National Book Festival

Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts

Dana Gioia is a bestselling anthologist whose poetry, essays, translations and criticism frequently appear in "The New Yorker," "The Atlantic," "The Washington Post Book World," and "The New York Times Book Review." His publications include "Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture" (Graywolf, 1991; 2001); "Interrogations at Noon" (2002), his third full-length collection of poems, which won the American Book Award; and "Disappearing Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture" (Graywolf, 2004).

He was online Tuesday, Sept. 20  to discuss his writings and his appearance at National Book Festival .

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Washington, D.C.: During the past several years at the National Book Festival, you have recited well-known American poems from memory. What is the value of memorizing poems, and what can be done to encourage the practice of memorization among poetry readers?

Dana Gioia: As part of the Poetry Pavilion program over the past three

years, we thought it was important to celebrate the history

of American poetry as well as the living poets who were

reading that day. I have usually read with another writer

a cross section of American poems. Since I know a great

many poems by heart, I have usually recited my portion of

the program.

I am a great believer in memorizing poetry--for a number

of reasons. First of all, I think that poetry is basically

a musical art. The art tends to make its strongest and

deepest impression when heard. Second, memorization and

performance tends to emphasize the physical and emotional

side of poetry, rather than just the intellectual side.

Finally, for young people memorization provides models

of great language and ideas as well as practical training

in public speaking. This has never been truer than today

when so much of popular culture is oral.

Dana Gioia: The NEA has just begun a high school poetry recitation

contest that will be in all 50 states capitals next year.

We did a pilot program in Washington that over 4000

teenagers participated in. The finals were terrific.

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Frederick, Md: Will you be reading your poetry on the Mall this weekend? What is your role in the festival?

Dana Gioia: No, I won't be reading my own work. I think it best not

to promote my own poetry while in office. And there is

so much great poetry one can share. WE will be doing a

special tribute to Walt Whitman in honor of the 150th

anniversary of "Leaves of Grass."

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Alexandria, Va: I'm looking forward to the book festival this weekend. My question for you is in regards to your role at the NEA. It seems like funding has not dropped in recent years, but what do you see as the NEA's biggest challenges?

Dana Gioia: Actually, funding for the NEA has been increased every

year recently. We have had the budget raised 5 times in

the past three years. I am happy to report that we now

have strong support in Congress and the White House. You

can check out some of our recent successes on our website.

All that being said, we have many challenges facing us.

Not the least of which is how to respond to the huge

cultural loss associated with Hurricane Katrina. We are

trying to lead a national effort to have cultural and

arts organizations treated as the important economic

forces they are in the affected areas.

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Washington, D.C.: I am sure you are busy with many things these days, but I was wondering what you are working on right now. Will you be publishing a new collection soon?

Dana Gioia: It is nice of you to ask about my own work. I am afraid

that my role at the NEA has been so demanding that I haven't written much for the past three years. But I am

happy to report that I have recently begun writing poetry

again. Whether it is any good is for you to decide once

I publish it (which probably won't be until I am out of

office--I try to be scrupulous about keeping my private

and public careers separate.)

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Portland, Maine: I love your poem, "Unsaid." Where did it "come from"?

Dana Gioia: "Unsaid," believe it or not, began as a 36-line poem about

New Year's, which I wrote for NPR. After the broadcast

I decided to revise it. Gradually, the poem got shorter

and shorter until it no longer had anything at all to do

with the original subject.

A lot of my poems develop that way. I try to figure out

where the poem wants to go and follow it through the

revisions. I think that the last line of the poem--as

well as perhaps its general subject--came from the number

of deaths I had recently experienced, including the deaths

of my first son and my closest childhood friend.

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Harrisburg, Pa.: Do you prefer one type of writing, i.e. poetry, over other types? Which do you find easier to write, and which type do you find the most difficult or frustrating?

Dana Gioia: I find all writing difficult, except for letters, which

I love to write. My old teacher Elizabeth Bishop was the

same way. She and I used to joke about how much we hated

writing poetry. It was so hard to get right. Letters

one usually writes to friends who grant us every allowance

of interest and affection.

I find essays very hard to write well. I work them

over almost as much as poems. Short reviews are pretty

easy, and they always come with deadlines.

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Silver Spring, Md: What's your all-time favorite book?

Dana Gioia: I have so many favorite books that I could spend the next

hour listing them. When I was ten, my favorite book

was Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" (which I

read aloud years later to both of my sons.) When I was

twenty, my favorite book was probably Stendhal's "The Red

and the Black" probably because its pretentious hero was so

much like me. At thirty I think the book had become St.

Augustine's "City of God" because it gave me an idea of

how one might build a good and positive community as an

artist. At forty I had begun to reread the classics and

Virgil and Dante spoke to me in a way they had never done

before. Now in my fifties, "A Princess of Mars" is beginning to look better and better.

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Fairfax, Va: I'm interested to hear about the Walt Whitman tribute. Could you tell us more about that?

Thanks.

Dana Gioia: Donald Hall and I will be reading our favorite poems from

the various versions of "Leaves of Grass." Hall has

claimed "Out of the Cradle Endless Rocking." Otherwise

it will be a free-for-all. We will also both make a few

comments about Whitman's contributions to American literature and America. It is really just a way of

celebrating his poems in a lively and direct way.

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West Coast: In regards to your tribute to Walt Whitman, will you be mentioning that fact that Whitman was an Anti-Stratfordian, and felt it absurd to think a rustic with little or no education could write the greatest plays and poems in our English language? Whitman intuitely deduced it to be a "wolfish earl", and now it is the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward De Vere, who has emerged as the leading candidate to be the writer who wrote under the name "Shake-speare". As Whitman was hardly a champion of aristocracy, shouldn't his strong views against Will Shaksper of Stratford be highlighted?

Dana Gioia: I will answer this very informed and interesting question

only by saying that I believe that William Shakespeare

wrote the plays to which his name has been assigned.

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Columbus, Ohio: What made you decide to become a poet?

Dana Gioia: Bad judgment and lack of musical talent. I wanted at first

to be a composer. I had always loved poetry, but I never

thought of myself as a poet. Poems were things that I

scribbled on the side--usually when I was depressed about

some girl. (Come to think of it that state of mind would

have encompassed my entire adolescence.)

I think that studying music was--however unintentionally--

good training for a poet, at least the sort of poet

I eventually wanted to become. It taught me how to think

about sounds moving through time.

Reading Ezra Pound's "The ABC's of Reading" probably sent

me over the edge into poetry. That is the ultimate young

person's book--full of energy and idealism. I read and

reread it until there seemed nothing finer in the world

than being a poet. I still believe that, though I

probably shouldn't.

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Bethesda, Md..: If one of your children decided they wanted to become a poet, would you encourage them to pursue their dream?

Dana Gioia: I wouldn't encourage either of my sons to be an artist.

It is a hard life. But I also wouldn't discourage them.

I want them to pursue whatever they have a passion for.

The important thing is for them to be strong, good, brave,

and honest in whatever they pursue.

I do spend a lot of time with my boys introducing them to

the arts. I want them to have the richness of the arts

in their lives. This has backfired. My older son's love

of opera has proved very expensive to his father. No

good deed goes unpunished.

And I still read every night I am not travelling to my

younger son.

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Centreville, Va.: Who is your favorite poet and why?

Dana Gioia: William Shakespeare and W. H Auden are probably my two

favorite poets. I measure that in some ways by how many

of their poems I know by heart.

I think what impresses me about both poets is how wise

they are. I find myself calling passages from their work

to mind in a huge variety of circumstances, and it helps

me gain clarity on the moment.

I think at some level that the ultimate test for poetry

is how it enhances our engagement with life. That is

another reason why it helps to know at least some lines

by heart. We can carry them around with us and have it

there when we need it.

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Syracuse, NY: Where can I find a schedule for the poetry tent at the National Book Festival? Will the poets be signing books?

Dana Gioia: The schedule is on the Library of Congress's website

(loc.gov). Just click on Book Festival. All the poets

(except for me) will be signing books at a special booth

close to the Poetry Pavilion. We had the poets' signing

table moved closer so that people don't need to miss the

readings.

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Washington, DC: What does the NEA plan to do to rebuild "culture" in New Orleans?

Dana Gioia: We hope to do a great deal. Look at the "Chairman's

Message" on our website for details. (www.nea.gov)

I won't repeat myself here. We consider it an important

and urgent issue.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I've seen you read a few times and I notice you always recite from memory. I have trouble memorizing poetry. How do you memorize so many poems?

Dana Gioia: The easiest way to memorize, as most actors know, is by

reciting the lines to yourself as you walk around. I don't

know why in physiological terms that is so, but it works.

You will find that the memory is a muscle. Once you start

using it, the memory gets stronger and stronger. Soon you

will find it easy to memorize lines that you love.

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Fairfax, Va.: Which of your poems if your favorite and why?

Dana Gioia: I don't exactly know--usually something obscure, complex,

and sad that no one else likes but me.

I am always surprised by the poems other people like the

best. I am sure they have more objectivity than I do.

In my last book, I thought the best poem was "The Litany."

It seems to be the one poem no one has ever asked to

translate or reprint. See what I mean?

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Washington, DC: What's happening with the opera Nosferatu--any upcoming performances? Recordings?

And are you interested in writing more verse specifically to be set to music?

Dana Gioia: How nice of you to ask about "Nosferatu."

I am happy to say that a recording of the opera is about

to appear from Albany records--a 2 CD set that has almost

the complete opera on it. The recording was drawn from one

of the live performances by the Rimrock Opera. The

soloists are very good.

Alva Henderson (the composer) and I hope that the opera

will be performed again, but I have to stay out of all of

the negotiations as long as I am at the NEA. Therefore I

am the last to know about what is going on.

I love to collaborate with composers. It has been one

of the great pleasues of my career as a writer. Opera,

song, and choral works are things that a poet should do--

different forms of writing that open up new audiences.

I wrote a one act opera with Paul Salerni called "Tony

Caruso's Final Broadcast." It has had two concert

performances, and it is now being revised for a fully

staged version--if the composer can find a willing opera

house. The composer Lori Laitman and I have also done

a number of songs lately.

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Munich, Germany: I once had a high school teacher who played rock music in class to compare the lyrics and poetry of the rock group, "Rush" with Coleridge's classic Kubla Khan. I have to say that it caught my attention and interested other class mates as well.

Do you see any poetic merit in rap music that is popular among the today's youth?

Dana Gioia: Guten Tag, Munchen!

I think that rap and popular music have a natural relationship to poetry. It is a complex relation, but a

deep and genuine one. I have written about rap at some

length in the title essay of my last book "Disappearing

Ink: Poetry at the End of Print Culture." What I said

was that rap was one of the most interesting and

influential literary developments of the last quarter

century--a response to the decline of print and the rise

of oral culture. Now that isn't the same as saying Snoop

Dog is the new Shakespeare or Lil Kim is our Emily

Dickinson. (Did Snoop Dog really write Snoop Dog?) But

I find the invention of a new verse form transmitted by

recording and creating an audience in the hundreds of

millions fascinating.

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Landover, Md.: Do you see any younger American poets rising to take their place alongside writers like like Maya Angelou and Robert Pinsky and whom do you enjoy?

Dana Gioia: There are a great many wonderful younger poets--and

emerging older poets--who seem to me enormously talented.

A. E. Stallings and Christian Wiman, both of whom will be

reading at the Book Festival, are wonderful writers--

memorable, inventive, humane, and sometimes even funny.

Samuel Menashe, who is 79, is finally being recognized as

the idiosyncratic and original master he is. There are

lots of other younger writers I admire from experimentalists like H.L. Hix to narrative writers

like B. H. Fairchile (not young but only recently published) and David Mason. One poet I am crazy about is

Kay Ryan. I could go on and on, but that is probably

more than anyone wants at one sitting.

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Washington, D.C.: What books of poetry would you recommend to readers just beginning to read poetry? Are there any "essential" works?

Dana Gioia: I would recommend a great anthology of individual poems.

One does not need to read the collected works of a writer,

just a single poem to experience what poetry represents.

One could do far worse than pick up one of the old

Oscar Williams or Louis Untermeyer anthologies that are

available in both new and used bookstores. They are

wonderful books. I read my copies to pieces and had

to buy replacements.

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Lexington, Ky: How do you critique the current effort to make poetry more "universal" or "common" in American society?

Dana Gioia: People are trying all sorts of things--some good, some

not so good. I think it is a time to experiment and see

what works.

I tend to believe that the most important thing is to

connect students with the pleasures of poetry. We tend

to teach the art in a dull and over analytical way. Analysis is fine, but it needs to come after the true and

deep connection has been formed. That is why performance

is so important. Not everyone enjoys reading poets, but

almost everyone likes hearing a good poem.

The important thing is to recognize that poetry is one

of the primal and basic human arts. If we lose this art,

we lose part of our humanity.

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Dana Gioia: I hope I wasn't too inarticulate. Thanks for all of the

interesting questions. I look forward to seeing you all

at the book festival, except perhaps the person from

Munich. But he or she is welcome, too!

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