My annual presentation at Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic Site (Vachel House) every year since the first year the event was hosted has been special to me. Only Christmas (another birthday, wouldn’t you know) is more important to me, and Vachel’s birthday has repaid my focus with far more personal satisfaction. During the early years following the home’s extensive renovation and strengthening to accommodate more visitors, I was a featured reciter during the rest of the year, and though I have not been so blessed in recent years, I have been blessed with invitations to recite at his birthday observances. I was gratified to be invited this year, Vachel’s 130th birthday, and preparation for my 20 minute presentation began November 1.
I timed about ten poems using my office clock with a second hand last Sunday and selected the five I would practice to “perfection” in the days ahead. I have recited — as in from memory; nothing in my hands — 45 Vachel poems. A list is provided at my Vachel Pages web site www.aeroknow.com/arts/lindsaypoet.htm and I’m always ready to be convinced I should memorize and recite more by people who regard them as noteworthy and precious. I have recited the five I selected (and the other 40) at least twice over the years. Once the poem has been memorized and recited once, most of the effort is behind me. Like a tune learned for a piano recital, I like to consider them ready to recite again with as little as about a week’s rehearsal time needed to share given poems at featured presentation events. Of that total, about 25 are “in my pocket,” meaning they are ready to recite if you come up to me in the street and say, “Job; please recite ‘The Proud Farmer’ or “When Gassie Thompson Struck it Rich.” The five I selected for today are:1. The Dream of All the Springfield Writers” 2. Upon Returning to the Open Road” 3.”Nancy Hanks, Mother of Abraham Lincoln” 4. The Santa Fe Trail (A Humoresque) 5. On the Building of Springfield” and my poem/song “Vachel Was a Preacher.”
Every time I have been invited to recite Vachel poems, I’ve prepared a four-page program to give to those who attend. There’s so much I have to SAY about him, let alone poems by him to share, I need to space to say what I want to say. I had 20 minutes allotted to my time at Vachel House today. All presenters did. I wanted to make the most of every minute. That’s why I wrote in “Vachel’s voice” to explain the poems I recited. The only words I would speak during my 20 would be the words of the poems selected.
Arriving at Vachel House with time to sit in the back yard under the tent with cake, coffee and hot cider, to talk with visitors, to promote my recital coming up at 2:30. I also wanted to be sure and be in the audience for Sandra McKenna’s presentation at 12:30. She’s a talented poet in her own right, a known quality in the upper echelon of Illinois poets. It had been too long since hearing her, and she came through as the pro she is as a crafter of fine poetry and as a reader of fine poetry. She included two of Vachel’s, and it was a solid presentation.
Bill Furry followed at 1:30, and read from a book of memories Vachel’s cousin Eudora had written about him He ended with a beautiful melody he played on his concertina. Nicely done.
Soon after, I saw Dennis Camp long enough to give him my check for my 2010 membership dues in Vachel Lindsay Association. I couldn’t attend the dinner because I promised to take pictures at the Springfield Classical Guitar Society Concert. Even so, I am a friend of the VLA, and I hope my dues check proved it.
I learned a lesson regarding the need to be sure your guitar is properly tuned before you begin to perform. I was dismayed to find it badly out of tune, and in the rush to properly tune it, I was disappointed and semi-crushed. It was NOT as in tune as I wanted by the SECONDS were TICKING by, and I feared someone watching my clock for me. DAMN! And I was perspiring so hard, I could barely see out of my right eye. THAT had never happened before, and all this while I was trying to dune the GUITAR! And the TIME WAS TICKING BY! CHEESes! I would have walked away from someone with a guitar in that condition, and I could not dare show fear to the audience which included Tony Leone who came especially to hear me and some other good friends. So I charged ahead, with fingers shaking so much in frustration that I could finger pic accurately maybe THREE frikking percent of the arrangement and the perspiration in my right eye was a heck of a distraction! NERTS! I’m sure some were wondering if I was the same “Job Conger” they had heard about at Facebook. When it was time to put down my guitar after singing the first two poems, I could not remember the opening line of the Nancy Hanks poem! I wrestled with it and finally went to The Santa Fe Trail which went nicely but not perfectly. DANG! But it easy after that, a cakewalk. I could recite “On the Building of Springfield” with one hand tied behind my back. Same with my poem song that concluded.
Then a twist. I knew I had some time left on the 20 minutes allotted and I wanted to make up for my forgetting “Nancy Hanks, Mother of Abraham Lincoln” by reciting “What the Sexton Said.” Sandra McKenna heard me recite it at the Thursday open mic at Ginger Bistro and liked it. I was happy to reprise it for her. Then I recited “The Bronco That Would Not Be Broken” for Ken Sibley who was in the audience. It was his favorite Vachel poem, and I was happy to share it; dedicate it to him. THEN I was done . . . .
.. . . but not quite. Ted Keylon and I were discussing my failure with “Nancy Hanks” when the first line of the poem came back to me. I asked if I could recite it to Ted, and a few others who had not already headed out of the parlor if they would like to hear the poem. They all said “yes.” and I shared it flawlessly. For one thing, as I looked around the room and didn’t see anyone approaching me to say something like, “Job, you had your time; it’s time for you to go now.” THAT was key to my success reciting the beautiful poem.
The rest of the afternoon was a breeze. I traded two of my books for other respected poets’ books and I sold two of my books: Bear’ sKin and Minstrel’s Ramble: to Live and Die in Springfield, Illinois. The post recital conversation was superb and I hated to head home.
So the first performance of Vachel Lindsay: The Poet Speaks is history. Future performances will be better. I will talk as Vachel instead of simply writing in character. And I will be darn sure my guitar is properly tuned before I pick it up to sing. Thanks to all attended during the day, particularly during my presentation.
I LIVE by sharing Vachel Lindsay in poetry, song and monologue in a way that I do not live when I am in love or love. It’s the same LIFE that all “performers” crave; nothing different. If you care to help me live, by engaging me for modest financial remuneration, in a presentation, or if you want to invite me over for dinner, visit my Vachel Pages and learn more. Vachel did okay sharing his poetry at dinnertime and after. I will be as happy as he if I can do the same.
Live long. . . . . and p;roper.