When we picked up visiting poet Kate Greenstreet from the downtown Sheraton, I didn’t know what to expect.
I’d read some of her work, though not nearly enough (as I’d soon find out). Laura Theobald, assistant-editor of Quilt and the key player in bringing Mrs. Greenstreet to UT, rode with us.
She had seen Mrs. Greenstreet read at the AWP conference in Chicago a few years back and was enchanted by her poetry. Asked to describe why in a few words, Theobald said, “It’s like asking the Pope what he loves about God.”
“I think that’s her husband,” Theobald said as the car approached the hotel. She pointed at a thin long-haired man waiting in front of the hotel. A shorter woman stood beside him. “That’s Kate,” Laura said, trying to contain her excitement. I could see the ridges of her lips holding back a grin.
Max Greenstreet waved at us, recognizing my car, which I had lent out earlier to a friend, who had picked them up from the airport. They introduced themselves graciously, exuding an uncommon warmth.
We took the Greenstreets to Thai Island with Derrick Austin, editor-in-chief of Quilt, a group of students and UT writing professor Dr. Erica Dawson.
Mr. Greenstreet sat across from me. “I have a habit,” he said, “of ‘Googling’ people we are about to meet.”
He had gotten my name from Austin before our meeting and found websites related to bands I used to play in. We began talking about music, Mr. Greenstreet being a musician himself.
“I love music, but I don’t think of myself as a songwriter,” he said. Instead, he said, he found musical freedom through writing short pieces for Mrs. Greenstreet’s experimental poetry films.
I was eager to see the films, which would be shown the following night. “I find that, working with Kate, I have better musical ideas,” he said.
Mrs. Greenstreet also described her complex artistic history. She began as a painter, but now refers to herself as a poet, since she’s “got two books.” She still paints, in addition to her poetry and films.
After we’d eaten, I dropped Laura Theobald, Derrick Austin and the Greenstreets off at Four Green Fields. I went back to campus to finish a paper, and when I returned, Laura was giddy. “She asked me if I liked boats!” she exclaimed, referring to a favorite line from The Last 4 Things, Mrs. Greenstreet’s latest book.
Thursday night, Mrs. Greenstreet screened selections of her poetry films, many of which were included in a DVD that accompanies The Last 4 Things. Of Mrs. Greenstreet’s films, I was most struck by “56,” a ten-minute film drawn from the long-poem, “56 Days.”
Inspired by a pirated Chinese DVD that displayed the wrong subtitles, “56” juxtaposes spoken lines with unrelated subtitles from select pages of “56 Days.” In the background, images of winter — falling snow, barren trees, dying leaves — come and go, accenting Mrs. Greenstreet’s desolate tone.
The images illuminated Mrs. Greenstreet’s disconnected poetic style. The isolated lines became like photographs in an album — each a distinct snapshot that contributed to a complete collection.
Mr. Greenstreet screened his documentary on Mrs. Greenstreet, My Own Eyes, born from excess footage shot during a recent book tour. In the documentary, Mr. Greenstreet asks Mrs. Greenstreet if she considers herself a photographer.
Mrs. Greenstreet said, “No,” and added that she just “likes to take photographs.” This cemented her poetry’s connection to photography. Unfortunately, the showing was sparsely attended. Only regular Quilt-goers and Dr. Dawson attended, though every attendee was impressed by Mrs. Greenstreet’s unique presentation.
Friday evening, Mrs. Greenstreet read selections from her books at the Grand Salon. The reading took on an informal feel. Instead of holding questions until the end, she asked that the reading be treated like a dialogue. “If you want to say something,” she said, “just jump in. Just not in the middle of a poem, of course.” The audience laughed.
Mrs. Greenstreet also read poems from her new chapbook, called. Only 80 copies were made, though 200 were promised. It sold out. However, its poems did not fail to impress.
One poem from the chapbook, “2 of Swords,” so moved Professor of English Dr. Morrill that he requested she read it again. “Think about the words Big Picture,” the poem asks. “The Big Picture.” The poetry spoke for itself, but Mrs. Greenstreet’s ethereal voice accentuated her sparse style. The turnout, while better than the following night, was still poor.
“What are you doing after the reading?” Dr. Morrill asked Mrs. Greenstreet, after she finished signing books.
“Whatever my posse’s doing!” she said, referring to the Quilt members in attendance.
Mrs. Greenstreet even joined the “Quilt posse” for Saturday’s Coffeehouse Open Mic, which is rarely the case for UT’s visiting writers. She seemed to enjoy the student’s poetry, saying that Conner McDonough’s “North Country Lessons,” which will be appearing in Quilt’s next issue, made her cry.
Quilt Editor-in-Chief Derrick Austin summed up Mrs. Greenstreet’s visit, saying, “Kate Greenstreet is a gracious poet and in my four years of being here and interacting with visiting writers, I’d never seen a poet interact with students on such an intimate level and leave such a lasting impression.”
Micheal Angelo Rumore can be reached at michealangelorumore@gmail.com.