Former Poet Laureate Reads at the Advocate

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky read six of his poems at the Harvard Advocate on Friday, accompanied by New England Conservatory senior Andrew Urbina on alto sax and by NEC professor “Rakalam” Bob Moses on percussion.

The sounds of Urbina’s alto sax and Moses’ percussion were interspersed with Pinsky’s poetry. At times, the poet danced a little to the music as he read, and at other times, he remained silent for minutes as Moses and Urbina performed.

“It’s all about listening to one another,” Pinsky said of the collaboration. “We really love working together. It’s insane how much we love working together.”

“You’re just an excuse,” he added jokingly to the audience.

After each selection, Pinsky paused to speak with Urbina and Moses about how to proceed, giving the whole affair an impromptu feel.

“The improvisational style of the music unlocked the internal energy of the poem,” said The Advocate’s president Sanders I. Bernstein ’10, who is also a Crimson Arts writer. “Pinsky and Rakalam both played off each other, the music responding to the fixed, internal rhythms of the poem and the words being given new depth by the music. What the improvisation did was that it unlocked the essence of the poem.”

Pinsky served as the 39th U.S. poet laureate from 1997 to 2000. He has published nineteen books of poetry, prose, and translations.

Adam L. Palay ’11, a member of the Advocate and the event’s organizer, said that the reading was a change from those usually held at the Advocate, as the organization usually holds more intimate readings by authors and poets, rather than collaborations between literary figures and musicians.

“We usually don’t have a performance like that,” he said. “So I think it’s really great to do something different.”

The poet performed six poems that ranged from recently-published pieces, such as “Last Robot Song” and “Samurai Song,” to some that were penned in the 1990’s, like “The Wanted Bone” and “Ginza Samba.”

Of Ginza Samba, Pinsky said that he likes the “eclectic nature of the American culture” that is conferred by the poem’s title. Ginza refers to an area of Tokyo, while the multicultural Brazilian music genre Samba, which also rings of African religion, culture and dance.

Palay said he invited Pinsky to the reading partly because he remembered being impressed by hearing the former poet laureate read during high school. “I just like the way he reads more than anything. He’s a good poet, too, and just a great person to have,” he said.