MCC Poetry/Video Project
"Words Work…”
“A good poem is a bit like a volcanic island. It creates new
terrain of the soul.”
-Jane Hirshfield
What can you and your department do to celebrate National Poetry Month
in April, 2003? Patrick Callan, Kathy O’Shea and Ann Tippett, co-chairs of
MCC’s 5th annual celebration of National Poetry Month, want your help in
collaborating with ETS to produce "Words Work…" a third MCC poetry collection
celebrating the many roles and benefits of poetry. This effort will capture on
videotape the readings of College members’ selected poems and brief comments
on their importance to the readers.
These readings and commentaries will culminate in a unified celebration of the
art and vision of the MCC community—through a videotape produced by our
Instructional Technology Department. We are challenging all MCC departments
to solicit volunteers for this video, which will ultimately be shared with the College
community, as well as with many others through the MCC web site. We will, of
course, be seeking student involvement, as well.
Feel free to read more about the National Poetry Project, by logging on to
www.favoritepoem.org/archive. This educational and cultural event has been
enjoyed by communities and colleges across all fifty states in the past year.
To participate, each volunteer should fill out the attached form and contact
Michele Nau (x2574) in Instructional Services by March 3 to make an
appointment for the videotaped reading. Please bring with you to the taping the
completed form.
Videotaping will occur the week of March 3-7, 2003. Schedule your appointment
between 9:00 a.m.--4 p.m.
Please adhere to the following guidelines for the poem selection, commentary,
and taping:
 Poem Selection: Poems should NOT be ones that you or your friends have
written, but published ones you have read, perhaps many times, and to which
you feel a personal attachment.
 *Commentary: should follow the reading of the poem and should be as
personal as possible, showing the connection to the poem and showing how
the particular poem completes the thought, "Words Work"
 Taping: (for the reading of the poem and the commentary) cannot exceed
five minutes. Please practice before the scheduled appointment, so that you
feel comfortable with the poem and your comments about it. An excerpt of a
poem can be read if it is too long for the taping.
*For instance, if you chose the poem, "The Poet, " by Jane Hirshfield, a
celebrated poet who is coming to MCC on April 30, you might discuss how
words work for you in your appreciation of this poem.
THE POET
by Jane Hirshfield
She is working now, in a room
not unlike this one,
the one where I write, or you read.
Her table is covered with paper.
The light of the lamp would be
tempered by a shade, where the bulb's
single harshness might dissolve,
but it is not; she has taken it off.
Her poems? I will never know them,
though they are the ones I most need.
Even the alphabet she writes in
I cannot decipher. Her chair -let us imagine whether it is leather
or canvas, vinyl or wicker. Let her
have a chair, her shadeless lamp,
the table. Let one or two she loves
be in the next room. Let the door
be closed, the sleeping ones healthy.
Let her have time, and silence,
enough paper to make mistakes and go on.
. "My job as a human being as well as a writer," Hirshfield says, "is to feel as
thoroughly as possible the experience that I am part of, and then press it a little
further."
“
“One should only ask poetry to do what it excels at… remind[ing] us of the
truths about life and human nature that we knew all along but forgot
somehow because they weren’t yet in memorable language…reveal[ing] to
us many things that only a poem knows…” Diane Ackerman
Name:
Department
Phone:
Email:
 Title of Favorite Poem
 Author of Poem
 Publisher
Please finish the phrase:
Words Work…
Please provide a brief description of the reason for your choice. Please be
specific and as personal in your response as possible.
Call Michele Nau (x2574) to make an appointment for your videotaping.
Remember to limit your reading and comments to five minutes. All videotaping
will take place between 9:00-4:00 p.m./ March 3-7, 2003. Feel free to contact
Pat Callan (x3266), Kathy O’Shea (x3339), or Ann Tippett (x3256) with any
questions.
Let’s make this project a College-wide celebration of the magic and universality
of poetry! HAVE FUN!!
* For copyright purposes, we must insist that you choose a poem with an author
and that you provide the publisher.
“ Poetry joins together a better understanding of what it means to be
human on this earth."
--Jane Hirshfield