Word A creative writing commentary

Author: Abigail Mitchell

"Poets are the most ruined people you'll ever meet," said Greg Delanty in his thick, burly Irish accent. It was Thursday night and I was sitting in on the first of the Ross Commons Poetry Series. The night's featured poet was Greg Delanty, a native of Cork, Ireland, who has spent the past 20 years living in Vermont. Currently, he teaches at St. Michael's College in Burlington, writes books of poetry and works for his local Burlington Green Party.

Most of the audience, myself included, could not help feelings of endearment towards the self-mocking, humorous and somewhat flustered Irish bard. His anecdotes, sincere and sometimes crude, displayed a genuine desire to entertain, an invitation to laugh (sometimes at his expense).

Mr. Delanty began by reading a poem about his experience encountering American baseball. "Baseball," said Mr. Delanty, "was my first passport into America." The poem is called "Tagging the Stealer" and centers on a Yankees-Blue Jays game. Delanty's next poem, "The Alien," described the small alien-like formation that we see when we gaze at an ultrasound. Then, Mr. Delanty turned around his book to show us the visual image of his next poem, so-deemed the "dirty" poem. On the page, the verses made the distinct shape of a "V." While this poem was ostensibly about long-beaked insects pollinating flowers, it escaped no one's attention that an underlying metaphor was at play. However, the sexual intimations did not need to be spelled out because, as Mr. Delanty told the audience repeatedly, "Poets don't knock people over the head with something!"

Amid his anecdotes, Delanty had a way of slipping in some poetic wisdom. After amusing the audience with tales of his awkward but inveterate womanizing, Delanty paused, looked seriously at the audience and said, "You are mostly miserable during that heroin shot of love. Isn't that right?"

In addition to poetic wisdom, Delanty threw in some political wisdom that he had learned from living 20 years in America. "The American government is criminal," he told me emphatically. I had obviously hit a spot. Delanty went on to proclaim the apathy of the population, the degradation of the environment, the omnipresence of corporate interests and, of course, the horrendous decision to go to war.

"When I was 17, I knew I was going to be a great poet," Delanty told me after the reading. "That's a pretty bold statement," I replied. "Well, you have to be arrogant but realistic," he shot back at me with a wry smile.