Faculty poetry reading draws unexpected crowd

Kaitlyn North / A&E Editor

The final installment of this year’s faculty poetry reading series was delayed for a few moments Tuesday due to a lack of chairs for the unanticipated crowd of listeners. As soon as ample seating was secured, professor of English and Education Janet Warman was introduced to read. She explained to the audience that the collection she was presenting were poems that were inspired by the mistresses of famous men. She read poems that were in the various voices of women including “Allegra,” “Two Visions of Joanna’s Hand,” “Magnetism,” “Solitary Art,” “Rosetti’s Jacket,” Half Moon,” “Miss Infallible” and “Alabaster Princess.” Throughout the reading, Warman gave explanations to the references in her poems, and in turn gave the audience a mini-lesson in historical relationships.

During her recent sabbatical, Warman researched 19 women, the mistresses of Lord Byron, Whistler, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Aristotle Onassis and Frederick Delano Roosevelt, among others. Warman recalled a statue she saw several years ago that was called “Thought.” It was modeled after the sculptor's mistress, and Warman began to think about how influential the ‘mistress’ was in art. After later seeing Whistler’s mistress in a painting, she began seriously working on the project.

Once Warman finished, Dan Albergotti, assistant professor of English, approached the podium to read. Albergotti recognized the large contingent of audience members who had traveled from UNC-G, where he had recently graduated from the MFA program and had taught English. Albergotti, who has been recognized for his prose poetry, was a finalist for the National Poetry Series in 2002, and received recognition by the 2003 Pushcart anthology.

He began with a poem titled “A Prayer for My Daughter Who Does Not Exist,” which he said was inspired by a Yeats poem that he didn’t like very much. He then read a poem titled “Bad Language,” which he wrote after learning about a common four letter word, the origin of which is the Dutch word “fokken” which means “to strike.” He went on to read a poem that was inspired by T.S. Eliot, and a poem dedicated to office workers called “Things To Do in the Belly of the Whale.” The last selection he read was “dedicated to every student I’ve ever taught Keats to,” called “Revision.”

Jeff Heyer / Photo Editor

English professors Janet Warman and Dan Albergotti presented their works of poetry Tuesday night to a mixed crowd of Elon and UNC-G community members. It was the final reading for the 2003-2004 faculty poetry series .