Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon’s reading at the Folger Shakespeare Library was wonderfully done, but also read beautifully on the page. With the rise of performance poetry, slam poetry and the like, we have seen the rise of poetry that doesn’t hold up well on the written page (if you don’t believe me, take a song and write it out  on a page and see if it’s as good on paper as it is being performed; chances are, unless you decided to write out a Leonard Cohen song, it’s looks like a poor piece of poetry when written out, however beautiful it was when sung).

While at that reading, I purchased her most recent collection, ]Open Interval[.

One of the poems she read was called “Bop: The North Star.” Reading it on the page, it was far more complex and rich than the reading implied. Lots of formal play and grammatical games. For example, check out the last stanza:

At the prison at Auburn I cross the yard. Inmates whet tongues against
my body: cement–sculpted–: poised for hate–: pitch
compliments like coins:–(wade)–their silver slickening–(in the water)–:
uncollected change. A guard asks Think they’re beautiful? Just wait
til they’re out here stabbing each other. Oh, Harriet, the stars
throw down shanks–: teach the sonnet’s a cell–: now try to escape–

Read it out loud and you can hear how it might read gorgeously. But also compare that to the written word and notice what a purely oral transmission might miss.

I have loved these sorts of grammatical ever since I discovered Adrienne Rich in high school and noticed the way she would bring the reader to a startling halt by putting an extended break (ten spaces or so) within a line. The strategy would stop a reader even more than a simple line break.

Van Clief-Stefanon also recognizes the power of this sort of play to force the reader to stop and think, but never at the expense of a readable, enjoyable line or poem. Again, the comparison to her reading compatriot, the memoirist cum poet, Mary Karr, and her formally simple, narrative poems works strongly in Van Clief-Stefanon’s favor.