Reposted for MaryAnn.

Here's the link to the BU event in honor of Green's new collection, Fifty Two, from Arrowsmith Press. The event itself may be easily googled.

Thanks for reposting this on the PoemsFray, Zeus-Boy. I hesitated to reply on BOTF.

Frankly, I couldn’t tell from your initial post here whether you were truly a Green fan or mocking the whole event. But your BOTF post suggests you do like her poetry. I haven’t read enough of it to form an opinion, but I trust your judgment enough to look up more of her poems than just “A Story.”

My comments have more to do with the whole greater Boston literary scene. I lived in Cambridge twice, once while teaching in the ‘burbs and once while getting a Master’s degree at BU. I can’t think of another place in the US, except perhaps now Brooklyn, that has such a large concentration of writers. When I was there, restaurant waiters were Ph.D.s looking for a teaching job or writing the Great American Novel.

I read that Green worked under Derek Walcott while she was at BU, and he praised her work. And when she wrote a book about Joseph Brodsky, he became a fan as well. She’s been called a poet’s poet. She’s unmarried and has lived in the family home for 30 years. She suffered from major depression for decades. And then after she had foot problems about 10 years ago, she became a virtual recluse, ending up destitute and, at one point, not having money for food.

So now in 2008, local poetry celebs honor her by getting her second collection of poetry published by a small local press, by staging an event at BU so she could read from the collection, by collecting a bunch of their own new poetry in a book and selling a limited edition of it for big bucks to make some $ for her. (By the way, PoemsFray readers, Stuart Dischell included “Harmless Poem,” which was described as “a paean to loss.”

My two comments are these –

1. Where were these literary friends over the last 20 or 30 years? Why didn’t anyone help get her medical help years ago to deal with her major depression so she could function?

2. I went to a reading and discussion by a local novelist the other night. She talked of how many publishers had rejected her manuscript. (And listening to her read, I could see why.) But she kept persevering and eventually found a publisher she called “a step up from self-publishing.” She used to be a nurse, but now she teaches writing part time at Johns Hopkins and writes every morning and afternoon, working on two other novels. Luckily, she’s married and has a husband to support her. Green wasn’t married. I wonder if she devoted her life to her writing without supplementing it with a job in the “real” world. I wonder if that’s why she ended up in such dire straits when her mental and physical problems set in. I know that writers have to make choices and sacrifices to be true to their writing lives, but I personally wish she had included some practical considerations in her life – which, quite frankly, I think are difficult to think about in the heady Boston area.

(I know all my speculations may be wrong, but I wanted to toss them out anyway to get people thinking and posting about how people who think they have writing potential choose to live their lives.)

I’ll be back later today to read what others have to say.

MA

MaryAnn,

Melissa Green is the real thing, that rarest of creatures, a true poet. I don't mock artists of her calibre. I celebrate and avocate them.

I agree with your observations in your first comment. After her first two books it should've been patently obvious to those in the know that this rare and special being needed patronage and advocacy. The Melissa Green's of the world have a sacred obligation to their art, but where are their Medicis? The BU event was somewhat belated, maybe too late to save her, but I wouldn't impugn the sincerity of those who participated.

I don't know enough of Melissa's life to respond to your second comment. I don't think you are correct to suggest that her 'flawed choices' might have led to different outcomes. That seems too facile and presumptious for my way of thinking. She did express regret that she hasn't written more, and I regret that she hasn't as well. I feel that the technical mastery of The Squanicook Eclogues didn't quite evolve in a linear way into Fifty-Two. By that I mean there's a huge gaping hole in her evolution as a poet: The woman who read at BU was a new being entirely, and the intervening years are disappeared, gone. Still, I was moved by the poignant beauty of her lines; she hits the right notes, is always perfectly keyed, and her language is still unparalleled. What crept in was the oppressive presence of what had been absent before, herself, and yet I felt there's less of her now. Regret, sorrow, missed opportunities, sickness, the erosion of the spirit, all this is there now, and what we have to fill the lacuna was Walcott's anecdotal apologia.

Re your concluding remarks, I would caution against attempting to formulate generalizations about how any burgeoning artist should lead his or her life. The discussion has no useful predicative value. My view.

Thanks for responding, Z-B. I'm impressed that, even in Ireland, you found her.

MA

Hello, Mary Ann,

It's Melissa Green. I came across your exchange with

Zeus-boy purely by accident and I was very moved to

Dear Zeus-Boy,

I came across your exhange with Mary Ann by accident and even though it was many months ago, I thought I would write to thank you. I'm Melissa Green. You wrote so empathically and with such insight into my work/life that I was quite moved--no, actually, rather thunderstruck. (I for one never think anyone else is ever thinking about me--and when there's evidence to the contrary, it's disorienting.)

I printed out your paragraphs and will keep them by me.

Will you write back, just to say hello?

Dryadrose

Hi Melissa,

I'd like to discuss a few matters with you, especially the 'Consolations of Boethius'. How should I contact you?

Hello, Zeus-Boy,

My goodness, you really do know my work. You can contact

me at dryadrose@operamail.com. Thank you.

Please, all, forgive my interloping.

Besides requesting the Best American Poetry 1991 anthology from the local library, (which I've done today) is there someplace online I might find the poem Consolations of Boethius or other poems by Melissa Green?

Thank you.

WnC,

When you have a copy of Best American Poetry 1991 you will also have the poem in question. It first appeared in The Paris Review of the previous year. It is a sublime piece of work. I've taken measures today to verify whether 'Dryadrose' is indeed Melissa Green, and if not to alert her to the counterfeit.

ZB,
of this I am aware:
When you have a copy of Best American Poetry 1991 you will also have the poem in question. It first appeared in The Paris Review of the previous year.

As a late comer to Boethius, (introduction via Pope Benedict XVI's exhortation of him and Consolations of Philosophy in a general audience from spring this year) I'm very interested. This thread has motivated me to likewise request Consolations of Philosophy through an inter-library loan.

I hope this Melissa Green is authentic. How edifying that your admiration would be so appreciated. If, in the end, you're disappointed, I'm sorry for that. But your sincere praise of Green's work hasn't gone unnoticed by others.