An Anticipated Night of Poetry- Under or Over-Whelming?

Tonight I attended Louise Gluck's poetry reading. Just a few days ago I got back from Mississippi and Memphis for the Civil Rights trip. The reason I am mentioning this is because on the trip, although it was wonderful and education, I noticed that the majority of the speakers we listened to and the majority of the first-hand stories we heard came from male speakers, so it was a relief listening to a female tonight. I know that preface might seem random, but it truly was nice to be sitting in the stands listening to a wise woman tonight after the experience I just had, (not that there was anything wrong with all of the male speakers at all). I know that Gluck is an incredible accomplished poet, but to be honest, when she started to read her books out loud I was a little bit underwhelmed. She said before she began reading that she wanted to read her poems and some of her prose straight through without commenting about each one before she read it. So she read and read in this slow, soft voice. I could barely understand what the poems were about--I comprehend things better when I can see the words and frankly I just did not understand what she was talking about in her poems, although I wish I did more. I feel like it's important to be honest when reflecting on public events, and so far out of all 8 that I have attended, this was my last one and it was the ONLY one that did not resonate with me in any way, that I was not inspired by really. However, I can touch on the few parts that stood out to me a little bit. She integrated a line of french into one of her poems, which I appreciated because I have been taking French for all 4 years of high school. She referenced a Hebrew poem that is read when people pass away, and I appreciated that as well because I went to a Jewish school for 11 years where I learned all of the Hebrew prayers. Lastly, I liked the honesty in her poems and the use of descriptive detail for example how she smokes cigarettes or how tightly her hair was braided as a child. It is admirable that Gluck has been so successful in what she does and has made such a name for herself as a female poet. I like how she taught at Williams College for 20 years and how she continues to go around and use her knowledge to educate and help others. People like Gluck who can share their wisdom and express it in such a way as she does are extremely valuable to push the female community, and to society as a whole

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