More on Reading to the Unfamiliar

 Recently I read from my work to an audience unfamiliar with contemporary poetry.  They were surprised that poetry could connect every day experience to the memory of grief and losses, revitalizing the past and shedding light on the present. Poems like Marie Howe's title poem from her book What the Living Do speak of a stopped up kitchen drain and a broken grocery bag in addressing her brother. lost to cancer.  Poems in the book follow her brother's fatal suffering.  She celebrates her life in remembering him.  To include the reading of the work of other poets in presenting  one's own work is effective in encouraging the reading of poetry, essential to the vitality of our culture.