Poetry That Finds The Beauty in Ordinary Words

Found poetry has always fascinated me. The first poem I published was “Three Pages Found in a Bureau for Auction,” sourced from three pages of stationery I discovered in a bureau I didn’t buy — but I did take the pages, which made me feel guilty, although not enough to keep me from writing the poem. 

Two of the pages were typewritten lists: “Daily Schedule” and “Weekly Schedule.” These were daunting instructions to a maid, which included, “Wednesday, Your day off, Straighten up house before you Leave.” 

The last page was a heartrending note written in pencil. It began, “Dear Sir, I’m really very sorry but you see that I’m not the right person for the job …” and ended with, “I could not wait until you got home because you are very sweet people and this is really hard for me. I hope you will fine someone real soon. P.S. I also forgot to tell you a very important problem. I sleep walk.”

A few years ago, while scrolling Twitter, I came across “The Traveler’s Vade Mecum; or Instantaneous Letter Writer,” a book of 8,466 numbered telegrams. It was published in 1853 by A. C. Baldwin, a pioneering consumer advocate who sought to save travelers time and expense at the telegraph office by numbering sentences so that a message could be sent by simply telegraphing a number, instead of having to pay by the word. 

Baldwin tried to number everything — every single thing — that 19th-century travelers might want to say. Urgent questions like, “Do you know of a person going West soon, who would take a lady under his protection?” (8328). 

Or, news: “A Sad Accident Has Happened” (461). Or simple assurance that one is alive: “We abound in good cheer.” (1508). 

If both sender and receiver owned Baldwin’s compendium, “I am on board a steamer ship bound for Paris” could be abbreviated to “45-Paris.” And “4205” would be all it would take to ruin someone’s Grand Tour with, “Your house is at the present moment on fire.”

As soon as I saw the book, I was smitten. My first instinct was to make a found poem out of some of the telegrams myself. My poem didn’t work. It bore nothing of the richness and range contained in the original document and I realized that what was missing was a complexity of language and syntax that could only be achieved through a multiplicity of voices.

I began reaching out to poets via technologies Baldwin never dreamed of, asking them to write a poem using as title a telegram I’d chosen for them. I created an anthology, “The Traveler’s Vade Mecum,” published by Red Hen Press in 2016. It got the attention of New York Times poetry editor Matthew Zapruder, who published one of the poems, by Julie Suarez. Its telegram title is relevant today.

 

There Was
a Great Want
of Civility

All night in the trees,

the whispering,

a great disorder, not the way

 

leaves talk among themselves

during the day, not the rustle

of squirrels and birds among them,

 

but a tossing, shiftless shadow

weight of darkness,

leaf to leaf.

 

I dared not close my eyes

for fear it would have

its way with me.

 

How

could anyone sleep?

 — Julie Suarez

  

Helen Klein Ross is a poet and novelist who lives in Lakeville, Conn., in a house that was built the same year A. C. Baldwin published his compendium.

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less