BOSTON JUST got its first poet laureate: Sam Cornish, a longtime poet with a promising vision and a sense of humor.
The official job description is lofty. "Boston's poet laureate will pay homage to our city's rich literary heritage and put a spotlight on its vibrant present-day poetry scene," Mayor Menino said in a statement.
It's Cornish, a Brighton resident and former Emerson College professor, who describes the post in more down-to-earth terms. He wants to be an ambassador who, in part, "brings poetry to people who do not read it."
Appointing a laureate is a great thing for a Boston, a city built of bricks and words. Read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," and it's still easy to hear through the poem's rhythms how the famous rider clip-clopped through Boston's streets. Today Boston has poetry readings, tributes, and contests. Across the river in Cambridge are poetry slams.
But it's a world that could grow, and Cornish is a promising developer. Still in the planning stages, he says that he wants to sponsor workshops and readings and talk to people about poetry on the telephone. He envisions poetry events in grocery stores, nursing homes, and fire departments.
He wants to help "ordinary" people capture their own "lyric voice," the rich words and tones that fill conversations, then evaporate - the potential pieces of a poem gone.
Asked if he has a particular interest in the poetry of cities, he says he is interested in the poetry "of where you are." That might be a city, a suburb, a kitchen table, or in the middle of a crummy day.
Cornish gives an eclectic account of his life. An African-American, born in 1935 "at the edge of the Depression," Cornish has seen the world change and changed with it. He wrote while he was in the Army in the 1950s; and he praises the military for lifting him out of segregated society and placing him in an integrated setting, where he recalls talking books and writing with other soldiers who also wrote. He loves comic books, westerns, and Rachael Ray. And, he adds, "My wife has raised me well."
He's a fan of poetry that "people can immediately identify with," and he cites as an example a collection of poetry that he's now reading. Edited by poet Paul Janeczko, it's called "Wherever Home Begins."
What Boston won't be getting from its new laureate is poetry on demand, according to Alice Hennessey, an aide to the mayor and the chairwoman of the task force that chose Cornish. That's good news. Boston doesn't need cheesy paeans. Instead, the city should follow Cornish's lead and create a public chorus of lyrical voices.
