Word: poetes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Both the readings and the Dark Room meetings have been meaningful in shaping Kevin's ideas about his responsibilities as a poet. "I guess part of the job is bringing poetry to other people. That's what we do in the Dark Room," he tells me. "I guess part of it is to make it not seem like this strange or elitist or even mystical thing. I mean, I'm just a kid from Kansas...
...become something of an academic property. he admits that it has become the most esoteric of all the genres, and the least widely read. He sees this academic hierarchy as somewhat ironic, because 'it's the backward order of what people give money to. You don't become a poet to make big bucks. I can walk always down the street...
Kevin views his poetic reponsibilities as a poet as educative. At Harvard, he has read with the Nightpeople, the Quarterly, and Adams House. He also once read to a crowd of 1200 people in Memorial Hall at the 1990 Cultural Rhythms Festival. And while he was in San Fransisco, he read at two local cafes. He enjoy the audience feedback, when he actually gets it." But I hate when people s me what a poem's about. I usually just say, 'What do you think it's about?" he says. "Really, I don't know if I could tell...
...When he defines poetry, he says, "I think it's work. Is it art? I think it's best described as a vocation." He decides, finally, that it is something he works at. "I guess most people would say that I write a lot.. You're only a poet after you're finished a poem. Before that, you're just writing...
...glitch in writing poetry, then is the problem of finance. When I ask Kevin if he plans to be a poet supporting himself with his writing alone he says, "I don't think there is any such beast. Even Seamus [Heaney] teachers and lectures." He laughs when I ask him if he wants to be famous. "Do I want to be famous? Well, I'm not going to be rich In a way, it's reassuring that no one cares about poetry," he answer. "But I'd like to be know, and to keep writing think if I said tomorrow...