Pathologist discovers the power of poetry

It was an after-dinner presentation like none I had ever experienced at this year’s Florida Suncoast Writers Conference in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Soon after his introduction, Robert Pinsky, poet laureate of the United States, started to read his poems. In an enthusiastic, rich, baritone voice, he read “ABC,” a 26-word poem using each letter of the alphabet in order.

“ABC”

Any body can die, evidently. Few Go happily, irradiating joy,

Knowledge, love. Most Need oblivion, painkillers, Quickest respite.

Sweet time unafflicted, Various world:

X=your zenith.

For the next hour, this burly poet, who looked more like a football player than a reclusive academic, gave the audience new insight into the world of poetry. In just a few words, I learned, a poem can encapsulate the wisdom of the ages. Poems may be memorized and easily recalled during our waking hours or during our dreams. Poems are portable.

Each year for the past seven years I have been privileged to attend the FSWC conference held at the University of South Florida. The annual gathering features keynote speakers and a veritable six-ring circus of writing tracks or venues. Included are sessions on writing skills, marketing, dealing with agents and publishers, fiction and nonfiction writing, and last — and for me, least, poetry. For seven years, I had successfully avoided even one class on poetry.

Pinsky, a native of New Jersey, was educated at Rutgers College and Stanford University. He is on the creative writing faculty at Boston College. His writing career has focused on translations of Dante, featured in his award-winning book, “The Inferno of Dante.” He has published 10 other books on poetry, including his own verse, translations of other poets, as well as anthologies. He said that he has been “consumed by poetry,” and it showed.

As a pathologist, the writing during my professional career has been, of necessity and design, nonfictional. “The body is that of a well-developed cachectic elderly Caucasian male … ,” the classic introduction to an autopsy report, did not call for much “creative writing.” Toward the end of my career, the FSWC conferences gave me a chance to explore nonfiction and fiction writing ranging from short stories to articles, from screenplays to novellas, even novels.

These writing challenges and opportunities require an escalating amount of time — up to several years for a first-time novel. Once a piece is written, it must pass through the maze of rejection-acceptance and then a potential “lag period” before it is published and distributed. Poetry, however, can be quite different.

An evening with the poet laureate opened my eyes and ears to the power of poetry. Poems, when set to music, can form the basis for the lyrics of a memorable or haunting tune. Applied to a greeting card, a poem may express your hopes, feelings, your message. Poems can be packed with genius or simply silly. They may spark inquiry or open new avenues of thinking. Poems can be written on a scrap of paper at the time of inspiration, collected, and revisited time and again, often unlocking new meaning, even new reasoning.

In addition to reading his poetry, Pinsky shared his enthusiasm and support of the Library of Congress’ Favorite Poem Project for the new millennium. The goal of this project is to collect, collate, and preserve 1,000 recordings and 200 videotapes of favorite poems of people from around the United States.

Initiated by the Library of Congress and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston University and the Poetry Society of America, the Project has its own Web site at www.favoritepoem.org. The project is for all. One inspiring example was a poem read, in Portuguese, by an elderly lady in Rhode Island, then translated into English by her son. We were all encouraged to send in our favorite poem on the Web site or by a response postcard liberally distributed throughout the conference area.

An evening with the poet laureate changed forever the way I view poetry. Poetry can and does play an important role in our lives. In a time of massive dissemination of information and media outlets, from historical printed media to the Internet, from cable to satellite television, poems can serve to focus our thoughts and to give us a safe harbor in these turbulent times.

Editor’s Note: Bernhoff A. Dahl, M.D., recently retired from the practice of pathology in Maine and lives on the Penobscot River in Winterport, where he is a writer … and a poet.