Friday, April 17, 1998
Poetry in the shadows
Aspiring writers attempt to penetrate exclusive circle of
readings, workshops to gain self-expression
By Laura Noguera
Daily Bruin Contributor
They are in museums, bookstores and coffeehouses, and this month
is dedicated to their work. They are critically acclaimed and
amateur artists. They are the poets and they are everywhere – but
it seems UCLA students never see them.
Most UCLA poets do not hide in corners, but they do not seek out
the spotlight either. They have a certain modesty that keeps them
slightly behind the scenes, their functions running by
word-of-mouth, making it difficult for outside students to
penetrate their circles.
"There are small pockets, like places where there’s readings and
things like that," says Leah Green, a third-year English student.
"But a lot of those things aren’t advertised well, and you really
have to be in the know to find out about them."
Fortunately for those ready to mix with UCLA’s poetry scene,
there are readings at the Cooperage the last Wednesday of every
month. The readings feature nationally and locally renown poets as
well as an open mic.
"People like me have been working hard at trying to organize us
poets and get us to know each other," says Alex Papanicolopoulos,
poetry events director for UCLA’s Cultural Affairs Commission.
The Cooperage has just recently replaced Kerckhoff Art Gallery
as the venue because Papanicolopoulos decided the lighting,
background, stage and seating are more appropriate. With a desire
to attract larger crowds, Papanicolopoulos finds the setting makes
both the audience and the readers, who have a tendency towards
shyness, more comfortable.
"There are a lot of people who probably have poetry," says
Jeremiah Gruenberg, a third-year English student. "But they are too
bashful to get up and read it."
UCLA’s poets taking workshops often prefer to keep their poems
to themselves and are not usually the main readers at the Coop.
That open mic beckons, yet many stay away. Their absence causes
some to wonder about the inspiration Los Angeles provides.
"Younger poets at UCLA felt kind of isolated and alienated from
poets writing in New York," says creative-writing Professor Stephen
Yenser, recalling UCLA 30 years ago. "The poetry scene, so to
speak, in Los Angeles, is several times more sophisticated now than
it was then."
While Yenser defends the academic resources of UCLA and Los
Angeles, Green has different views of the environment.
"In other college towns you can’t walk more than 5 feet without
there being 20 bookstores," Green says. "In L.A., there’s Borders
or Barnes and Noble."
If the poetry scene today was like Yenser’s recollection, then
the Los Angeles community would most likely be intolerable for
Green. She prefers San Francisco’s preference for theater and
literature to Los Angeles’ partiality for pop-culture movies.
"In the San Francisco paper … the movie listings are at the
end," Green says. "The general atmosphere that (Los Angeles)
creates is not one that’s at all conducive to poetry or that really
stimulates it."
However, some students are inspired and want to learn to write
poetry and to do it well. A creative-writing poetry class may be
the answer, but there are setbacks.
Students desiring to take a creative-writing workshop have to
apply for admission. Three professors including Yenser regularly
teach the creative-writing workshops. Usually only two workshops
are offered per quarter, making acceptance very competitive.
"I know some people who have never gotten into the
creative-writing classes," Green laments.
Aside from the workshop’s rejection, these students also find
themselves excluded from the poetry scene. They do not have
interactions with other poets to know about poetry readings like
those currently running at the Armand Hammer Museum, which feature
prize-winning poets from around the world.
"If you don’t get in, the feeling is that you’re not any good.
It is by nature exclusionary," says Gruenberg, reflecting on his
time at UCLA prior to his admittance into the poetry workshops and
the poetry circle.
Gruenberg’s story is familiar to many students who want to be
involved with the poetry circuit but cannot find an entrance.
Whether a student’s preference is for serious poetry or not, both
are offered at UCLA. The selection is limited, but it is there. It
is just hard to find.
"(Poetry) is an alternative art form, and you can’t expect it to
be in everybody’s face," Papanicolopoulos says. "It’s not dead –
but it is more underground than we’d expect it to be at a
university."