Poetry fans turned out in great numbers to hear former Poet Laureate Rita Dove read from her newly published book, "American Smooth," at the Library in September. In this collection she has turned to her long-held passion for dancing as well as her newfound interest in target shooting as vehicles for recovery from a devastating fire caused by a lightning strike that badly damaged her home in 1998. Dove's reading was both dramatic and confessional.
"We were literally dancing on the ashes," said Dove, who, along with her husband, took up ballroom dancing. Dance has given her a new metaphor for her work and a theme for her new collection of poems. "It was an umbrella for my work and a way back to writing."
"'American Smooth' is a division of ballroom dance," said Dove. "Typical of the U.S., it takes dances from around the world and pushes them further, improvises." In the title poem, Dove adds to this definition:
"ecstatic mimicry
being the sine qua non
of American Smooth"
From "Fox Trot Fridays" to "Rhumba," "Samba Summer" to "Castle Walk," the poems are not so much about dance as a way to use music and dance as a backdrop to explore other themes.
In "Samba Summer" she tells the story of the "Broke-leg cakewalk of the drunken uncles/entertaining the ladies at the family picnic." She spoke of her youth growing up in Akron, Ohio, in "Two for the Montrose Drive-In," where she drew inspiration from times when her mother would host an event at home and she, her father and brother fled the house for the drive-in theater.
Later, she dramatically read several poems from a section of the book titled, "Blues in Half-Tones, 3/4 Time." In "Castle Walk" and "Return of Lieutenant James Reese Europe," Dove focused on one of many African American soldiers who joined the World War I Allied forces under French command, where their contribution to the war effort was welcomed. Talented musician James Reese Europe not only fought with the heavily decorated 369th regiment—the first to fight its way to the Rhine in 1918—but also entertained the troops with his innovative style of music that introduced the unique American sound of jazz to Europe. Prior to the war, Reese and his band had been hired by the husband-and-wife team of Vernon and Irene Castle to accompany their dance and vaudeville performances. Europe and his band gained fame and success through his association with the Castles and their well-known "Castle Walk" dance step.
Dove also pays homage to the more mundane, as in her poem titled "Chocolate" ("Velvet fruit, exquisite square/ I hold up to sniff between finger and thumb") and even to "The Bullet" ("I can slice the air no wind") in a series of poems about her foray into target shooting.
"There's an eerie delight in hitting a target," observed Dove. "But it's also profoundly disturbing." Either way, this new hobby has found its way into her poetry.
"As I tell my students, you don't have a choice about whether you write something," said Dove. "You only have a choice about whether or not you publish it. It will hunt you down until you finally get it off your chest."
The result is "American Smooth," whose title poem Dove read at the close of the program.
"And because I was distracted
by the effort of
keeping my frame
(the leftward lean, head turned
just enough to gaze out
past your ear and always
smiling, smiling),
I didn't notice
How still you'd become until
We had done it
(for two measures?
Four?)-achieved flight
That swift and serene
Magnificence,
Before the earth
Remembered who we were
And brought us down."
