Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Of all the poets who I have worked with at UC Davis, the work of only two of them could be found in my childhood home of Washington, DC, and they are two of the kindest poets I know. Along with prizes, sustained kindness and renown among non-poets would be three of a poets’ three greatest accomplishments.
This past Thursday, I got to introduce both those poets, as well as one of California’s most important Hmong poets, to a standing-room-only auditorium of friends and poetry-lovers. I’m still buzzed from the excitement and the relish of the momentous evening.
The Hmong poet is Pos Moua, a man of about my age who earned an MA in creative writing at UC Davis 20 years ago. He read poets of great emotional richness and insight, as well as with an other-worldly sense of wonder that one might expect from a writer from a culture that has not widely embraced written literacy. I encourage you to pick up a copy of Karst Mountains Will Bloom (Blue Oak Press, 2019) online or at your local bookstore.
The ”poetic mother” of Moua, as he called her, was Sandra McPherson. Both she and my Boston University poetry mentor Robert Pinsky deepened their poetic writing with Elizabeth Bishop, an amazing craftswoman and one of the most important writers of the 20th century. McPherson read about five poems Thursday night to start the evening, reminding us why she is admired and loved by writers who know her and her work.
The “poetic father” of Moua is Gary Snyder, the 89-year-old Beat-era poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Turtle Island. Born exactly two years before my late father, Snyder amazed me with his cogency and wit. Any of us would be lucky to be so sharp at his age. So many people were amazed to be in the presence of the subject of Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel The Dharma Bums that I estimate that a thousand pictures were taken that night.
Gary gave me his business card, so I hope to have another opportunity to introduce him. For now, I have completed one more item on my bucket list.
In addition to topics raised above, on tonight’s Pub Quiz, expect questions about the following: everyday objects, the blues, downtown businesses, rhythm and blues, extraordinary empathy, notable animals in hats, fictional characters who fly, communications about transportation, bad boys, river cities, political numbers, departed icons, writing implements, Italians who migrate, agricultural exports, bank accounts, really large numbers, first names of famous people, old Europe, changed names, continental hotels, World War II, digital examples, vertical names, petrochemical-derived materials, broaching the topic of yearly brooches, electrical currents, Spartan warriors, Boston, cars and trucks, islands, and Shakespeare.
Thanks for reading the newsletter, and for inviting your friends to our Monday night events. I feel that everyone is lucky who raises a glass with amiable friends at the start of a work-week.
Best,
Your Quizmaster
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Figures of Speech. What is the three-syllable figure of speech in which a word or phrase denoting one kind of object or action is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them?
- Science. In plants, what P word is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a single flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination?
- Sports: NBA Playoff Basketball. Yesterday Kawhi Leonard won game 7 in a series with the Philadelphia 76ers with an insane buzzer-beater that bounced four times before going through the basket.” For what team does Leonard play?
P.S. “Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.” Oscar Wilde