The annual Massachusetts Poetry Festival was held for the second straight year in Salem, Massachusetts.  I attended the Saturday Headline Event in the Atrium at the Peabody Essex Museum featuring Joy Harjo, Nikky Finney, Sherwin Bitsui, Wesley McNair and Susan Cattaneo and hosted by Christopher Lydon, a well known former radio talk show host with National Public Radio.   

The Atrium at the Museum is made of polished granite and glass, and the acoustics there are similar to a large, old church - lots of reverb.  Not the greatest for hearing spoken word with complete clarity, but a beautiful and majestic venue nonetheless.   

Susan Cattaneo, as a singer-songwriter seemed quite at home with the acoustics during her twenty-minute musical opening of the show.  It seems that music is playing an ever-expanding role at major poetry events - a development about which I have mixed feelings.  Cattaneo, accompanied by a lone electric guitarist, performed several of her wonderful original songs.  Both her vocals and the accompaniment were excellent, but after the first two or three songs I was ready to hear some poetry.  That is what I had come for, after all.   

Sherwin Bitsui delivers his spoken word in a kind of sing-song (that I believe is traditional) and occasionally uses words from the language of his People, the Bitter Water Clan of the Navajo Nation.  The acoustics seemed to consume his voice, making his reading difficult to understand at times; however, the beauty of his abstractions, his sometimes surreal juxtapositions of native and modern American imagery, and his occasional use of Native American words and phrases came through clearly.  His work is thick with symbolism and meaning.   

Personally I feel that Nikky Finney stole the show.  Her presence is riveting and intense, and her delivery as precise and focused as a laser.  Acoustics posed her no problem.  Her use of imagery is outstanding, compelling the listener (or reader) to go places with her they may not otherwise have had an opportunity (or inclination) to go.  But by all means read her poetry, or better yet hear her read her poetry, and go where she takes you.  She has amazing things to show you.   

Next up was Wesley McNair, Poet Laureate of Maine, who lightened things up nicely with a kind of ode to the comb-over.  He is a tall, affable man with sparse white hair who radiates good will, and his deep voice is a pleasure to listen to.  The works he read spoke of life in the northernmost part of New England, ranging from light topics to heavy, all delivered with equal aplomb.   

Joy Harjo, I think, was a perfect choice to end the show.  Like Wesley McNair and Nikky Finney she tells vivid stories that ring true, and like Sherwin Bitsui her images sometimes cross that fuzzy border into the surreal; and like Susan Cattaneo, Joy is a musician.  As some poets do, at points in her reading she transitions into song, and this works very well with her poetry.  Her vivid recollections reveal her as one who treasures memory, both personal and shared.  

The entire event was enjoyable and well run.  As I said, a little too much introductory music up front and somewhat problematic acoustics, but a beautiful venue that hosted great poetic talent.  This event at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival was an obvious success in many ways, but I think one of its most important successes is in how wonderfully organized it was - an almost superhuman feat in the world of poetry.  I think this is an indication both of how much the Festival has grown and of even better things to come.