Albany Library welcomed Richard O. Moore, Brenda Hillman and Paul Ebenkamp to its Second Tuesdays Poetry Night on 9/13 at 7:00 pm.
Brenda Hillman and Paul Ebenkamp began the evening with selections from their own books of poetry. Both are active in the writing program at St. Mary’s College, with many of their students and colleagues in the audience.
Richard O. Moore was the final featured poet. His resonant voice filled the room and gave everyone a new appreciation of poetic diction. Moore’s recent book, Writing the Silences, is a celebration of over 60 years of writing. The book provides a glimpse into San Francisco Renaissance Poetry of the 1940′s, a movement that preceded Beat Poetry. True to the ethos of that era, Moore–a pioneer broadcaster who helped found KPFA–said that his political art sprang from “radical doubt” in government, power, and language.
Hillman and Ebenkamp co-edited Moore’s book and the readings were followed by a discussion of the selection and editorial process. They spoke of the pleasure of learning from each other and the difficulty of condensing a lifetime of poetic output into one book. All three made strong statements about politics and art–condemning the current state of perpetual war in Central Asia and the Middle East. Brenda Hillman reaffirmed the power of conscience against complacency.
Brenda Hillman has published eight collections of poetry, all from Wesleyan University Press. Themost recent, Practical Water (2010), which won the LA Times Book Award for Poetry, is part of herlarger project of meditations on the natural elements that includes Pieces of Air in the Epic (2005)and Cascadia (2001).
Paul Ebenkamp, a writer, editor, and assistant academic coordinator, has published poetry inTry!, RealPoetik, and The Walrus. He is currently at work on An Anthologyof Early Women Modernist Poets (forthcoming April 2012, Counterpoint Press).
Albany Library thanks all three September poets for kicking off the 2011-2012 Second Tuesdays’ Poetry series.
Richard O. Moore (Author), Brenda Hillman (Editor), Paul Ebenkamp (Editor)
Writing the Silences
