Emily Pineau Responds to Fred Marchant Reading

“You own your language,” poet Fred Marchant says in reflection to his experience of working with writers from Vietnam.  Marchant’s poems in particular seem  have a language of their own.  Not only does he use unique descriptions such as “papery feel to the air” in his poem “Half Not”, but he also evokes a deep feeling through personification. For instance: “Hope stared at nothing, with nothing forthcoming” in his poem “The Looking House Stanza”. Also, Marchant reads his poems passionately and evidently they are an essential part of him.  The soothing tone to his voice creates the mood for each poem, which makes them even easier to connect with.  I admire how Marchant’s down-to-earth personality reflects in his poetry.  I hope that one day I will also be able to read my poetry in a confident, yet modest way, like Marchant.

            Before Marchant read his poem, “Ard na Mara”, he explained that on his way to this reading at Endicott he realized that the water view in Beverly reminded him of the bay in his poem.  “It’s that sense of being on the edge of things,” he explained.  After he made this comment, I already felt drawn to this poem because it made think about standing in the middle of two separate worlds, in a sense.  I feel this way when I stand on a beach, or near the ocean.  This idea of being connected to one side, disconnected from the other, or connected to both is something that intrigues me and influences the way I write when I think about the ocean.   His evocative poem “Ard na Mara” starts out by talking about two different opinions of what “Ard na Mara" means.  Marchant reads, “Catherine and John said it meant beside the sea.  I thought it meant above”.  The poem starts out with this feeling of not knowing, and the impression that something could go either way.  I feel connected to how Marchant makes the poem come full circle by talking about the water at the beginning, talking about the pasture, sleeping in a barn, and dealing with memories of Veitnam throughout the poem, and then looking at the bay at the end.  This circular feel to the poem is something that I use when I write poetry.  I feel like that this circular quality gives my poems a sense of closure, resolution, and a hopeful feel to them.  It would be my dream to be able to develop a tone and language in my poetry that is as influential and genuine as Marchant’s.



****  Emily Pineau is a Creative Writing major and published poet studying at Endicott College.