Mark Jarman Poetry Reading

Mark Jarman spoke tonight in the 4th floor program room in the Andrew White student center. He began the session by reading a number of poems. Some that caught my attention were “ Secret Ocean”, “Outside”, and “Summer”. Recently he released a book of poem titled “ To the Green Man”. In all of these poems and in his new collection, he tries to describe his spiritual search for truth and reason through the events of his life. He presented his poetry as a struggle yet a wonderful reflection as to where his life has been. Although his poems were very elegant and well read, I was mainly intrigued by his gentle mannerism and the way he reacted to the questions that he was asked. He had a passive approach to dissecting his poetry and was more concerned with the general reasons for why he writes his poetry. As a teacher at Vanderbilt, he is very concerned with today’s culture and the students who will have to go out into a world that has been drastically altered by the events of 9/11. He presented the question, “Is it possible to think positive about the future?”
He was asked if he had ever attempted to write poetry related to 9/11 and in his response, the crowd laughed because although he had attempted a few times, none of his poems were any good. But he added how malignant spirits affect one’s life. This really made me think because the world today is so full of uncertainty as to where we as a human race are going. Things seem to be spiraling out of control in many aspects of life many challenges lie ahead. But he challenges one to go out of their comfort zone and explore the world while staying close to where our roots are. He believes that we will not learn about what humanity is really about and be able find our inner sense.
He answered a final question about his poetry by describing himself as a son and grandson with three grandmothers who are the most colorful storytellers. Much better than he could ever hope to be and how these stories affect his life so profoundly with memories and strong relationships with his family. He attempts to convey these colorful stories through his poetry while asking about God and faith. And if he can establish his spiritual relationship fully, he wants to attempt to describe what it looks like through words and verse.
Mark Jarman is an extremely talented and educated man who struggles to find meaning in life as we all do. His writing reflects on his life and invites one to use reflection as a tool to find their inner sense. His talk was insightful, but I thought it was going to be longer in length because he ended before six and left some things in question with his writing form.