Poetry Reading

Poetry reading:
Piotr Sommer
December 7th, 5:15 PM
U-M Museum of Art Helmut Stern Auditorium


Piotr Sommer’s reading was a fabulous event, and I am very glad I attended. His poems are translated from polish, and in his reading, he did read some of them in their natural polish language.
The way they sounded as they were originally intended to sound (in polish) gave his poems a whole different feel: though still meaningful and thought-provoking when translated into English, the pure aesthetic sound of the polish poems were so much more beautiful to the ear. One poem in read in Polish due to the fact that it rhymed that way, and it was so lovely to hear him speak—he has a very smooth, soothing voice that is perfect to read poetry.
He read his poems in chronological order, and it was interesting to hear some of the writing that was inspired by his foreign childhood. He read one particular poem about Christmastime and the holidays—a subject that is usually cheerful and light in nature—but he wrote about the heavy responsibilities and banalities of it: seeing relatives you don’t know anything about, having to go through the motions of pretending to love these strangers… it was all very insightful and pointed out the absurdities of social constructs and obligations.
I felt that unlike traditional poems about Christmasy cheer and present-giving, Piotr Sommer’s poem about the holidays really tugged at the notions of how family ties are more society-driven than biological; the only reason you give these unknown people any of your time is because of blood relation, nothing else.
I enjoyed his poems for their unusual take on things as well as their sometimes unusual subject matters; one poem he read was about a cemetery that meant a lot to him in Poland called the Bovosky Cemetery. He not only just writes about the scenic view of the cemetery, but also speculates on how the members of the cemetery—the buried and deceased—may feel about living in such a lovely cemetery.
Overall, I really loved hearing Piotr Sommer’s original and creative works of poetry; not only that, but he was very good at presenting his own poems as well!

Fiction Reading

Fiction Reading:
Marjorie Sandor and Tracy Daugherty Fiction Reading
Thursday, December 3, 5 pm

Helmut Stern Auditorium

I enjoyed both Marjorie Sandor’s and Tracy Daugherty’s readings to some extent, though I definitely felt more drawn to Marjorie’s writing. She writes of her past and of the trials and tribulations that led up to who she is as a person today. She read from two of her works, Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime and A Night of Music and The Night Gardener: A Search For Home.
Though the first work of writing was pleasant to hear performed, it was The Night Gardener: A Search For Home that really struck me. One part in particular that Marjorie read aloud was an excerpt about a restaurant she used to go to; she describes how the restaurant was the color green, a unique shade of green, and of how she had a strange affinity to all things green. She described it as “the amazing green.”
I’m not sure why this excerpt in particular stood out to me, but even though a strange liking of green may be a strange thing for one to invest such interest in, we all have our own strange desires into which we pour our passions. Though I myself do not particularly like the color green, I can still relate to how one aspect of interest can apply to such a wide range of situations in reality.
Tracy Daugherty’s writing, at least the parts he read out loud, were nice, but nothing that particularly grabbed my attention. He spent quite a whiles ranting about very hipster-style subjects such as cats and wine. Cats are nice and wine is nice, but again—nothing that moved me.
Overall, it was a pleasant reading, filled with various subjects matter that were all nice to hear read aloud. Marjorie Sandor is, in my opinion, quite a wonderful writer, and since Tracy Daugherty is married to her, I suppose I like him as well.