St. Mark’s Church. Poetry Project
Today, I had a great experience at the Poetry Project which is in the St. Mark’s Church. That was the first time I have ever been to the poetry reading. At first, I thought it would be boring because I usually don’t understand most of the poems I read and I was worried that I would feel sleepy in the room. Unexpectedly, it was really amazing and inspiring to look at the readers and listen to their words about David Rattray. Most of the readers know David Rattray personally, so they talked about their favorite moment with Rattray and Rattray’s unusual characteristics, and read his poems and translation. For example, Kim Lyons lives near Rattray’s house, so she was so thrilled to be his neighbor and talked about how she loved to listen what Rattray had to say when they met outside. There was one reader ( I don’t remember his name) who regards Rattray as his holy person and his hero. When he met Rattray, he was young, so he said that he wanted to be like David Rattray. In addition, Eileen Myles described that David Rattray wanted to order the same food for everyone at the restaurant because that made him feel like home. That is really strange!
Two hours was passed rather quickly. Most of the readers have a sense of humor; I didn’t understand some of their jokes though. I understood some of the readings. I think it was because of the way they read. Even though I didn’t understand other readings, I didn’t feel bored. After the reading, we went around the church with Professor Kaufman and looked at the graves. We found out that Peter Stuyvesant’s body was buried in the Church; he was the Dutch colonial director. We also went to the balcony and looked at the colorful glass. Many thanks to Professor Kaufman, I have tried three new things so far in this semester; I have walked on the Brooklyn Bridge, have been to the poetry reading and have been inside the church 🙂
