July 2023

How does a poet make
an audience remember her?

Karren Alenier

Here's the situation, the Steiny Road Poet was given five minutes in a 90-minute program featuring over 20 performers of poets and musicians. This program, taking place June 13, 2023, at the DC Arts Club of Washington, was the tenth annual Voice as Bridge, an event conceived by poet and playwright Grace Cavalieri who for 46 years continues to feature other poets in her nationally broadcast radio show from the United States Library of Congress known as "The Poet and the Poem."   FIRST, PICK A POEM KNOWN TO EXCITE AN AUDIENCE   Steiny's assignment was to translate one of her poems into French. Since Steiny wanted to make this project worth her time, she chose one of her signature poems. "Leo on Seesaw" is the language poem featured in her jazz opera with Bill Banfield. The poem hinges on the relationship Gertrude Stein had with her brother Leo in Paris when they were breaking off their time together.   LEO ON SEESAW                                      for the pleasure                                      of Gertrude Stein little Buddha                  little brooder Kleiner Bruder               tiny brother bitty bother                     sitting baldly in the butter                    in the batter    shaking philosophic digits                    in the kitchen                    for the Kuchen                    has been eaten                    by the kitten wearing mittens        in the winter hiding splinters         in his fingers                  finding spiders                  in the cracks                  of the plaster                  So we laughed twenty HA HA HA HA HA        in metered breathing                  something close                    to the day                   he was born The poem has a driving rhythm and energy that animates even people who don't speak fluent English or no English at all. Steiny recited this poem in a class of 10-year-olds who wore their coats to keep warm and who were perpetual motion machines because Chinese buildings lack central heat and the stove used instead produces carbon monoxide, so the windows are opened. These children of Xian, China, suddenly stopped moving and listened with rapt attention while Steiny recited her poem. She also had the experience of a Chinese porter on a riverboat cruising down the Yangtze River reciting "Leo on Seesaw" to her after Steiny was part of an evening's talent show that was videoed. The Chinese man spoke no English, the children, on the other hand, had learned a few English words.   As many people know, Robert Frost defined poetry as something that cannot be translated. Now intensify this declaration by making the poem a language poem in which meaning is not the primary focus. The Israeli poet Moshe Dor admired one of Steiny's language poems about a hot tub enjoyed in Japan, but he said he didn't know how to translate it. That made Steiny realize when the Voice as Bridge assignment came along that the best person to translate "Leo on Seesaw" was Steiny herself. This means that Steiny could focus on the way a translation sounds and not worry about the word-for-word translation.   NEXT, WORK WITH A PARTNER WHO WILL KEEP THE POET ON TRACK   This is not to say, that Steiny threw French grammar out the window. She consulted with a bilingual editor who set Steiny straight on those rules. Probably it was a bit frustrating for her editor to have words like "little brooder" become "enfant boudeur" (sulky child) and "little brother" become "tout grand blagueur" (big joker). Steiny also rejected the French word for spider (araignée) in favor of hornet (frelon). And she changed the number of times the narrator of the poem laughs from "twenty HA HA HA HA HA" to "vingt-et-un HA HA HA" as a Gallic accent. Steiny liked the grunting sound of "vingt-et-un" (21) and the attitude that she could produce with just four iterations of HA.   Is "Leo sur la balançoire" a translation or a new version of "Leo on Seesaw"? Steiny says both and probably French with all its rhyming words was a good choice for this funky English poem.   Leo sur la balançoire                      pour le plaisir de Gertrude Stein                petit Bouddah      enfant boudeur            Kleiner Bruder      tout grand blagueur               peu de peine       assis chauve             dans le beurre      dans la pâte          secouant ses pouces philosophiques                            dans la cuisine                       parce que le Kuchen                             a été mangé                            par le chaton        portant des gants      en printemps cachant des échardes      dans ses doigts  trouvant des frelons dans les fissures du plâtre alors nous avons ri vingt-et-un HA HA HA HA en respiration mesurée quelque chose de proche de la journée il est né                         FINALLY, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE   Above all, spend adequate time practicing the presentation. Memorize the poem if you can because looking at your audience will make a difference. And remember to breathe as you present.   Much to Steiny's relief, people laughed as she came to the line about laughing. A friend of Steiny's proclaimed that her performance was a big hit because it elicited wild cheering and thunderous clapping. Others said it was entirely fun and apparently that was an unexpected plus.