Heard on the Street

Tom Carroll, jazz guitarist (Granville, Ohio)

Do you read poetry as part of your daily life?
No, but I do read poetry occasionally. Right now I’m reading Gary Snyder. I read him on and off, I don’t necessarily know all his work, but he’s someone I’ve been interested in since I was in college. He’s really major into Zen Buddhism. And a writer named Thomas Merton whose book of Zen poems I’m reading right now.

When do you turn to poetry?
When I want some quiet time, nothing more profound than that, when I’ve got a day off and the kids are out of the house. My wife is usually across the room, so it’s not like I’m escaping from her (laugh), a meditative thing.

First poem read
The only one I can really remember would be Robert Frost, “Whose woods these are . . .” That’s the first one I remember, but I’m sure there was something before that.

Last poem read
I happen to have just read some of the Psalms, and I consider them poetry. It’s not necessarily a religious thing, though they are profound.

Worst poetry memory
Open mike poetry nights. I’ve heard some horrible poetry, and one of them was here in town.

Best poetry memory
Just my teachers in elementary school reading to me; I can’t remember one specifically that made me appreciate it growing up. I don’t read poetry all the time, but it is a powerful thing—not just to read, but to hear it spoken. That’s the musical part. Poetry has rhythm because of its words and syllables, and for me rhythm is the universal connection to all music; harmonics and keys change, but rhythm is the connection.

Any poems memorized? Can you say them by heart?
I went to Catholic school, so we definitely had to memorize, but no. I know the first line of that Frost poem, like I know a million songs, but I only know the first line—just like I don’t know the bridge to a lot of songs.

Anna Brawley, college student (Granville, Ohio)

Do you read poetry as part of your daily life?
Not usually. I’m taking an English class where we read poetry as part of class, but I don’t really read it outside of class. I like prose better than poetry. I’m a history major, so I read a lot of nonfiction, and I guess I relate more to prose. When I write, I write prose. I just have more of an affinity for that—and for narrative and fiction—than I do for poetry.

When do you turn to poetry?
Well, I’m studying the First World War, so I’ll read war poetry, and even though a lot of it doesn’t relate to my life directly, sometimes I will turn to it. Sometimes I’ll just find a poem that I really like. And I think song lyrics are sort of like poetry, so in that sense there are some times when I’ll read poetry, outside of a class requirement.

First poem read
I don’t remember—I can remember the first poem I wrote, but not the first one I read. It goes, “I have a little friend / he is as green as can be / but I never saw his face / because he is a pea.” I was six years old. That’s the only one I wrote, though. Since then, I’ve written short stories and other things, but not poetry.

Last poem read
Let’s see, the last poem I read. . . . There’s an artist from the 1980s called Laurie Anderson, and I think a lot of her lyrics are really poetry. She has one about an angel being blown backward through time. I forget what it’s called, but that’s the one that I read recently that was really good.

Worst poetry memory
The worst poetry memories would be . . . I don’t know, I can’t think of a specific one, but basically when people think their poetry is really good but it’s just OK, and they’ll go on and on about how cool it is—that whole poet-persona thing.

Best poetry memory
I guess the best poetry memory is being in a class and learning something about a poem that isn’t obvious or evident at first when you read the poem—when it starts being revealed.

Any poems memorized? Can you say them by heart?
I used to know Jabberwocky, and I tend to like Lewis Carroll’s poetry: “’Twas brillig and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe / All mimsy were the borogoves / And the mome raths outgrabe”—that’s the first little stanza, I think. I wish people knew more classic poetry by heart. I read a lot of old books, and when I hear someone just throw in a line from say, Virgil, I always think that’s pretty cool. I wish I was more like that.

Michael Brohard, Management (Newark, Ohio)

Do you read poetry as part of your daily life?
I do not.

When do you turn to poetry?
I’m aware of poetry within the lyrics of music, but actively I don’t pursue it. As you get older, you may try to incorporate more of the arts or more of the intellect into your life—things that maybe you didn’t appreciate in college or in high school, and you just try. A couple weeks ago, actually, I tried to write a poem (and failed miserably), just to see if I could do it, but it’s definitely not really something I find myself drawn to. Except I used to write, you know, “roses are red / violets are blue” type of love poetry.

First poem read
No, I don’t remember, not the first serious poem. In college we explored poetry in an English class, and I found myself struggling to make sense of it.

Last poem read
Hmm . . . I don’t know, I can’t really speak to that.

Worst poetry memory / Best poetry memory
You know, I think like most people here—in this coffee shop today—that early on I enjoyed the coffee shop experience. In some of the cities I lived in, there would be poetry readings and things centered around that kind of culture. But that culture has become more mainstream, people marketing themselves as published poets. The one thing I remember is that it seemed that in certain segments of society, people were really trying too hard. So I guess the negative memories I have are sort of like, Come on people, let’s be real. And the other memory was the notion of poetry as a way to be a romantic guy. I couldn’t meet that. Obviously, not feeling talented in the poetry area, I thought, OK, I can do a lot of other things that are romantic. Poetry was just not part of my repertoire.

Any poems memorized? Can you say them by heart?
Nope, sorry.

Vanessa Martin, salon owner (Granville, Ohio)

Do you read poetry as part of your daily life?
No. But my daughter does, constantly—she reads poetry in school, she reads it at home, and she probably writes poetry daily.

When do you turn to poetry?
I do occasionally come across poetry. When I see it out there, I’ll read it. It’s not like it’s disturbing to me! I just don’t take the time. It’s very trendy now to hear poetry at weddings.

First poem read
I don’t remember what the poem was, but I remember I was young and I really liked it. I thought that for sure I would be interested in poetry. But that never evolved! I do distinctly remember thinking, I really like poetry, it sounds great . . .

Last poem read
It was my daughter’s—and it was just a couple weeks ago. It was a pretty cool poem. She’s 16—so intense, you know. You know: 16, intense, and emotional, kind of out there. Not a bad thing to be into, though.

Worst poetry memory / Best poetry memory
Well, I remember that first poem I heard and thinking that it would be great to be a poet. But afterward, I remember learning about the different types of poems—shorter ones that sort of don’t even make sense. I really like soft, flowing poems full of beauty—nothing choppy. And nothing that makes sense only to the poet herself. So maybe that’s what turned me off to poetry.

Any poems memorized? Can you say them by heart?
No, I don’t. I have no memory of having to recite a poem in school—which may be good, because I would have remembered it if I had to do it and didn’t like it.

Lori Salatino, Sunoco manager (Westerville, Ohio)

Do you read poetry as part of your daily life?
No!

When do you turn to poetry?
Sometimes! I mean, I like poetry; I actually write poetry. But I have to be inspired. I guess around holidays, if I’m feeling like writing a poem as a gift for somebody, then I would read some poetry, but I don’t think I even have any poetry books. My grandmother used to write poetry. She would share it with me, and she was actually published in some book. I don’t remember what the name of it was. Her name was Jean Miller.

First poem read
I don’t remember—it was probably one of my grandmother’s poems. She used to read her poems to me. I actually signed up on that poetry.com Web site, but it seemed like a scam in the end. You can enter your poems on that site, and people will review them. And you can do some of them for free, but then after a while they charge you so much. I did that for a few months last year; I submitted two of my poems, and then they try to scam you. They send you a letter saying you can win this big poetry contest if you send this much money, and you can get your book published. I don’t want to spend money to do that.

Last poem read
It was probably on that poetry Web site. You have to review other people’s poems, and then they review yours. So that’s probably it.

Worst poetry memory / Best poetry memory
No! I don’t think you really put memories to poetry in that way. I mean, in my writing I do; those are from memories of the past, life experiences that have caused me to feel or think a certain way, so I write that in my poems.

Any poems memorized? Can you say them by heart?
Well, I didn’t study poetry in school; they didn’t make us memorize any poems. I absolutely have my own poems memorized, but I’m not going to tell you one here! I’ll give you one title; the one I submitted to the poetry Web site was called “A Friend.” But I’m not going to tell you. What if you steal it?! That’s another thing, I didn’t want to sign the paper from that Web site because what if they take all your poems and publish them and don’t give you any credit for it? Actually, I do have all my poems collected into a book—about 20 to 30 poems. Most of them were written when I was younger. I haven’t written many lately.