Lois Ames: Confidante to Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.”

Lois Ames: Confidante to Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.”

Interview by Doug Holder (2005)




Recently I was privileged to hear Lois Ames speak at the “Wilderness House Literary Retreat,” in Littleton, Mass. Lois Ames is a poet, biographer and psychotherapist. She was a confidante of the poet Anne Sexton, and has published many essays on both Sexton and Sylvia Plath including: “A Biographical Note,” in Plath’s “Bell Jar,” She also was the editor of “Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters.’ I talked with her on my Somerville Community Access TV show “Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer.”


Doug Holder: Is it a natural fit for “confessional” poets like Sexton and
Plath to have a trained social worker , and a literary historian, as a
confidante?




Lois Ames: I don’t think it is usual. I don’t think that’s why I was their
friend or confidante. I knew Sylvia from high school and Smith College. Anne I once met in high school, but I didn’t know her till much later. I was then a trained social worker, but I don’t think that’s why we became friends.


Anne certainly asked me to go to McLean Hospital when she first started
teaching poetry there. She wanted someone trained to help her when she reviewed the patient poems. She didn’t want to hurt these fragile patients’ feelings. She wanted me to monitor what she said. She turned out to be superb.




Doug Holder: You wrote the biographical note for the “Bell Jar.” Did you
ever want to do a complete biography of Plath and Sexton?




Lois Ames: I did. The book “Anne Sexton: Self-Portrait in Letters.” was my idea. It was done partly to get an understanding about what material was there. She had appointed me her official biographer. But it was also to help her children to understand aspects of their mother’s life they weren’t aware of. I thought if I was there for them we could go through the letters, and this would be very helpful.


I was the first one to be asked to do the biography of Sylvia Plath. I had
a contract with the family. Harper and Row was my publisher. It became
increasingly difficult for me to do this, as other biographers have found
out. And I finally decided for the sake of my own sanity and my family; that
it was better to pay back the advance to Harper’s. I always felt it was a
wise decision.


Doug Holder: Did Plath have any interest in teaching poetry at McLean
Hospital, like Sexton?


Lois Ames: Oh, no, I don’t think so. Sylvia was a junior in college when she was at McLean. In those days she wasn’t trained to do anything like that.


She went to England after she graduated Smith. There was no reason for her to even think of doing that. That was not Sylvia’s interest. Anne loved teaching. Sylvia found teaching very difficult. She taught one year at Smith College and felt that it drained her. I assume going to England with Ted Hughes and leaving Smith, was a wonderful opportunity for her.


Doug Holder: Anne was not formally educated beyond high school. If say, she was educated in the Liberal Arts at Harvard, would she be a different poet?


Lois Ames: She was very interested in form when she first started and she studied it very diligently. When she was in Robert Lowell’s workshop she studied it as well. She read a great deal. She tried to make up for the great gaps in her education. Her teachers in public school gave up on her very early. They told her parents that she was hopeless. She was sent to the “Garland School,” a finishing school for girls at the time. She said she learned to make perfect white sauce there, but that was it. But she was writing poetry when she was there and it was published in a magazine the school put out.


Doug Holder: Have you had any clients since Sexton and Plath who have
reached literary heights?




Lois Ames: I knew a lot of the people in the workshop Anne ran. I am sworn to confidentiality however. But a lot of people, who came out of the
workshop, have been or are published poets. They do very well in the poetry world.


Doug Holder: Is your own poetry influence by either poet?


Lois Ames: Anne certainly taught me a lot about reading. She taught me to get as many critiques as possible. Have I ever tried to follow the style of either of them? No. And no one has ever accused me of that.


Doug Holder: Do you think if Plath didn’t have this dramatic background of suicide, Smith, and marriage to Ted Hughes, etc...and was a working-stiff from Waltham, would she be as celebrated as she is today?


Lois Ames: I am wondering where Plath will stand in a hundred years. Ted Hughes was very good at marketing Plath. He kept her reputation growing by the astute publication of her work. I think the fact that she and Ted Hughes had a passionate romance, were from a tumultuous family, and the fact that Sylvia killed herself, all lead to the mystique. It contributes to her present fame. Some of Plath’s poems were superb and she knew a lot about poetic form.


Doug Holder: Where will Sexton’s work stand in a hundred years?


Lois Ames: I think it will fare well. I think Sexton was more daring than
Plath. The problem is that people don’t read Sexton today. I don’t think she is promoted. She hasn’t been marketed the way Plath is today.


Doug Holder: The poet Ted Hughes, Plath’s husband, has been much maligned.Both Plath and his other wife committed suicide. It has been said he drove Plath to suicide through his infidelity, etc... What’s your take?

Lois Ames: Ted had a lover during their marriage that he later had a child with. This was the source of Sylvia’s rage. Later she killed herself the same way Sylvia did. I felt extreme sympathy for Ted. There is nothing more rage full to do to other people than to kill yourself. I don’t think other people are responsible for other people’s suicides. With the medications we have now maybe Sylvia and Ann could have been saved.


Doug Holder: Did the limitations on women coming of age in the 50’s play a role in these untimely deaths?


Lois Ames: Each of us was a warrior trying to find herself. Every
achievement was huge. To get out from under the dish washing, the daycare, and to create anything took enormous courage, and strength. I am sure it took its toll.


Doug Holder: Did Sexton and Plath’s mental illness contribute positively to their poetry?


Lois Ames: Each wrote in spite of their illness. It took enormous courage to do this.

Somerville's Wendy Blom Gives Us Food for Thought

Somerville's Wendy Blom Gives Us Food for Thought

I have worked with Wendy Blom for a number of years at Somerville Community Access TV where I produce my show “ Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer." Blom, the director of SCAT, is so busy coordinating other projects that I was surprised and glad that she decided to produce one of her own. Blom’s project is the much lauded film documentary "Eating Local in Somerville," airing on Somerville Community Access TV through the month of November. The film concerns the local food movement in Somerville. I guess you can consider Blom a film producer of fresh produce! Anyway I shot her a few questions for Off the Shelf:






Doug Holder: What is the local food movement?

Wendy Blom: The local food movement is a reaction to large scale industrial agriculture that dominates food production in the United States. People want to know where their food comes from, and that it is chemical-free. Local food tends to be much fresher and tastier as well. People also want to support local farms because they preserve open space, offer more diverse varieties of produce, and use less fuel for transport, making the process more environmentally green. Besides buying produce from local farms, the local food movement includes backyard gardens, community gardens, New England cheese companies, and local organically grown meats.



DH: You wrote that Somerville is in the forefront. How does this play out? What restaurants, etc... are part of the movement?


WB: It is in the forefront because the Somerville school system has managed to adapt the government-mandated school cafeteria bidding process to allow local farms to compete. This results are in the students having a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables in their meals and snacks than other communities. In addition, each elementary school has an educational garden for after school activities that lead to an appreciation for vegetables and hands-on biology lessons. There are numerous restaurants in Somerville that advertise their local ingredients, finding that local produce draws patrons. Examples are the Teele Square Cafe, Bloc 11, and Sherman's Cafe.

Somerville has a very active group of food activists. Groundwork Somerville gets numerous grants to support local agriculture projects in the schools and in the community. The Community Growing Center is a leader in garden education, working with the Somerville Arts Council and Groundwork Somerville to expose Somerville students to gardening. Adding to the possibilities for eating local are the 150 community garden plots in Somerville, (despite the City's lack of green space), Somerville's two busy farmers markets, and hundreds of community supported agriculture (CSA) participants.


DH: What are the challenges you faced in producing this documentary?

WB: This documentary came together very easily. The amount of material I found exceeded my expectations. I met so many wonderful people who are excited about being part of the local food movement.

DH: Do you have ambitions for the documentary beyond SCAT?

WB: I hope that the information presented in the documentary will be used by other communities for expanding their own options for local food. For example, in my town of Needham, there is a group of people who are trying to convince the school committee to allocate land for a community farm. They are using my film to show people the benefits and possibilities of farm education. Here in Somerville, I hope the film will encourage people to think about the food they buy, and possibly purchase more local foods.

DH: Has Scat had a history of documenting with film other innovative aspects of our community? Some examples?

WB: SCAT has always been involved in spreading the word about community projects and issues. Often that means videotaping community meetings about the Green Line expansion, zoning issues, immigrant issues, and other topics that are important to Somerville. We produce programs about health (Bill Barrell recently produced an excellent hour-long show about H1N1, and our intern is currently creating a documentary about bed bugs), the arts, culture, etc.

DH: Do you consider yourself a gourmet or gourmand.... where do you eat in Somerville?

WB: I do not consider myself a gourmet, but I have gotten very excited about the freshness and variety of local produce. I live near a farm stand and during the season buy all my produce there. What inspired me was Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." I think there are so many benefits to having a strong farm presence in Massachusetts.


People can see the film, "Eating Local in Somerville" on SCAT throughout November and on the Web

dialect of a skirt by erica miriam fabri

dialect of a skirt
erica miriam fabri
Hanging Loose Press
Brooklyn, New York
ISBN: 978-1-934909-10-2
2009 $18.00




bravo bravo

immediately, the cover of this first book, by erica fabri, made me jealous. the energy portrayed, the vibrant color, the direct approach, the ice-cream sundae image, all lent to my initial shock, “how dare she smack us with her boldness, her youth.”
ahh jealousy is a roaring beast. I read of few of the poems and now I’m really pissed, “she even writes with knowledge of her subjects, writes in the vernacular of her day. after I calm down, smile, rejoice in her time, in her expressions, the book is exciting:

“it was an early round.
The judge presented it to her: Fish
The pride knife stabbed at her:
SPELL IT, NORMA”

fabri gropes our language, she creates spells from idols, icons, from her own definitions of what it means to be forever young. she creates spells I am bound up in, unrolled, left ‘breathless‘:

“She knew she knew this one.
as she dug her two beautiful
bucked teeth
into her beautiful
bottom lip
and started
to say: eff-
two droplets
of nearly black blood
ran down her clefted chin.”

the goddess slips off her pedestal. I grab a chair to steady myself. can this be an indication of how we measure ourselves, the spelling of ‘fish’. even before her breasts are visible, this speller is ashamed of her not being able to measure-up. oh wonderous poet, how you have given us our icon-made real.

“Just then: Agatha.

Agatha, breastless, wanted to win,
Agatha said: Blood isn’t allowed
in a Spelling Bee.
Sit down, Norma Jean”

the challenge: we can compete: we can win: especially, if we take charge, charge in, take over, embarrass, make that blood count, blood power gives birth but some of us don’t want it, so we run until we stop bleeding:

"Agatha pressed
the bridge of her glasses
into her forehead,
hard, like bone.”

ahh, I’m exhausted by this one poem and release myself from the others until my energy returns…. “the animal of Love” is another goodie. we garnish the results of being peg holed spellers, or spelling an inaccurate verb, but we also recognize May Saton’s poem, ‘wild geese,’ “let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Sarton seems more subtle in her recognitions of how we please each other. fabri uses the symbols handed down unrecognizably, for what is represented is not the truth. the truth is, no one needs to live without this book of poems?

“I will swim belly to belly
with you forever, and if you die first,
I will beach myself, because it would be
too lonely to live without your silver flesh”

the titles of the poems are an indicator of the content of the poem. these titles are wonderful. I leave you a sampling:

‘Sappho on the lower east side’
‘Mannequins at lunch’
‘The poet and the truck driver’
‘Love in an ice cream truck’

BELLDAY POETRY PRIZE

BELLDAY POETRY PRIZE $2,000 PRIZE TO WINNING POET SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 15, 2010 CONTEST FINAL JUDGE: LUCIA PERILLO


Lucia Perillo has published five books of poetry, including Dangerous Life (1989), The Body Mutinies (1996), The Oldest Map with the Name America (1999), Luck is Luck (2005) and Inseminating the Elephant (2009). She has also published one book of essays, I?ve Heard the Vultures Singing (2005). She has taught at four universities and was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship.


Bellday Books will publish the winning bookand award $2,000 and 25 copies of the book to the winning author.

CONTEST RULES? Submit a manuscript of 60-90 pages of original poetry in any style in English. The manuscript must not have been published in book or chapbook, but may contain poems that have appeared in print or on the Internet. Entries may consist of individual poems, a book-length poem or any combination of long or short poems.

Submitted manuscript must contain 2 title pages: Name and contact information should appear on first title page only. Name should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript. Include a table of contents page, but do not send an acknowledgements page. Manuscript must be typed single-spaced, paginated and bound with a spring clip. Enclose an SASE for announcement of the winner. Manuscript cannot be returned.

Postmark deadline: March 15, 2010. Include a check or money order for $25 reading fee, payable to BELLDAY BOOKS. Bellday Books reserves the right not to select an award winner, in which case all reading fees will be refunded. CONTEST MAILING ADDRESSBellday Books, Inc.P.O. Box 3687 Pittsburgh, PA 15230 Questions may be directed to :office@belldaybooks.com

LEN SOLO: A Poet and Painter who has seen the light.

LEN SOLO: A Poet and Painter who has seen the light.

The play of light figures in the work of Len Solo. Whether it is his paintings, or his detailed poetry, light transforms and illuminates the object of his creative desire.


Len Solo has been an educator for most of his professional work life: a public high school teacher of English, Math and Social Studies; founder of a small, private alternative school in Atlantic City; founder and department chairperson of the Teacher Development Program, Stockton State College, Pomona, NJ; principal for 27 years of the famous Graham & Parks Alternative Public School, Cambridge + Interim Principal, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High Schools for 1.5 years. For the past seven years he has been an education consultant. He has had 3 volumes of poetry published: Landscape of the Misty Eye, with Steve Weitzman (2004); Rooted in Place (2006) and The Magic of Light (2008).


Doug Holder: Len you have been an educator all your life. What do you think of the reading and writing of poetry as an educational tool?

Len Solo: Writing is what you aim for in teaching. If a kid can write, then you know that the kid can think, summarize, and plan ahead. If you can get one’s thoughts down that is the goal. It’s a goal beyond reading. It’s writing so others can read it. I taught poetry in high school and middle school. When I was a principal in Cambridge I had a math teacher; probably one of the best math teachers around. We had a lot of visitors ask him what they should read to be better math teachers. He said: “Read a novel.” That’s how I think about writing and poetry. It is a distillation of words and ideas.
A friend of mine told me my poetry is like prose, and in a way it is, but it is more than that. It is more heightened. I when I teach writing to kids I often start with poetry.

DH: So poetry can be taught?

LS: Yes. It can be in part. I can’t give you thoughts and ideas as a teacher. I can help you with the technical pieces of the writing. I can teach you about rhythm and rhyme—etc… It is the same argument about teachers. Are teachers artists, or can they be taught to teach? I think part of teaching can be taught.

DH: You have influences as diverse as Allen Ginsberg and Ernest Hemingway. What links these two for you?

LS: It is what I can take away from them. The things I can take away from Ginsberg is his style. He uses some techniques that I can relate to. Like E.E. Cummings’ minimalist usage of words—his placement of words on the page. So I take things from many.

DH: You have a scene of the North End of Boston on your collection “Magic of Light” that you painted. What was the attraction to the scene? Is your poetry and painting linked?

LS: I’m not Italian, but I like going to the North End. This particular scene grabbed me. The way I learn about things is primarily visual. So when I write I have a lot of visual images. That’s what I think I am really good at. It is part of almost every poem that I have written—strong visual images. I can see the act of creating a painting like the act of creating a poem. I try to catch a scene and grab and hold it. I do this with poetry and painting. The use of color is similar to the use of words and phrases.

DH: In your poem “Arranging Flowers”—it is almost an orgasmic experience—with a passion flower at the peak of an arrangement in a vase. Do you think we are driven as much by our own carnal desires as our creative?

LS: The ecstasy here is the merging of flowers, as in the merging of two people. The imagery really inspired me. When we get something down right, like a poem, it can be very close to an orgasm.

DH: In your new collection the “Magic of Light”—light plays an important role. Light has the power to transform, enliven, etc… What role does light play in your poems and paintings?

LS: When I started to put this book together I wanted to find the architecture for it or the unifying theme. I though how every one of these poems goes with light one way or the other. The power of light, its play. This is the way I deal with reality and my art, through my sight—you have sight because of light.



KARNER BLUE

*Lyceaeides Melissa Samuels

He was walking

through a field

wild with scrub oak

and black chokeberry,

the mild sky clear

all the way up,

when he saw a cloud

of tiny butterflies

come fluttering down

out of that sky

like blue snowflakes

on a windless day.



He followed one

zigzagging slowly

through the weeds,

its wings flashing

silver blue,

orange crescents below,

and watched it settle

on a purple-blue lupine,

art and nature fused,

a Nabokovan delight

in the summer sunlight

Camelot Kid's Triggertopia by David S. Pointer

Camelot Kid's Triggertopia
By David S. Pointer
Propaganda Press
alt-current.com
alt.current@gmail.com
Price: $5


A review by Mignon Ariel King

The cover sketch of the collection announces that this is not pretty poetry: an automatic rifle and guitar hybrid. Inside is rough, political work with titles such as "A Slice of the Modern Sex Trade" accompanied by disturbing sepia-toned sketches. Sharp humor appears, as in the "Major CEO: Basic Job Description":

must be expert
at creating the image of
false job creation while
using the money to move
overseas...(Lines 17-21).

No institution or organization goes untouched by Pointer's pen. The poet links the all-too-excruciatingly-obvious link between modern medicine and money. What distinguishes this political writing from much of the "rant" work being done lately, however, is its knowledge of the past that is sentimental without being sappy in its nostalgia. The tone is: Remember the good ol' days? --not that they were perfect, just better than the polar opposite we're stuck with today, including an over-medicated society. Really, is the "time-sturdy statement" (L3) of "The Patient First" too idealistic a goal for modern medical professionals?

Sprinkled throughout the collection of full-length poems are haiku, again, more entertaining than most I've seen in recent years. Here's one that amuses and produces a "Yikes!" from the reader at once: "casino daycare/plastic coins/for the kids." Halfway through the collection the reader discovers (via a spoken-word-worthy prose poem) that "Camelot Kid" grew up in a federal housing project named "Camelot". There, "where there were no/round tables, or lingering middle class/fables..." (L13-15).

In another class statement, the narrator's advice for "Removing Rot in Excessive Riches" is for the rich who are "laughing on their caribou calfskin couches" (L3) to "make wage suppression go down/smooth as white chocolate cheesecake" (L4-5). More anti-economic inequity lines offer this brilliant metaphor:

and nobody clears
poverty's airway
just the pockets
of the global poor (L9-12, "Wall Street Washington")

The poet's criticism of institutionalized social injustice and corruption is not softened, rather humanized, by autobiographical family-oriented words and old photographs. The reader is drawn in as opposed to feeling yelled at. Pointer's indignation feels righteous.



Mignon Ariel King is a former English instructor, a voracious reader and writer of poetry, and an online journal editor.

The Loulaki Bar and other poems from Hydra Henry Denander

The Loulaki Bar
and other poems from Hydra
Henry Denander
Miskwabik Press
Calumet Michigan USA
2009

The poems in this illustrated book of poems are an intimate
look at intimate ways people live within a small community
and each poem becomes part of the whole story.

“The water was leaking in the kitchen and
I’d called the plumber. He was out fishing
but his son would come by and help me.

A young guy turned up, only 15 but already
taller than his father. Dressed as a real plumber
with all the necessary tools, he fixed the problem.

When I asked about the bill he said I could pay
whatever I wanted - which of course is tricky.
He should be paid handsomely for taking an hour
to come to me this Sunday afternoon….”

Henry Denander and his family bought a home on the island
of Hydra in Greece, “a peaceful little island. Nothing much
happens. A perfect place for a summer house,” but much
does happen and Denander writes and paints some of the
happenings, some of the village life that carries us into the
poems; we float, bob with the ebbing tide along the shore
of this blue and aqua poetry.

This book is worth the read because we are all invited to swim
and to partake of the Greek life, just the way the poet has
and the poems invite us. This book will give you:

“the mandarin tree that seemed dead
suddenly has small green shoots.”

Irene Koronas
Poetry editor
Wilderness House Literary Review
Ibbetson Street Press
reviewer

You Know About The Somerville News Writers Festival, Nov. 14, 2009 at 7PM. But how about the Book Fair?

You Know About The Somerville News Writers Festival, Nov. 14, 2009 at 7PM. But how about the Book Fair?

Timothy Gager, like me, realizes the need to mix art and commerce. Gager is allergic to the dust that collects on unappreciated books on shelves in many bookstores. Since he appreciates good craft and good sales he told me that he would love to have a book festival to be held before the main event on Nov. 14,: The Somerville News Writers Festival ( 7PM at the Arts Amory Center--191 Highland Ave.)

If you know Gager like I do he goes after things like a fly on… well you know what. So before the readings that takes place at 7P.M. we will have a book festival at the Armory Arts Center as well. The Fair will feature both publisher and author tables. There also will be author readings by folks like Margot Livesey, Brian McQuarrie, Lise Haines and others.

We are going to have a number of fine presses as well. Gloria Mindock’s much touted Somerville-based Cervena Barva Press, as well as Gary Metras’ Adastra Press, which is known world-wide for their fine-crafted books of poetry will be there. The Boston Review, a well-respected literary and political review, based in Somerville, will be on hand, as well Leah Angstman’s Propaganda Press. Angstman is a young, prolific publisher of beautifully crafted mini-chapbooks of poetry. And we shan’t forget Tam Lin Neville (a featured reader) and Bert Stern’s Off the Grid Press, a Somerville-based publisher of fine poets over the age of sixty. And of course the much lauded school for writers Grub St. will be there to answer question about course offerings and events they have year round. I can’t forget my own press Somerville’s Ibbetson Street Press, and an out-of-towner the Black Lawrence Press of New York City.

At the author tables will be Paul Steven Stone, the author of “Or So It Seems,” Luke Salisbury, well-known baseball writer, novelist and author of the award-winning novel: “Hollywood and Sunset,” Boston University astronomy professor Daniel Hudon and author of “The Bluffer’s Guide to the Cosmos” as well as Paul DeFazio author of “Pros and Cons,”, and others will make the scene.

So drop by at 11AM on Nov. 14, browse, schmooze, go out to dinner, return for the readings at 7PM, make it a literary day and night!

For more info: go to http://somervillenewswritersfestival.com