Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Frirnv F:Phrrnrv')I) ] g7n r-f luu LJIFUU .U4;y £..U, U :I' 'I poetry and prose U I *u'i.ipiinmum.uin Bly: Bard of By MARY RADTKE RoberI Bly, the 1970 Writer- in-Residence, is a bard if ever there was one. Dressed en rap- port with his audience in wire- rimmed: glasses and a black and white poncho, he wove his poetry into the substance of life and sent it dancing off the ceiling of the Natural Science Aud. He came to' us well-recoim- mended-National Book Award for Poetry in 1967, famed for giving the ward money to Re- sistance, founder of Writers Against Vietnam, editor of an influential magazine of poetry and criticism, The Sixties, trans- lator. He came to talk about doubt, saying (wonder of wonders) words that were too new to be rhetoric. But words and repu- tation became matters of sec- ondary importance when he be- gan to speak, for Robert Bly is warm and rough and comfort- ably magnificent; a man whose poetry is within himself and can never be completely trans- ferred to paper. His voice is deep and pleas- antly granular, coming from be- tween the tight lips of a Min- nesota farmer, often trailing past in a mumble or swallowed altogether, but clear and pas- sionate when the occasion mer- its. His face bears a fine collec- tion of creases and wrinkles that smile often and with conviction. His hands move constantly, conducting the rhythms of his words and spelling them out like Indian hand symbols. Between the voice and the hands, it doesn't really matter what he s a y s - understanding comes without the words, and the tone of his voice tells the poem. Although Bly's appearance last night was called a poetry reading, it was much more of a poetry talking. He was conver- sational, intimate; several times, a poem he knew by heart slip- ped naturally out of the be- tween-poem commentary. Addressing himself to his an- nounced subject, Bly said that poetry comes from "the refusal to go along the tracks that are already laid out in your head, and you don't really get off that track until you doubt. "The problem in poetry is first to teach you that you are asleep and then to wake you up." This requires, he says, go- ing beneath your ordinary mind, and not above it, down to the secret thing inside yourself." For Robert Bly the finest poetry of doubt comes from the great Spanish and Latin Ameri- can poets, many of whom he has translated, and he seems more; eager to read their poetry than his own. Words that are strong and bare march in hard Anglo- Saxon stresses through his lines; doubt imagery is purposeful, not de- corative, and tends toward the physical touch of earth and the life in it. "There is a solitude like black mud," he says. And in another poem, "We are like a sleek, black water beetle, skating across still water in any direc- tion we wish." Occasionally, as in the anti- war poem "Counting Small- Boned Bodies,"' the devastating simplicity of his words flows perfectly into the simultaneous idea and emotion that is the es- sence of poetry. Sometimes the strength of his image is arrest- ing - "The State Department floats in the heavy jellies near the bottom like exhausted crus- taceans." Sometimes, too, his references are too subtle. They could mean too many things, too vaguely, unless the tone of Bly's voice or his commentary is there to pin them down. It helps in the section of "Three Presidents" which compares Theodore Roosevelt to a stone to know that Bly thinks of all right-wing people as stones," with 13 purple legs that would like to run to the top of an apartment build- ing and jump off and land on somebody." Generally t ho u g h, textual weaknesses will pass unnoticed as long as the poem is filtered through the voice and hands of Robert Bly. opof~l I LI I I 1 I I I ';i 11 4 I I El- From Russia With Love AUD. A, ANGELL HALL-75c Fri. and Sat., Feb. 20, 21 Sex and violence in a Turkish mosque SWith Sean Connery as James Bond r COMING SOON: Charlie Bubbles Bonnie and Clyde Desi Arnaz and His Band (due to popular demand) -. ~"uy -fl4 An incomparable Andres Segovia in concert at Hill L I I Joseph S trick to show Tropic of Cancer' .... 1L THE MERRY WIDOW theatre: A rest from relevance "I propose a kind of lecture/ demonstration during which, I can . . . discuss the factors that led to all the decisions, the cast- ing decisions, the lighting of' a scene, choice of angles .. ." said Joseph Strick the other day when he decided to bring his new film, Tropic of Cancer, to Ann Arbor this Sunday for the Creative Arts Festival. Prior to this, Strick was go- ing to show rushes of his films, but he was able to obtain a copy of his latest work which is premiering in New York t h i s week. Strick is well known for The Michigan Daily, edited and man- aged by students at the University of Michigan. News phone: 764-0552. Second Class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich- igan, 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. Published daily Tues- day thrcugh Sunday morning Univer- sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by carrier, $10 by mail.S Summer Session published Tuesday through Saturday morning. Subscrip- tion rates: $3.00 by carrier; $3.00 by mail. 'I his cinematic adaptation of James Joyce's Ulysses and Jean Genet's The Balcony. Following the showing of Tropic of Concer, Strick will answer questions and generally speak about the transitions need- ed to create a film from a novel. Tickets that have been bought for the original program at 2 p.m. Sunday will be applicable to one of two showings on the same day at 1 and 4 p.m. in Aud. A. The price will remain $1.50. ThiS 1 iW~RPI O.~A o.Uw Operetta -by Franz Lehar Conductor: Josef Blatt Stage Direction: Ralph Herbert FEBRUARY 27 and 28 MARCH 2 and 3 8 PA.M . Admission $3.00 Friday & Saturday LORI NG JAN ES ISA I Mendelssohn Theatre Ticket Information: 764-6118 MAIL ORDERS: SCHOOL OF MUSIC OPERA, MENDELSSOHN THEATRE, THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN 48104. BOX OFFICE HOURS: FEB. 23-26, 12:30- 5 P.M.; FEB. 27.28, MAR. 2, 3, 12:30-8 P.M. (CLOSED SUN- DAY, MARCH 1) School of Music and Department of Art 0 University of Michigan 4 By BETSY SMITH Despite the spoof of interpre- tive. program notes (sexual in- nuendo In The Drunkard) and the "almost unpolluted wa er used for the Bartender's beer, John Styan's direction of the Lord Chamberlain's Players in P. T. Barnum's temperance melodrama at Canterbury House is avowedly traditional. When Mary Wilson (Tennie Cham- berlain) urges boys to sign the pledge "that will end all con- flict the cheer is exultant but relaxed. No one is going any- where, the play exists to be sav- ored, song by song - pose by pose. Slow pacing permits each piece of stage business to be well-realized. Asides, significant. pauses, tableaux, ensemble numbers; all reflect attention to minute details and effects. Sing- ers . sing falsetto and off-key, actors don voices as if they were hats or masks and postures rather, than walk. EdwardMiddleton's decline and near decay as a drunkard is merely the excuse for a series of .exploits and near-crimes. Forgery, eviction, blackmail rape take their positions beside mangled lines from familiar poetry in the best commedia tradition. As much as tem- perance, the play is about gen- tility, religion, idealism, with the style of each exaggerated to absurdity. The setting is vaguely New England with Southern overtones, the ethics are rural America, the heroes are rustic and the ending is happy. Certain performances stand out: Zibby Oneal's lascivious songs, as Sophia Spindle, Mrs. Wilson's (Gerry Creeth's) moth- erly love and her mother-in- lawly demise; Joe Pehrson the piano player's deliberately miss- ed notes; Lawyer Cribb's (play- ed by. Howard Buten) special moustache flourish and his masterful conductingsofstherau- dience's boos and hisses; Bert Hornback as the Bartender ac- tually collecting dirty cups from the audience during a scene. Because of the coffeehouse setting, the use of the audience Sunday--8:30 JON SUN DELL farewell performance 41a 1 Phone 764-0558 Order Your Daily NOW- FOURSHOWS SAT. &iSUN. The Best of the Underground-Film Artists Brakhage, Anticipation of the Night Emshwiller, Relativity Nyitany, Overture to an Embryo SAT., FEB. 21, 1970 EAST QUAD, 9:00 P.M. NO CHARGE More on Sat., Feb. 28' and Sat., March 14 both inside and outside the play is effective. If the action errs on the side of slowness, the lines are per- haps at times delivered too fast, and tend to jumble, as the dominant style of the action would imply; like a tape jamming as it comes out of the recorder. But the nature of highly stylized action is to welcome staginess with it, stagey mistakes, whether intentional or not. Thus a char- acter can miss his lines and wink to the audience about it without falling out of his role. The play is not about sexual identity at all. It is about re- pression of individual will to the will of the majority, under the blessing of a benevolent deity, who will unmask the of- fender and restore the rightful heir to his patrimony, for which we, the audience, will be of course immediately, and he the heir, (we hope) be eventually, grateful. EU CAMP CHI An exciting co-ed social group-work camp located. in Wisconsin needs male and female waterfront personnel, skiing instructor, sailing instructor, MALE COUNSELORS. interviews-FEB. 24-25 Call SAB, 764-7460 for appointment A service of the Jewish Community Centers of Chicago h - Read and Use Daily Classipeds Studnt air fares to Europe start at Icelandic has the greatest travel bargain ever for stu. dents ... our brand new $120* one-way fare to Luxembourg in the heart of Europe. If you're travelling to or from your studies at a fully accredited college or university, and are 31 years old or under, you qualify for this outstanding rate: It's an individual fare, not a charter or group; you fly whenever you want, and can stay up to a year. Inter- ested? Qualified? Also, if you are thinking of Europe but not for study, we've got the lowest air fares. Call your travel agent or write or Student Fare Folder CN. Icelandic Airlines, 630 Fifth Ave. (Rockefeller Center) New York, N.Y. 10020. *Slightly higher In peak /season. ICELANL1fICAI~s S TILL LOWEST AIRP FRES TO EUROPE of any scheduled airline. "Hip Off-Broadway Hit Knocks The Box & Other American Fetishes" . . you'll think you never laughed so hard" -Johanna Steinmetz, Chicago Today ".. .more aching laughter than I have heard on Broadway this year" -Ton Prideaux, Life, 12/1 9/69 "GO And See GROOVE, TUBE -Clive Barnes, N.Y. Times, 10/12/69 "Outrageously Funny"-Cue '. . . a wicked and hilarious lampoon of TV pro- grams"-Look "Now TV executives are faced with the ultimate weapon. Groove Tube demolishes television.'"-Play- boy Presented by KENNETH N. NEMEROVSKI 'l 4 "TWO OF THE YEA R'S 10 BEST" -Neal Gabler, Mich. Daily Even conservative profs rebel - -- against smear tactics on termngo. papers. You're always better off 8L with erasable Corrasable~ Bond. ~ AL An ordinary pencil eraser lets you erase without a trace on Eaton's Corrasable type- EATONS CORRASABE writer paper. At college book-- TYPEWRITER PAPER stores and stationery stores. (- - -- Only Eaton makes Corrasable* 1ATON'S CORRASABLE BOND TYPEWRITER PAPER Eaton Paper Division of jextroni Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01201 "TENDER, LOVING, FUNNY-SAD!" -N.Y. Daily News "Besides being one of the truly funny sophisticated comedies, it starred one of the best looking chicks ever." -Neal Gabler BIE MUS'IS AVRYNNY, SYA *VIE...A THING OF REAlANDUNMUSUAL PlEA r- ° ' "GOODBYE, COLUMBUS' IS BOUND TO BE A GREAT TFDM R10NPT Fri.-"ROMEO & JULIET" 6:45, 1 1:00-"COLUMBUS," 9:15 Sat.-"ROMEO & JULIET," 2:30, 6:45, 11:00- "COLUMBUS," 5:00, 9:15 "DAZZLING!,once you see it, you'l never again picture 'Romeo&Juliet' quite the way you did before!" -LIFE PARAMOUNT PICTURESeprent. A lSHE lilA The FiwNCO ZEFFIRELLI Production of ROMEO ~JULET 'Wijich One is the 'Ri ulist? 11 It's easy to tell a Paulist: Just talk with him. The first thing you notice is that he's contemporary. He lives today, but plans tomorrow with the experience and knowl- edge of yesterday. That's a Paulist characteristic: the abil- ity to move with the times and to meet the challenges of each era. A Paulist is also the mediator of his age: he tries to bring to- gether the extremes in today's world and the Church, the lib- erals and the moderates, the eternal and the'temporal. Next, he is very much an indi- vidual. It sets him apart imme- diately. He has his own partic- ular talents and abilities -and he is given freedom to use them. If you are interested in finding out more about the Paulist dif- ference in the priesthood, ask THURSDAY and SUNDAY: 7:30 and 9:15 SATURDAY: 8:00, 9:45 and 11:30 Prices: Thurs. & Sun.: $1.75; Sat. $2.50 NO FRIDAY 'PERFORMANCES THE VIDEO GALLERY in the H I LLEL SOCIAL HALL 1429 Hill Street PHONE RESERVATIONS: 769-0130 TICKETS AT THE DOOR AT SHOWTIME I -I F Teegarc t FEBRUAR elen and Van Winkle I Y 24, 25, 27, 28, MARCH 1 lw-.*'. I'' I MIMIMML I III I I I I