging.
Ikebana is a creative expression, but governed by strict rules. There are three elements to ikebana (heaven, earth, man), so Lux jokingly declared: “There are three elements to making a good poem – only we don’t know what they are.”
Rosella Stern, 70, of Ormond Beach, is a Yeats scholar and retired professor. She lost her poetry partner of 40 years in a tragic accident, and became motivated to write and publish a book of poetry in her honor.
A friend in California heard about the festival and called Stern. “You must go,” she ordered, and go Stern did.
She writes poetry that she calls rants. Her latest rant is titled Yanqui Pig Dog Poem (A Rant for the 99ers) in which the last line of the poem is “take off your suit and bark.”
“The festival is a rich and meaningful experience for me. It was sometimes scary, but I am grateful to have the space and privilege to pursue what I love and get support at the same time,” Stern said.
Kurt Brown, a retired professor, founder of the Aspen Writers’ Conference and the husband of poet Laure-Anne Bosselaar, has written six books of poetry.
“As someone who used to run writer’s conferences, I know a good one when I see it,” says Brown, who has served as the festival’s marketing director. “It starts at the top. Miles creates a community feeling whereby people feel safe to share their work without fear of criticism.”
“I always say, there’s no reason a conference like this should work: You fly a long distance to get here, you pay a lot of money for hotels, you bring your innermost thoughts to be criticized by total strangers, but somehow it all works.”
And there are other good reasons for that, Brown added.
“And besides all that, I like to soak up the sun and have some Key lime pie.”