Lunchtime Verse

As part of the ongoing Yeshiva College Arts Festival, students and faculty were treated to a lunchtime poetry reading by author Judith Baumel on Wednesday, March 25. The poetry reading and catered lunch took place at the Yeshiva College Writing Center, in a continuing effort to enhance the Writing Center’s appeal as an intellectual hub within the college. Not withstanding the scheduling of the event in the middle of the day, the attendance was impressive.

Judith Baumel is currently an associate professor of English at Adelphi University, and the head of its creative writing program. She served as director of the Poetry Society of America from 1985-1988. Her work has received much attention, with her first book, The Weight of Numbers, winning the Walt Whitman prize of the Academy of American Poets. Baumel also received a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

After participants enjoyed the catered lunch, Baumel proceeded to introduce herself and list some of the works that she would read. Addressing any possible concerns about the appropriateness of the material she would read, Baumel recalled an incident at Vanderbilt University where she presented some risqué material in a reading at the chapel, irking some of the organizers of the event. She assured the audience that she would not step on any toes, but would rather connect to the crowd through her traditional Jewish upbringing and her more Jewish poems. The audience was amused at the stretching of the definition of "Jewish poems" when Baumel read a poem that celebrated the life of Bob Marley and his Rastafarian philosophy. Baumel explained Rastafarian philosophy as stemming from Jewish ideas, citing their concepts of Zion and eating only select animals. What made the poem interesting was her incorporation of famous words from many of Marley’s songs.

Drawing on some biblical themes found throughout much of European legend, Baumel introduced us to the work of Patrizia Cavalli, an Italian poet whom she is translating in her new book. Responding to the problem of losing meaning in translation from one language to another, Baumel contended that part of translation is also interpretation, making it a daunting task. Some works read related to the death of one of Baumel’s good friends. She explained that writing poetry about her friend was one of the ways that she dealt with the pain of her death.

Baumel then read some of her works that related to the life of her grandmother. Portraying her as a typical Jewish Bubbe, Baumel manages to combine instances of amusing idiosyncrasies with a deep and unwavering affection for her grandmother. In one instance, Baumel’s grandmother had an allergic reaction to some aspirin, making her psychotic. Afterward, her grandmother was briefly committed to a drug rehabilitation center, Baumel wrote a poem that conjured up the incongruity of her sweet Bubbe offering sage advice to hardened drug addicts. In another poem portraying Baumel’s admiration of her grandmother, she describes taking part in the weekly ritual of cleaning chickens in preparation for Shabbat, conveying the indelible impression her grandmother left on her.

Concluding the reading, Baumel read from some of her most recent works that are slated to appear in her new book Province. Many of the poems appearing in Baumel’s 1996 book, Now, have been included in publications such as The New Yorker, Agni, Harvard Magazine, and the New York Times Book Review. Some of her works have been anthologized in collections of poetry, such as A Year in Poetry, A Walk on the Wild Side, and Foster and Guthrie.

The lunchtime reading provided its audience with a worthwhile glimpse into the depth of the creative process, and a chance to hear one of the foremost poets in America share her work.