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LIBRARY of CONGRESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 Poetry Nation LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 poetry nation INSIDE Rosa Parks and the Struggle for Justice A Powerful Poem of Racial Violence PLUS Walt Whitman’s Words American Women Poets How to Read a Poem WWW.LOC.GOV In This Issue MARCH/APRIL 2015 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE FEATURES Library of Congress Magazine Vol. 4 No. 2: March/April 2015 Mission of the Library of Congress The Power of a Poem 8 Billie Holiday’s powerful ballad about racial violence, “Strange Fruit,” The mission of the Library is to support the was written by a poet whose works are preserved at the Library. Congress in fulfilling its constitutional duties and to further the progress of knowledge and creativity for the benefit of the American people. National Poets 10 For nearly 80 years the Library has called on prominent poets to help Library of Congress Magazine is issued promote poetry. bimonthly by the Office of Communications of the Library of Congress and distributed free of charge to publicly supported libraries and Beyond the Bus 16 The Rosa Parks Collection at the Library sheds new light on the research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and allied organizations in remarkable life of the renowned civil rights activist. 6 the United States. Research institutions and Walt Whitman educational organizations in other countries may arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-4100. LCM is also available on the web at www.loc.gov/lcm. DEPARTMENTS All other correspondence should be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., 02 22 16 Washington DC 20540-1610. How Do I? The Library in History 03 23 Rosa Parks e-mail [email protected] Trending Favorite Places www.loc.gov/lcm 04 24 ISSN 2169-0855 (print) Online Offerings Around the Library ISSN 2169-0863 (online) 05 Curator’s Picks 25 News Briefs James H. Billington 06 Books That Shaped Us 26 Shop the Library Librarian of Congress 07 27 First Drafts Support the Library Gayle Osterberg Executive Editor 15 Expert’s Corner 28 Last Word 20 Audrey Fischer Page from the Past Editor John H. Sayers 23 Managing Editor ON THE COVER: Excerpts from the poem “Unexpressed” by Adelaide Proctor (1825-1864) Patricia Smith Ashley Jones adorn panels along the second floor north and south corridors in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building. Carol Highsmith Designer Shawn Miller Photo Editor Contributing Writers Marwa Amer CONNECT ON Peter Armenti This mural by George R. Barse Jr. depicting Lyric Poetry (Lyrica) Matthew Blakley Twitter: @librarycongress Pinterest: pinterest.com/libraryofcongress adorns the second floor east corridor in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Robert Casper Youtube: Library of Congress blogs: Building. Carol Highsmith youtube.com/libraryofcongress blogs.loc.gov Catalina Gómez Facebook: facebook.com/libraryofcongress LCM online: loc.gov/lcm Jeanne Theoharis Flickr: flickr.com/photo/library_of_congress Stephen Wesson Charles Wright MARCH/APRIL 2015 | LOC.GOV/LCM 1 how DO I? #trending AT THE LIBRARY THE VERSE OF READ A POEM OUT LOUD YOUTH POPULAR POETRY PROGRAMS GIVE YOUNG singer-songwriter Tanuja Desai Hidier and PEOPLE A PLATFORM FOR EXPRESSION. FORMER POET LAUREATE Billy Collins Maryland State Sen. Jamie Raskin. offers his advice to high-school students on reading poetry aloud. National Poetry Month, celebrated each April, “This is a poetry slam; this is an interactive art “A poem will live or die depending on provides an opportunity to encourage new form,” said poet and spoken-word performer how it is read,” he says. What follows, readers and writers of verse. Poetry events and Elizabeth Acevedo, who emceed the event. then, are a few pointers about the oral competitions can also interest young people “Someone gets up here, they are saying words. recitation of poetry. Get your poem a in this genre. These might be words that they’ve never said few days in advance so you will have before. They want to know that you are here time to practice. Billy Collins reads at the and that you are listening. So you’ve got to clap. Library’s 2014 National You’ve got to do whatever you need to do to let Book Festival. Kimberly them know that you are here.” Powell Introduction to Poetry Here are a few basic tips: The Library also hosted the top winners of Billy Collins the Poetry Out Loud national competition • Read the poem slowly. Most people read rapidly, and a nervous at the 2014 National Book Festival, as it has I ask them to take a poem reader will tend to do so in order to get the reading over with. Reading a done since the poetry program’s nationwide RIVER OF WORDS and hold it up to the light poem slowly is the best way to ensure that the poem will be read clearly inception in 2006. Each participant performed like a color slide and understood by its listeners. A good way for a reader to set an easy favorite poems and answered questions posed River of Words, an pace is to pause for a few seconds between the title and the poem’s or press an ear against its hive. by the audience. international poetry first line. and art contest, was Poetry Out Loud, a competition with high co-founded in 1995 by I say drop a mouse into a poem • Read in a normal, relaxed tone of voice. It is not necessary to give any school, regional and national rounds, requires writer Pamela Michael and watch him probe his way out, of these poems a dramatic reading as if from a stage. Poems that are its contestants to memorize and recite poems and poet Robert Hass, written in a natural style should be read that way. Just speak clearly and or walk inside the poem’s room pulled from a predetermined and aesthetically during his tenure slowly and let the words of the poem do the work. and feel the walls for a light switch. diverse list. It is sponsored by the National as Poet Laureate Young people perform in the Poetry Slam Consultant in Poetry • Poems come in lines, but pausing at the end of every line will create Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the I want them to waterski competition at the Library’s 2014 National Book (1995-1997) to help a choppy effect and interrupt the flow of the poem’s sense. You should Poetry Foundation. across the surface of a poem Festival. young people express pause only where there is punctuation, just as you would when reading waving at the author’s name on the shore. “Poetry Out Loud encourages young people their feelings about prose, only more slowly. Poetry slams have risen in popularity among across the country to learn about classic and the environment. But all they want to do Administered by • Use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words and hard-to-pronounce young people wanting to give a voice to their contemporary poetry through memorization is tie the poem to a chair with rope the Center for words. To read with conviction, you need to know at least the dictionary own narratives. Slam poetry is a subgenre and recitation,” said Eleanor Billington of and torture a confession out of it. of poetry that fuses the craft of public the NEA. “Poetry Out Loud not only helps Environmental Literacy sense of every word. In some cases, you might want to write out a word at Saint Mary’s performance and the craft of poetry. Some slam students learn a poem, but they’re also building They begin beating it with a hose phonetically as a reminder of how it should sound. College of California poems are performed using a rhythmic, or Hip- life skills. They’re learning analytical skills, to find out what it really means. in affiliation with the Hop style, while others may be performed with they’re also building self-confidence and they’re Library’s Center for From “The Apple that Astonished Paris,” more theatrical elements. learning about their literary heritage.” During his term as Poet Laureate (2001-2003), Billy Collins launched the Book, the program 1996. University of Arkansas Press, is the world’s largest the Poetry 180 project, designed to give high-school students a poem The Library of Congress hosted its first- —Matthew Blakley is the program support Fayetteville, Ark. Copyright 1988 by competition of its kind. a day to read out loud during the school year. It remains one of the ever Poetry Slam at the 2014 National Book assistant in the Library’s Poetry and Billy Collins Prizes are awarded most popular features of the Library’s website. Collins’ “Introduction to Festival. The event, titled “Stage [Heart] Literature Center. to K-12 students Poetry” (left) is the first poem on the Poetry 180 site. Page,” was sponsored jointly by the Library’s MORE INFORMATION Poetry and Literature Center in the Center for for their poems and artwork about the the Book, Split This Rock and the National View the Library’s Poetry Slam environment. Pictured MORE INFORMATION Endowment for the Arts. The competition, go.usa.gov/tx8m above is “River which featured eight contestants from the Poetry 180 Website Dream” by Anna Qian District of Columbia’s top youth slam groups, View the Library’s Poetry Out Loud Event loc.gov/poetry/180 go.usa.gov/3c4J4 of Lilburn, Ga., age 13. the DC Youth Slam Team and Louder Than a Bomb DMV, was judged by internationally Learn more about River of Words acclaimed slam poet Gayle Danley, author and read.gov/letters/ 2 LCM | LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015 | LOC.GOV/LCM 3 onlineOFFERINGS curator’s PICKS LITERARY AUDIO ARCHIVES AMERICAN WOMEN POETS The Archive AMERICAN HISTORY SPECIALIST ROSEMARY FRY PLAKAS HIGHLIGHTS of Hispanic ARCHIVES Literature on SEVERAL WOMEN POETS WHOSE WORKS ARE REPRESENTED IN THE LIBRARY’S RARE BOOK AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION.
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