We Are Virginia Tech audio poem

[WickedEve]

audio

 

[WickedEve]

We chose a pear-shaped roma
and shredded lettuce.
Mushrooms were for delay. Portabella
kept us in produce, listening
to men folk and how they talk
as though they know. Americans
are scared of Koreans, all those
aliens climbing, flying,
stepping over our borders.

 

[Reltne]

I thought the reading from Ecclesiastes at the Convocation was most appropriate. And I could hear this song in my head.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

(To Everything There Is a Season) -The Byrds
- words adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes by Pete Seeger
- music by Pete Seeger

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!

 

[Tzara]

audio

Perhaps you have to be there, be part of the damaged community, which Nikki Giovanni is, being University Distinguished Professor and Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies at Virginia Tech. Perhaps such an event is something that any response, if personal and deeply felt, is appropriate. Perhaps I just need to listen to it again. Perhaps I need to not watch the video. I don't know.

This poem, and perhaps its performance, disturbed me. Perhaps I needed to see it in the context of the meeting in which it was presented, which the video doesn't show. I don't know. I know it disturbed me. It seemed somehow wrong as response to the event. And, no, I can't really articulate why.

No disrespect intended to Ms. Giovanni, but were I a student or parent or faculty member, this would not only not comfort me, it would upset me.

And, yeah, I know I may be the only one who feels this way.

 

[Hotat21]

In my college, we had a moment of silence for all the victims and they're families campus wide. Then, I was in my voice/dance (like musical theater/ballet) class at the time and we began to learn a new combination to that song and several of us had tears in our eyes because of it. My prayers to everyone involved and those touched.

 

[bobbyh]

Believe me, coming from a student at Tech, you had to be there...you have to have the mentallity of a Hokie to really understand it. No disrespect was meant from what was said at all. Its just our way of coping. I know it is difficult for "outsiders" (for lack of a better term) to understand what it means to be a Hokie and how what was said was not in any way, shape, or form, disrespectful or rude to anyone who lost a family member or a friend.

 

[unapologetic]

Believe me, coming from a student at Tech, you had to be there...you have to have the mentallity of a Hokie to really understand it. No disrespect was meant from what was said at all. Its just our way of coping. I know it is difficult for "outsiders" (for lack of a better term) to understand what it means to be a Hokie and how what was said was not in any way, shape, or form, disrespectful or rude to anyone who lost a family member or a friend.

Just looking at the merits of the poem, I have to say I think it was kind of crap. Then again, that kind of poetry is not usually to my liking. Even still, I can see how it would be appropriate. She put the events into global perspective, which can help some.

bobbyh, at times like this you've got to do whatever works for you.

 

[Angeline]

Eve, thanks for posting the link. I watched the convocation yesterday and thought, like Tzara, that the poem was too upbeat for the occasion. But then I saw how the students there responded to it; it was clearly a message they needed from a member of their community--one of their own.

And sad as the occasion was, it was a treat to hear Nikki Giovanni read.

 

[WickedEve]

Eve, thanks for posting the link. I watched the convocation yesterday and thought, like Tzara, that the poem was too upbeat for the occasion. But then I saw how the students there responded to it; it was clearly a message they needed from a member of their community--one of their own.

And sad as the occasion was, it was a treat to hear Nikki Giovanni read.

I agree, but I did want to post the link. I thought it was interesting enough, because of the events, to share with you guys. I'm only an hour and a half from VA Tech and there is a lot of talk in my town. Lots of folks dealing in different ways. That little poem I posted is about something that I overheard in the grocery store. Everyone is sad, most are angry.

Edit: Wanted to add that "interesting" wasn't the right word. I really wanted to share more than the poem. I wanted to share how poetry comes into our lives, even at times when we least expect it. Where I live, I rarely hear or see poetry. So, it does grab my attention when a poem becomes part of how people deal with tragedy--especially a tragedy of this magnitude.

 

[Angeline]

I agree, but I did want to post the link. I thought it was interesting enough, because of the events, to share with you guys. I'm only an hour and a half from VA Tech and there is a lot of talk in my town. Lots of folks dealing in different ways. That little poem I posted is about something that I overheard in the grocery store. Everyone is sad, most are angry.

I like your poem.

I thought you were pretty near Blacksburg and wondered how you were faring these past few days. It must be unsettling (at the least) to have something so terrible occur so close to home. We (Americans and maybe all people everywhere) feel the pain of these events, however physically removed from them we are, but it's especially tough when it happens in our own backyard. I remember how scarred I was after the World Trade Center attacks because I lived so close to NYC.

But you know it occured to me yesterday that when events like this happen, society remembers that it needs poets. I wonder if anyone else thought that...


Stinky 'Ol Ange

 

[WickedEve]

I like your poem.

I thought you were pretty near Blacksburg and wondered how you were faring these past few days. It must be unsettling (at the least) to have something so terrible occur so close to home. We (Americans and maybe all people everywhere) feel the pain of these events, however physically removed from them we are, but it's especially tough when it happens in our own backyard. I remember how scarred I was after the World Trade Center attacks because I lived so close to NYC.

But you know it occured to me yesterday that when events like this happen, society remembers that it needs poets. I wonder if anyone else thought that...


Stinky 'Ol Ange

Oh, you saw the stinky remark?

"But you know it occured to me yesterday that when events like this happen, society remembers that it needs poets." You're right. Look at my post above. I edited before I saw your reply. Yeah, I thought it was interesting how poetry shows up at times like this. And most of the time, most people never even think about poetry.

 

[Angeline]

Oh, you saw the stinky remark?

<snip>

Yes. I felt the love.

 

[SeattleRain]

Thanks for sharing this, Eve.

Interesting-- Nikki Giovanni had him removed from her creative writing class for the disturbing and violent poetry he shared in his class...

 

[unapologetic]

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that the press won't let go of the fact that he was from South Korea? So f'ing what? He'd been living in the US since he was a child.

 

[annaswirls]

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that the press won't let go of the fact that he was from South Korea? So f'ing what? He'd been living in the US since he was a child.

I don't watch much tv, but I didn't much get that impression beyond the sadness of the Korean community and worry that there might be backlash. One man said that he is everyone's son, I thought that was profound, to feel that ownership.

I am pissed because he is giving angry young poets a bad name damn it!

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I don't watch much tv, but I didn't much get that impression beyond the sadness of the Korean community and worry that there might be backlash. One man said that he is everyone's son, I thought that was profound, to feel that ownership.

I am pissed because he is giving angry young poets a bad name damn it!

He was a poet? I saw some of what he wrote for class and it was all prose - plays and the like. Nasty stuff and certainly not poetic.

As an aside - it is wrenchingly sad that not a soul did anything to stop this happening in spite of numerous warning signs. Where were his parents while he was falling apart? It baffled me why the parents of those two Columbine killers didn't cotton to a problem when their kids room was full of signs.

 

[champagne1982]

I don't want the troubled young man to be the central character in this tragedy. It's time for the victims to be named.

One Poet's Perspective

I've been thinking on how
tragedies must twist
the psyche of the global
cluster we call a generation.

What is the significance
of thirty-three when over
one hundred and fifty
thousand go each day?

The poetic perspective shows
that although six degrees
of separation is a fact,
sometimes it comes down
to who our lives have touched.

How awful to be named below
your murderer whose infamy
outshines the light of promise
that your spark kept lit.

I pray that you do not pass
unremembered. Let the memorial
lift your name up to glory
for at least one singular
moment and let the world
allow you to pass in peace.

The dead.

Brian Bluhm, 25
Ryan Clark, 22
Austin Cloyd, 18
Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a French Language instructor
Peruvian student Daniel Perez Cueva, 21
Prof. Kevin Granata, 46
Mathew Gregory Gwaltney, 24
Caitlin Hammaren, 19
Jeremy Herbstritt, 27
Rachael Elizabeth Hill, 18
Emily Jane Hilscher, 19
Jarrett Lane, 22
Matt La Porte, a sophomore
Henry J. Lee — also known as Henh Ly
Prof. Liviu Librescu, 76
Prof. G.V. Loganathan, 51
Partahi Lumbantoruan of Indonesia, 34
Lauren McCain, 20
Daniel O'Neil, 22
Juan Ortiz, 26
Minal Panchal, 26
Erin Peterson, 18
Michael Pohle, 23
Julia Pryde, 23
Mary Karen Read, 19
Reema Samaha, 18
Waleed Mohammed Shaalan, 32
Leslie Sherman, a sophomore
Maxine Turner, a senior
Nicole White, 20

 

[Angeline]

He was a poet? I saw some of what he wrote for class and it was all prose - plays and the like. Nasty stuff and certainly not poetic.

As an aside - it is wrenchingly sad that not a soul did anything to stop this happening in spite of numerous warning signs. Where were his parents while he was falling apart? It baffled me why the parents of those two Columbine killers didn't cotton to a problem when their kids room was full of signs.

I agree that it is tragic that this obviously deeply disturbed young man slipped through the cracks, repeatedly, in spite of many strong signals that he was a potential danger to others and himself. Why did the college adminstrators allow him to remain in the university community knowing what they did about him, knowing America's recent history of violence in educational communities? I don't buy the argument that their hands were tied. Two respected professors warned their superiors that this kids seemed seriously disturbed. They did what they were supposed to do--why aren't their superiors culpable? Why is it always after the fact that we recognize something should be done?

 

[unapologetic]

I don't watch much tv, but I didn't much get that impression beyond the sadness of the Korean community and worry that there might be backlash. One man said that he is everyone's son, I thought that was profound, to feel that ownership.

I am pissed because he is giving angry young poets a bad name damn it!

It wasn't on TV. The only TV I really watch is Animal Planet and G4. It was, of all places, on National Public Radio. I've been trying to figure out what was going on with the testimony Alberto Gonzales was going to be giving, so I couldn't avoid the glut of stories. When he was first identified they kept saying "South Korean student."

champagne1982, thanks for the poem. It does a better job of saying what I think Nikki Giovanni was trying to say.

 

[FifthFlower]

...
that although six degrees
of separation is a fact,
...

Waleed Mohammed Shaalan, 32

I found out today that I am 3 steps from Waleed.

Here's a challenge to those who did not like Nikki Giovanni's poem: write a better one ~ and post it.

 

[champagne1982]

<snip>champagne1982, thanks for the poem. It does a better job of saying what I think Nikki Giovanni was trying to say.

Oh my, I have the power of the names behind me and I'm much further removed from the situation than Ms Giovanni. She kicked the young man out of her poetry class, if you can imagine, because of his disturbed poems that he'd read aloud as his assignment. I think that must have an impact on how you feel about the horror he later perpetrated on his fellows.

Her poem was designed to bring all those stunned young people, on what is supposed to be one of the proudest and happiest days of their lives, back to ground and place a sense of achievment back into their accomplishments. The killer not only slaughtered people, he stole the celebration from the convocational ceremony.

I think that for what her words were designed to do, Ms Giovanni penned and performed a very successful and powerful poem.

eta: I wasn't very gracious. Thankyou for the fine compliment, unapologetic, I do appreciate the honour.