‘ 1718, a literary club with students from Loyola, Tulane University and University of New Orleans, held its third anniversary poetry reading – their first event of the semester – at the Columns Hotel on St. Chares Avenue Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Ed Skoog, a former teacher at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and adjunct instructor at Tulane and UNO, flew in from Washington, D.C. to read poetry from his book, ‘Mr. Skylight,’ according to 1718 president Lesley Lucas, an English writing and environmental studies senior. One Tuesday each month, 1718 hosts a published author to read selections of their own writing at events that attract students from Loyola, Tulane and UNO, as well as other New Orleans literary fans. In addition, students from the three schools read their own works at the events, Lucas said.
The January reading was held in a small side room on the first floor of the hotel that appeared to be packed with more than 70 people. The room quickly became stuffy, but no one seemed to mind. Some just simply sipped on the three-dollar house wine. Skoog opened with a poem about Hurricane Katrina. ‘I hold the cell phone hot against my ear.
The images come in small, to the flat, impersonal screen’hellip; linoleum sandy as the street, walls dotted with mold. And through the broken window, the rose bush, ash gray, the yard, ashy gray,’ Skoog read aloud. Skoog, which means ‘wood’ in Swedish, said the poem wasn’t his personal story. In fact, he left ten days before the storm. ‘It’s strange,’ Skoog said. ‘It’s like survivor’s guilt.
So many close friends and neighbors went through so (much) ‘hellip; it was not a happy time.’ Skoog’s friends lived primarily in the Ninth Ward, which was drowned in the aftermath of the hurricane. ‘I tried to write something that would make sense and be meaningful to my friends who were having such troubles, such pain, frustration and anger,’ he said. Skoog’s voice was soft, but strong. He utilizaed a serious and, at times, depressing, tone in his readings about other places like Seattle and Topeka, Kan.
‘I liked how in every poem, it was geographical,’ English junior Jeffrey Muir said after the reading. ‘He made fun of one of my favorite bars (in Seattle).’ The event also featured student readers Engram Wilkinson, a Tulane University student, who read selections of his own poetry, and Loyola creative writing junior and Maroon columnist Jonas Griffin, who followed Skoog with three creative non-fiction stories he wrote: ‘The Closet,’ ‘Nightcap’ and a short paragraph about sea lions.
The January poetry event coincidentally was the same night as Lucas’s birthday. She simply smiled happily as the crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.
Monica Vo can be reached at [email protected]. Ashley Stevens also contributed to this report. She can be reached at [email protected].
