Celebrities on Poetry

Continuing on with the theme of Hollywood and celebrity, I thought I'd share with you a great article from the April 2011 issue of the Oprah magazine, entitled "24 All-Star Readers on the Words That Rock their Worlds." (Link to article below) Here well-known actors and musicians share how poetry has played an important part of their live. Some of my favorite quotes are listed below. All quotes are excerpted directly from the article:

http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/Celebrities-and-Writers-Discuss-Their-Favorite-Poetry

Diane Sawyer: "For me, poetry is the compressed experience of an emotion. I'm not great at long novels. But I love a sharp, compressed arrow straight to the heart."

Bono: "For the statistics of extreme poverty to step off the page and become the sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers they represent, the right language has to be found—an act of poetry is required. In meetings with high stakes, I'm always concerned words will fail me, so as a kind of talisman I take a book of Seamus Heaney along and leave it behind. I don't know if these politicians ever take a look, but I think the transference of his stillness and stirrings would make their burdens feel lighter."

Kate Capshaw: The first time I read David Whyte's "Self Portrait," I set the book down and wept. I wasn't sad or lonely or frustrated with my life. I was simply moved—profoundly. Each time I read the poem, it turns me back to my "fierce heat of living."

Steven Spielberg: John O'Donohue's "For the Artist at the Start of Day" gives me an opportunity to remember my passion—where it all begins: "May morning be astir with the harvest of night; / Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question, / Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse / That cut right through the surface to a source."

Sting: "The Thought-Fox," by Ted Hughes, deals with the creative process itself. The writer, alone at his desk at night, hears "the clock's loneliness" and then says, "Through the window I see no star." How many of us have faced a blank page on a night like this? Searching the skies vainly for inspiration?

James Franco: I'm drawn to all media and genres that are looking for new ways of expression. Two of my favorite poems are "Cement Truck" by Tony Hoagland and "October" by Louise Gluck.

Here's the poem that Kate Capshaw loves:

Self Portrait It doesn't interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.
—David Whyte

Another interesting resource to check out is the project of former Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky, in which he asks Americans of all ages and backgrounds to speak about their favorite poem and why it has changed or inspired them. There are great videos to watch. I'm curious about doing a similar activity in our classroom.

http://www.favoritepoem.org