Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, February 2-7,1970 Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday. February 27 1970 - -- I -- I -poetry and prose - Bly: From Neru da to, neurology By MARY RADTKE Writer - in - residence, Robert Bly, attracts interesting audi- ences - people who look like poets, people who look like they're high on poetry, freaks and People in the process of be- coming freaks, straight people in search of culture or poetry or maybe both. They come in consistantly large numbers and with no ap- parent preferences. They fill and overfill such strange esthe- tic centers as the Natural Science Aud., Canterbury House, and the UGLI Multipurpose Room; and I have the feeling that people who come , once, come back. Although any number of rea- sons-from cultural devotion to political activism-might have been the initial lure, Bly himself is certainly responsible for the sustaining interest. He has a knack for drawing people up close to him, onto his knee so to speak, and telling them fas- cinating stories-exciting, awe- some, funny satirical stories that always end too soon. In his last two perfornm- ances he covered such di- verse topics as the, political poetry of Pablo Neruda and is own, s o m e w h a t unorthodox neurological mythology, or per- haps it is a mythological neu- ~rology . The Neruda reading on Tues- day was remarkable for two reasons. In the first place, Bly appeared, purposefully ornate, in a. red velvet gold-braided vest, wide-sleeved white shirt and turquoise scarf, and an- nounced, "In honor of Pablo I have worn my bullfighter's cos- tume." In the second place, he began by declaring that Neruda is "the greatest living poet," and pro- ceeded to read Neruda's poetry with an excitement-fervor al- most-that he does not display toward his own work. Neruda, Bly explains, has been little known until quite recently in the United States (despite his tremendous influence on South American poetry) because he writes political poetry. "John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and the Academy of American Poets don't dig Communists," he says. Bly claims that political poetry In America is of a particularly low calibre because it generally ,,,:,"aims no higher than metrical shouting and name calling. "When we write love poems we use images, but when we write 'The Union'l x. to premier, j The Union, by playwright-in- residence Ransom Jeffrey, will be premiered this evenig in a workshop production by t h e PTP. The show will go on at 8 p.m. in University High School Aud. .. The, show will be free to the public on a first-come, first-serv- ed-basis this evening, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. In The Union, Jeffrey has de- veloped a gripping dramatiza- on of the generational prob- ologists who have recently dis- covered a tripartite structure to the human brain ("All forms of trinity are very eerie"), Bly describes an imagistic system of orienting man in the world similan in function to Yeats' occultism. The the core brain, the rep- tile brain, has been assigned the function of survival of the in- dividual. To the mammal brain, wrapped around the reptile brain, go the capacity for sex- uality, community, and ferocity. More ARTS on page 8 The neocortex, or new brain, ly- ing above the other two, has many times their neural capa- city but is only minutely tapped by human beings. The new brain likes to fly, literally. Now, energy is apportioned between the brains so that what one is using the others aren't. The new brain, which feeds on spiritual ideas and meditation, finds energy somewhat harder to come by, and has been losing influence rapidly since the time of Christ, who was a spreader of new brain ideas; and the reptile brain with its "increasing sense that the rest of the world can go to hell" has become more or less dominant. Certainly its most perfect projection into the out- er world - the tank - is fre- quently seen. At any rate, the older gener- ation is reptile brain and t h e younger generation is making a deliberate effort to move into the mammal brain; its music and dress are definitely mam- mal. However, even the young- -Daily-Jay Cassidy political poems we just yell, 'You bastards.' " Neruda, however, is precisely the opposite, a poet of images. He got involved in politics be- cause of the South American habit of putting poets into con- sular positions. As consul to Spain during the civil war, Neruda declared Chile' on the side of the Republic and w ahs promptly recalled. At home again he ran for the Senate as a Communist and later chal- lenged the American-supported president, earning the pursuit of the entire Chilean police force. But all the while, he was also writing poetry in incredible quantities. And in every book, the precision and originality of his images glows from within the poems. These images can by lyrical, speaking of a woman who "makes the sun leap in the bot- tom of the earth" or of a friend who "brought me your letter written invisibly in his clothes, in his eyes." Or they can be sur- realistic-lovers "who give each other as passwords long and sticky kisses." 'One description of a couple in a movie theatre, in which the man places on the woman's thigh "warm, damp hands that smell of cigarettes," displays the anticlimatic comedy of a master realist. Another poem, about the United Fruit Company radi- ates political'intensity-it "at- tracted the dictatorship of tne flies, f 1i e s well-trained in tyranny." The images carry a burden of mood. Death "comes and knocks using a ring with no stone in it; with no finger in it. . . It seems to me death is the color of damp violets. . . . What is this darkness inside the mouth?" fast." Bly says that Neruda's voice sounds like an old woman wail- ing outside the church-full of life and energy, full of grief and mourning."' I could not credit Bly's reading with "grief and mourning" - these qualities do not come readily to an Ameri- can voice - but the sensitivity and warmth of his interpreta- '- - I tions of Neruda's poems are probably the next best thing. Moving into different spheres on Thursday afternoon, E Bly embarked on a discussion of "The New Brain Research" that contributes considerably more to poetic mythology than it does to science. The lecture was a chance to relax and enjoy Bly's deep vein of anti-establishment humor, without the intense al- most physical concentration the poetry readings seem to induce. Building on the work of neur- er generation cannot attain new brain dominance because they don't read enough - insuffici- ent spiritual energy. Applying all this to poetry at last, Bly points to a few n e w poets who are using their new brains. (And some old poets who also use their new brains.) Ginsberg and Gary Snyder, Yeats and Blake are good examples, but even better is the Spanish poet Lorca, who seeems to be able to flip between brains and combine the imagery of all three. All of this is an interesting, al- though I'm not sure how ser- ious, parable of poetry and so- ciety. Unfortunately, the imag- ery is contagious - one keeps wondering, what kind of brain do I have? 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 through Sunday morning Univer- sity year. Subscription rates: $10 by carrier, $10 by mail. Summer Session published Tuesday through Saturday morning. Subscrip- tion rates: $3.00 by carrier, $3.00 by mail. WHITE "singing songs that cap- ture the deepest feelings of people. He captures and keeps his audience." -Michigan Daily SAT. SAT.- P.M. WOODY GUTHRIE WORKSHOP with DICK REUSS SUN.-3 P.M. CHILDREN'S CONCERT with BOB WHITE 8 and under-Sc over-50c a Cliii O UIb Feb. 26, 27-Thurs., Fri. CARNIVAL IN FLANDERS dir. JACQUES FEYDER (1934 "Feyder's humorous, yet politically commit- ted re-creation of 17th century Flanders." 7 & 9:05 ARCHITECTURE 662-8871 75cAUDITORIUM l r .. The hip off-Broadway hit that knocks the box and other American fetishes. Groove Tube is underground television. It's what TV could be without censors and sponsors. See a TV sex olympics ... a kiddies show for adults only,.., and an anti-VD commercial to end all public health messages. Come prepared to laugh a lot ... and blush a little .. . but come " 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. THIS PROGRAM IS RATED "X" No persons under 18 will be admitted FOUR SHOWS SATURDAY and SUNDAY ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD, ATMOSPHERE FOR at THE MUG Entertaining Tonight: MARGERY HIMEL If you would like to perform, call Maureen Kelley, 761-0754 WHY NOT STOP IN? af I CANTERBURY HOUSE presents A FREE ORAL LOBOTOMY a community health weekend for Ann Arbor I FRIDAY & SATURDAY 8:30 P.M. "if you walk in the woods you must feed the Tos- quitoes." The Best of the Underground Film Artists Brakhage, Complete DOG STAR MAN Sharits, WORD MOVIE Week of the Angry Arts Against the War SAT., FEB. 28 1970 EAST QUAD, .9:00 P.M. NO CHARGE More on Sat., March 14 00 AUSTIN DIAMOND I! p THE VIDEO GALLERY in the HILLEL SOCIAL HALL 1429 Hill Street PHONE RESERVATIONS: 769-0130 TICKETS AT THE DOOR AT SHOWTIME ni I Next: iz 71 Starting e~t March 5 I -r.. Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) Double Feature SATURDAY and SUNDAY MATINEES ONLY "'THE IPCRESS FILE' IS A TAUT, TINGLING FILM" -WcALL'*S TECHNICOLOR' RELEASE TECHNISCOPE 11 f 3 Presented by KENNETH N. NEMEROYSKI THURSDAY and SUNDAY: 7:30 and 9:15-$1.50 SATURDAY: 8:00,9:45 and 11:30--$1.75 NO FRIDAY PERFORMANCES r I presentation Phakavali Dancers, with P[-PHAT ORCHESTRA DIRECT FROM BANGKOK! MONDAY, MARCH 2 at 8:30 IN RACKHAM AUDITORIUM TICKETS@ $5.00 and $4.00 ($2.50 sold out) UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, BURTON TOWER, ANN ARBOR Office Hours: Mon. through Fri., 9 to 4:30; Sat., 9 to 12 (Tel. 665-3717) (Also at Auditorium box office 11/2 hours before performance time) By order of the Washtenaw County Court the continued showing of "I Am Curious (yellow)" has been tem- porar ily injoined. As soon as court proceedings are favorably complet- ed, we will continue the showing of this film. NOW SHOWINGA I 11 TODAY AT 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 P.M. ,. MICHIGAN ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS . GOLDIE HAWN I ADULTS $1.50 CH ILDREN-75c "A THOROUGH DELIGHTS THE CASTING IS INSPIRED! -CuE t C7~ "cpress-12:45 only Funeral-2:30 only 1209 S. University 663-7151 NOT CONTINUOUS WITH "1 AM CURIOUS" I 11 WINNER OF9ACADEMY MEfR-GOWWNYN-MYER P rENT ACARLOPON11PRODUCIlON DAVID LEAN'S FILM_ OF BORIS PASTERNAKS ZHIVAGo IN PANAVISION*AND METROCOLOR AWARDS! OPENS TONITE AT 8:00 P.M. THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PROFESSIONAL THEATRE PROGRAM FELLOWSHIP COMPANY presents A New Play-in-Progress .U I I one A = {, II PIPE on a I 0