Home town poet returns for reading at Becker

It was a special night at Becker College on March 13th, 2001. The Worcester-born poet laureate Stanley Kunitz returned to his hometown to read his poetry. The gymnasium at Becker, where the reading was held, filled up. Every chair was taken and more people stood in the back. Camera crew from NBC's "The Today Show" was also present to film. It was amazing to see Stanley Kunitz, who is ninety-five years old, give a powerful voice to his reading. I was in a state of awe thinking about how much change he has seen over the last ninety-five years. He's been through the first and second World Wars, the social movements during the sixties and the seventies, and also the astonishing technological changes. The poetry reading was about exactly that, about Stanley Kunitz's own personal life, and the history he lived. Stanley Kunitz's poetry is autobiographical, humorous, about nature, and he tells it how it is. He's poetry is both funny and sad.

The lights above the audience went out and Stanley Kunitz stood at the podium, reading his poems strongly in chronological and autobiographical order. He read some of his best poems such as "The Portrait" about his father's portrait but something more. While Kunitz was reading this poem, I could visualize a boy curious about his father who died before he was born. Finding a portrait of his father, showing it to his mother who slapped him hard. And concluding final line: "In my sixty-forth year I can feel my cheek still burning." This is an example of Kunitz's continuous search throughout his life for his dead father.

In another poem, "Halley's Comet," Kunitz's search for a father figure becomes apparent at the end. The poem starts out humorously. The poem paints a mental picture of Stanley Kunitz as a small boy amazed by the idea of a comet. The audience laughed out loud as Kunitz read that his teacher said if the comet hits earth, "there would be no school tomorrow." The audience laughs again when young Kunitz takes this literally and is sad at the diner table because he thought it was the last time he would eat dinner with his mother and sisters. The poem then takes a turn in the end when he is lying on top of the roof asking his dead father to find him, telling his father that he lives in this particular house with his mother and sisters.

Kunitz read "My Mother's Pears," a poem truly autobiographical; reminiscing about a pear tree he planted "under my (his) mother's suggestion." This poem also has a recent story. When Kunitz searched for his old childhood house, he found a nice couple living there who invited him in. The send Kunitz box of pears from the very tree he planted. The poem ended with his mother saying, "dig deeper." This poem was dedicated to the couple who lives in the Kunitz's old childhood house.

Kunitz also read the famous, "The Testing Tree." It was about his childhood ritual of throwing rocks at an oak tree. It provoked a long-standing applause after the dramatic ending with his voice rising, as he was angry yelling, "give me back my stones." Although the weather was very uninviting; rain and cold; inside that small gymnasium was full of people listening to a ninety-five years old man reading about his childhood. Everyone understood Stanley Kunitz better by the end. By the end of the reading, people have heard heartfelt search for Kunitz's dead father, his childhood rituals of throwing rocks, a little boy's wonder about natural wonders such as a comet, and humane story about a couple strangers who sends him "My (his) Mother's Pears."

Leaving the gymnasium, while Kunitz was signing his book, I felt very human. The reading was like a microcosm of life itself although it was about Stanley Kunitz's life. Simple stories about his life came to life with his powerful words in verses. Everyone who witnessed the reading left that night with something burning in their hearts that words could not describe.