In honor of Poetry Friday I present my first poet, Rod McKuen. If you are twenty or thirty something, chances are you have no idea who I am talking about. That’s okay. Feel free to skip to the next blog. My feelings won’t be hurt. Besides, as you can see in this picture, I have Rod to console me after you leave.
In Junior High, back in the dark ages, a boy I liked knew how much I liked writing, especially writing poetry (see this previous Poetry Friday post) so when he saw a book of poems at a junk sale, he bought it for me. That book was LISTEN TO THE WARM by Rod McKuen. It was a small, gift-sized book about 6″ square. I read it again and again and then started haunting used bookstores for copies of his other books. He wrote about love and broken hearts but at the center of it all he wrote about being lonely and boy could I relate to that. My mom understood my obsession (even if she didn’t “get” Rod’s poetry) and she cut out clippings of interviews and news pieces about him that I saved for years and years and wish I still had but I don’t. Over the years I learned of his albums (they were these large, black things that you put on this thing called a turntable and then this needle went around and around and played a song.) I really had to hunt for those albums but I built up a complete collection which I, sadly to say, did not take with me after my New Orleans experience for the very stupid reason that I didn’t have a turntable anymore. Sigh. Some of those old albums are available on CD but not all.The albums were a mix of spoken word and songs. My favorites were the birthday concerts at Carnegie Hall.
McKuen is an award winning author and a poet. He is the recipient of both the Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman Awards for outstanding achievement in poetry, a recipient of the Brandeis University Literary Trust Prize for “continuing excellence and contributions to contemporary poetry.” And THE POWER BRIGHT & SHINING, a book in verse about America, won him the first Amendment and Freedoms Foundation Awards. (info from his website ) He is also award winning musician and you have probably heard his musical scores in some familiar movies. Oh – I can tie him to children’s literature with his soundtracks since he wrote the soundtracks for The Borrowers, A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Lisa Bright & Dark, to name just a few.
Here’s some more about his music from his website:
His film music has twice been nominated for Academy Awards (THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE & A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN). His classical works (symphonies, concertos, suites, chamber music and song cycles) are performed by leading orchestras and classical artists throughout the world. THE CITY, a suite for Narrator & Orchestra, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Music. He has received commissions for classical work from The Royal Philharmonic, The Louisville Orchestral, Edmonton Symphony and National Symphony among others. His LONESOME CITIES won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word album in 1968 against such formidable competition as “John F Kennedy: As We Remember Him” and the collected speeches of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy.
What was it about Rod McKuen that kept me so connected to him over the years? The loneliness was a big part. The fact that he had never known his dad and I had never known mine made me feel like he understood where my pain was coming from. I was jealous when I found his book FINDING MY FATHER because he got to do something I would never get the chance to do, make that connection with the past. He also wrote about simple things, the sort of everyday life I could relate to, and it was in reading his books and listening to his conversations on those old albums (there’s a great story about the birth of the book STANYAN STREET AND OTHER SORROWS that I’ll share another time) that gave me hope that someone like me, someone who didn’t come from anything special could maybe write the kind of words that might really matter to someone else.
A few years ago Rod came to San Francisco to speak at the Commonwealth Club and my husband just happened to hear mention of it on the radio. He called to let me know that Rod was in town for one night, that night, and right after work we hit the freeway and the traffic and headed off to meet someone I could never in a million years imagine meeting. Rod was around 70/71 years old and yet he looked ageless, right down to his trademark hightop tennis shoes. He talked of so much writing yet to do and his quiet energy just filled the room. I don’t remember much of what he said that night when he was on stage but afterward he had time to chat and my husband dutifully kept snapping the camera. This picture is the one of the few where I wasn’t crying. I could hardly get any words out at all but Rod just put an arm around my shoulder and said in that wonderfully gravel voice of his, “It’s okay. ”
How do you thank someone for opening a door? Rod McKuen may not be an expected idol for a children’s author but it was from him that I first learned about writing with emotional honestly.
It seems appropriate to end this post with the same line that Rod uses to end every performance.
“It doesn’t matter who you love or how you love but that you love.”
Thank you, Rod McKuen.
wow Susan
thank you for sharing that
. . .and I like, wait LOVE your ending thought!
have a great, great day
xoxo
M 🙂
Thanks, Meg. It’s actually Rod’s ending thought that he uses all the time and I just love it too.
oh, thanks for the trip to my childhood — my parents played Rod McKuen albums (their sole foray into anything remotely hip) and when I was 10 or so we went to an outdoor concert of his… (I got sick on the fumes of what other people were smoking!)
and as a teen I too loved the emotion in his words. He introduced many americans to Jacques Brel, with his version of “If you leave me now,” (Brel’s ne me quitte pas).
oh, I can hear his raspy voice now, sing-whispering “on Stanyon Street”
Oh you got to see one of the real concerts? Wow! He only read when I saw him and that was good but singing in that damaged voice of his just makes me feel good. Gotta love a guy who can pull off a song called TRASHY with the line – “you give refuse a bad name” 🙂
sing-whispering, yes, that’s the perfect description!
Lovely post, Susan. It made me teary, but in a good way.
thanks!
I can picture those slim books now – my mom had them. It’s fair to say that reading those little books was my first exposure to “grown-up” poetry.
I think I also got my first, uhm, sex ed classes through some of his poems. Of course the first times I read them I didn’t know what he was talking about but later, oh my goodness.
Nicely written, Susan. I enjoyed reading that.
Thank you. I could have gone on and on. Nice to know I didn’t bore folks too much. 🙂
I love that ending thought . . .
I know…isn’t it great? Oh gosh, I have so many posts of yours I want to respond to. Damn this arm of mine. Sigh.
That’s okay . . . I know you’re there!
I hope your arm gets better soon. It must be so frustrating . . .
We can find mentors and muses in so many (often unexpected) areas of our lives, can’t we? I really enjoyed reading this post about one of yours. Thanks for sharing it with us — especially since I imagine it’s still uncomfortable to write.
You’re right. I always love to hear who is inspired by what or whom. Of course being insecure me I always panic for a moment or two that I don’t have “right” mentor or muse. Silly old girl.
And yes…I’m still typing in shorts spurts of feeling better. As long as I remember to stop after, oh, 10 minutes, and not type for another 1/2 an hour, sigh, it seems to be improving.
Yes, I remember Rod M. This dates us, you know… Oh well. Nice, nice story of your connection and what he’s been to you.
Oh yeah….totally on the dating us. But that’s okay. I’m mostly okay with my age. Not so crazy about the way the body itself is age but I like where I am which is more than I can say from my 20s and 30s.
Wow – that is truly a blast from my teenage past. I had three or for Rod M. albums (yes real vinyl)! Nice memory!
What a wonderful tribute! And how awesome that you got to meet Rod. I’ve rediscovered how much I love his songs, poetry. politics, everything about him, lately, and was googling his name and found your story. It was so great to read. I hope you are still writing and reading and doing well!
Arwen
Speaking for us roaring twenties
Never fear there are some fortunate people in their twenties who have the same love for Rod as you do. I am of course speaking from personal experience as I have searched thru bookstores and yard sales alike to collect his books, yes of course you can buy them online for a few bucks but it really ruins the hunt for these treasures. I even have a large tattoo dedicated to him, I get plenty of blank stares when I explain it as no one typically knows who I am speaking of. But alas, we are thankfully the lucky ones who have stumbled upon his amazing literature. Cheers!