American Poet

Tonight I attended the launch of the Spring 2013 issue of American Poet, the journal of the Academy of American poets. It was held at Housing Works on Crosby Street, a very cute, cozy, and woody bookstore/café with curving stairwells.  Three poets read several of their own poems--- Sophie Cabot Black, Cynthia Cruz, and Rachel Eliza Griffiths.

Sophie Cabot Black was first. I’m not really sure what her poetry was about. She said she wrote about 3 topics, “love, loss, and the world of finance,” but she just didn’t grab my full attention. She had a slow, soothing voice, and I accidentally fell asleep for 40 seconds.

Next was Cynthia Cruz. Her works had a distinct American theme. She mentions ‘American’ drugs a lot like Adderall and Perkocets, the mall, Dolly Madison, and strawberry milkshakes. I also enjoyed her frequent use of rhyme and alliteration. That paired with her childish voice made her poems sound very whimsical.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths read last. I was particularly interested in hearing her work because she is also an artist and her photo is the cover of the journal’s issue (http://www.housingworks.org/i/event/AmPo_Cover_Large.jpg). However, apart from this fact, I was really intrigued by her reading and immediately became alert and engaged. There was something about her sultry voice, the way her body moved to the accented words and her emotionally expressive face.  Though her body was expressive, she spoke with a very mechanical rhythm. Each line seemed to have the same spacing and syllabus emphasis. It sounded like a recording/robot. But she had a really wide pitch. It went from high to low, strong to soft. She often repeated certain phrases and had a lot of alliteration. Her subject matter also seemed to cut deep into the human soul.