|
Sandra Alcosser: Montana’s First Poet Laureate
August 28, 2008
By Amy Grisak
Montana’s first-ever poet laureate hopes to shed light on Montana’s rich cultural history through the art of poetry.
Sandra Alcosser last year was named Poet Laureate, one of the top honors in the world to be bestowed on a writer. The Poet Laureate is appointed annually by the U.S. Library of Congress and serves from October to May. The position has existed under two separate titles: from 1937 to 1986 as “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress” and from 1986 as “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.”
The Laureate receives a $35,000 annual stipend funded by a gift from Archer M. Huntington. The Laureate gives an annual lecture and reading of their poetry and usually introduces poets in the Library's annual poetry series, the oldest in the Washington D.C. area, and among the oldest in the United States. This annual series of public poetry and fiction readings, lectures, symposia and occasional dramatic performances began in the 1940s. Collectively the Laureates have brought more than 2,000 poets and authors to the Library to read for the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature.
In her new position, Alcosser is building a foundation to illuminate Montana’s poetry and make it more accessible to everyone. Her vision is “for people to carry away the story of Montana.”
She was teaching in Ireland when she heard the news of her selection and realized Ireland’s renowned storytelling customs translate well to those of Montana. “It was clear to me that Ireland had a really good working model for a poet,” she says. “That’s what we can do in Montana through poetry, as well.”
Through her years working with the Montana Arts Council Alcosser has traveled 50,000-miles teaching poetry to 50,000 people on Indian reservations, in one-room school houses, and the cultural meccas of Missoula, Bozeman and Billings.
Alcosser created the Master of Fine Arts program at San Diego University, where she currently teaches. But paths in life often intersect and she is also back working in Central Park in coordination with the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Central Park Zoo. Alcosser is working with biologists in a logical and practical approach to preserve endangered species throughout the world
Within this effort, Alcosser created a display in Central Park permanently installing poems in the stonework, on park benches and in glass. “Poetry can convey a message with very little words,” she says. Her endeavor is a startling success. There’s a 48-percent improvement in the understanding of the conservation message as a result of the project within the Central Park Zoo. Alcosser sees herself as the “writer in service to the natural world” whether she’s in Montana or in an urban counterpart.
Her five books of poetry, including the acclaimed Except by Nature, which won the 1998 Academy of American Poets' James Laughlin Award, are organic works imparting a distinct, visceral snapshot. “You have to be able to capture emotion in a lightning strike,” Alcosser says. “In poetry you try to capture the ineffable. You try to give shape to the unknown.” But Alcosser is able to give familiarity to the mysterious through her words, and greater depth to what is already recognized.
Much of her current work in poetic prose harkens back to her childhood in South Bend, Indiana, where the men in her family worked with their hands in an auto shop and the women created the sense of family and self. “My grandmother made a community out of her home. Whoever was at my father’s business ate with them.” This foundation developed the sense of relationship Alcosser carries with her no matter where she is.
Wrestling with the theme of exploration is another significant theme of Alcosser’s. In 1992, she floated the Missouri River with a group of artists. The trip still affects her. While many on the trip felt “a presence,” Alcosser felt an absence. She thought of what was gone – the animals, the native people, the geology. “Once you begin to think, you begin to obsess about it. It begins to shape your work,” she says.
This obsession brings her back to the earliest beginnings of the area, starting with glaciers. It led to a series of five books collaborated with other artists based on the theme of exploration. “I think art basically attempts to give shape to the mysterious, the unknown,” Alcosser says.
Although she’s not even half-way through her first year as poet laureate, Alcosser is mindful of the legacy she is creating and of the reasons people are drawn to poetic verse.
“I think a large part of poetry celebrates life,” she says. “A large part of people read it for that reason. Poetry is the footprint on the path in front of us.”
|
|
