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" › Poetry

Interview with
Jose Garcia Villa
Students read the interview with
Garcia Villa and answer questions.

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The following excerpt is an interview

with the poet Jose Garcia Villa. In
thisinterview, he is asked to explain
"Lyric 17." You should find it very
interesting tocompare your
interpretation of each of the seven
couplets to the poet's
personalinterpretations.
If you find that your interpretations
differ from Villa's, do not feel that
yourideas were necessarily incorrect.
Note how both the interviewer and
the poetadmit that it is not an easy
task to give an exact prose
interpretation of a poeticexpression,
particularly because poems are not
explicitly stated; the interviewer,at one
point, admits: "I have always found the
next lines difficult to comprehend":

It must have the wisdom of bows

And it must kneel like a rose.

Focus here on the poet's response:

"You must remember," Villa said,
"somelines and some poems cannot
be explained. But let me try..."

Once you have finished reading the

interview, compare his
interpretationswith your own and with
the interpretations made by members
of your cooperative group.

The Interview

Villa's lyrical and exquisitely crafted

poem,"Lyric 17" (Villa, 1942),can serve
as the basis for discussing his
techniques of poetry. Although the
poet did not setout to achieve this
end, he does so, gracefullyand
economically. As you shall see, this
beautiful poem leads to a unique
definition of what apoem should be.

In a taped interview, Villa provided me

withan explication of this poem. Of
the first twolines,

First, a poem must be magical

Then musical as a sea-gull.

Villa said, "These lines mean exactly

what theysay: That a poem must have
magic, and it mustbe musical."

I asked the poet, "What meaning

would youascribe to the next lines?"

It must be a brightness moving

And hold secret a bird's flowering.

Villa explained, "There are some

brightnesses which are stationary and
static, but a poem,like a bird, must fly.
This is the differencebetween prose
and poetry. Prose is flatfootedand
stationary; poetry soars, flies like a
bird.The stationary bird, when first
seen, appearslike a rosebud. When it
begins to fly, it opensup and spreads
its wings and blooms like aflower."

I asked him to explain the images in

the fifthand sixth lines,

It must be slender as a bell

And it must hold fire as well.

To these lines, Villa responded, "A

poem is economical; it's slender as a
bell, it has no adiposetissue; it's lean
and clean. Poorly written
poemsshould, of necessity, go on a
diet, to rid themselves of excess
verbiage and adjectives. And by'fire' in
the next line, I simply mean that
apoem must have a spirit."

"I have always found the next lines

difficultto comprehend," I confessed:

It must have the wisdom of bows

And it must kneel like a rose.

"You must remember," Villa said,

"somelines and some poems cannot
be explained.But let me try. I am
speaking of the archer'sbow. A good
bow is one that knows when toshoot,
and one that directs the arrow to
itsmark. Just as a good poem, it never
goes astray.To 'kneel like a rose' is a
metaphor for humility. All fine people
are humble and a poemshould also be
humble, however beautiful it is."

For the seventh and eighth lines,

It must be able to hear

The luminance of dove and deer.

"There's a good man behind every

finepoem. A good poet is usually a
good person.'Luminance' naturally
means brightness.When I see a good
face, it's a good face and Irespond.
When I see a bad face, it is the facefull
of crime, even though he doesn't
proclaimhis crime. His face proclaims
it out loud."

"In other words," I asked, "the poet

knowsthings instinctively?"

"Yes, naturally," Villa answered.

And for the meaning of the next

couplet, Iprodded Villa to discuss,

It must be able to hide

What it seeks, like a bride.

Villa, without hesitation, began, "A

poemmust not explicitly state
meaning. The reader issupposed to
sense it out, feel it. The languageitself
doesn't tell you, but the
substructurebehind that language is
the real meaning. It isnot explicit and
declarative. That's why when Isay, 'It
must have the wisdom of bows,'
youmust guess at what I mean, and
children loveto guess at meaning.
That's why they love riddles. I used to
love riddles as a child."

The final couplet of this rather

unorthodoxsonnet,

And over all I would like to hover

God, smiling from the poem's cover.

is possibly one of the most beautiful

ever written. "The last line has a
masterfully dramaticeffect. At the
same time, this couplet is, to me,the
most mystifying one in the poem," I
commented.

Villa nodded and offered this

explanation:"When you see a blessed
creature, God shinesand hovers over
that saintly creature. Thepoem itself
creates a God-hood, and the
poemradiates Godness. At the same
time, God ishovering over it,
acknowledging the Godnessradiating
from the poem, itself, which embodies
the spirituality existing in a poem and,
atthe same time, radiates it to others."

Indeed, there is a Godness to this

poem; andthere is a God-hood within
this poet. PoetRichard Eberhardt
understood this, too, evidenced in a
review of Villa's work in which
hestates:

A pure, startling, and resoundingbody

of poetry, informed with somuch
legerity and fire, remarkablyconsistent
in its devotion to spiritualreality. The
subject matter is formidable, the
author a God-driven poet.He arrives at
peaks without showingthe strenuous
effort of climbing; thepersonal is lost
in a blaze of linguistic glories....
(Eberhardt, 1958)

The poet concludes that reading

poetrymight be compared to enjoying
riddles, andthat children enjoy solving
riddles. Since poetry is neither explicit
nor declarative, childrenmust be
taught through sheer joy to sense
outand feel the meaning. Is there not
much of thisthat goes on when we are
"sensing" or drawingconclusions, or
making an inference? Perhapswe
should become more concerned
about providing children with joyous
( )
language experiences that will enable
them to better understand poetry.

1. Compare and contrast your

interpretations of "Lyric 17" to
Villa's.

2. Discuss Villa's comments with

your cooperative group to
explore other interpretations.

3. Were you surprised by any of

Villa's explanations? Explain.

Final Product

Interview one of the students in your

cooperative group about his or her
definition of poetry. Write down these
views and follow the same interview
formatas that used with Villa.

Excerpted from English Teacher's

Portfolio of Multicultural Activities.

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