As Vachel Lindsay at the Old State Capitol Saturday

 

Reciter Under Hat on Front Porch

I will be reciting the poems of Vachel Lindsay in the restored Illinois Senate Chambers at the Old State Capitol in historical downtown Springfield at 2 pm, Saturday, September 10.  The reciting is part of Arts in History, a day-long event produced by the Sangamon County Historical Society and the Illinois State Historical Society. Check the papers for particulars and come early. There will be much to savor Saturday.
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The event is especially important to me because it is the first time I will be “portraying” Vachel Lindsay, and though I have offered my one-man show “Vachel Lindsay: the Poet Speaks,” I’ve found no venue and sponsor with space and time for me to share an hour to an hour and a half of the poet’s story.  That’s okay. I’ll recite fewer poems Saturday than I will in “Poet Speaks,”  but I will be on fire with delight in being there.
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Job Recites Vachel at Barnes & Noble -- photographer not remembered

The occasion — besides marking the change from “Job recites Vachel” to Job portrays Vachel” –also marks a change of attire. Previously I have dressed in white slacks and a red shirt when sharing the “Prairie Troubadour’s” poems.  This was deliberate, based on his poem “The Wedding of the Rose and Lotus” written for the opening of the Panama Canal, that united the Christian rose with the lotus of western Pacific culture, primarily Japan. I explained this to anyone who appeared interested enough in Vachel to care about my subtle (if red and white can be considered subtle) homage to the event, the poem and the author of the poem . Tomorrow, I’m “as Vachel Lindsay,” a gift I would not have dared to request.
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The red and white approach is historically unlikely for a poet who never considered himself a peacock, especially in the 1920s when he was in his performing prime. So I’ll wear brown dress slacks of a weave Vachel might have known, and a plain off-white, long=sleeve dress shirt, and the wide-brim hat. The hat, which I’m wearing in a fab picture of me taken a few years ago by Erin Klee, is an Aussie-type that I purchased at that most renowned of hat dealers: Ace Hardware in 2008.  I hope I people won’t snicker over its in-authenticity. I consider it something Vachel might have worn, had he been given the opportunity.  My shoes will be a style that does not require polish, a medium brown natural leather with thick soles.  I purchased them close to 10 years ago, expressly because I knew I’d never polish them. And I’m still using the first set of shoelaces, though I don’t tie them as snugly as I used to.
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I am NOT shaving my well manicured “Captain Ahab” beard which resembles Abraham Lincoln’s beard except for the tendrils descending from the junctions of my lips to the brush on my chin. Vachel died at age 52, and I just turned 64. Vachel’s father Vachel Thomas Lindsay had an elegant full beard that included a roof for his upper lip, and it’s possible  that Vachel would have considered at least some kind of facial fur in his older years.
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Reciting the poems, and talking in the first person will be — as I told Dennis Camp who asked me to recite on this fine occasion — “a walk in the park.” I’ve been polishing Vachel’s “The Kallyope Yell,” but the others I intend — “The Mouse That Gnawed the Oak Tree Down,” “The Broncho That Would Not Be Broken,” “On the Building of Springfield,” are always in my “back pocket, ready to be recited “:at the drop of a hint” that a person or persons might want to hear them. If there is time, I will share another one or two “from my back pocket:”  Vachel’s “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight,” and maybe “The Dream of all the Springfield Writers,” and “What the Sexton Said.” (Have you heard “When Gassy Thompson Struck it Rich”?” FAB POEM, GREAT FUN!)  There are at least 10 more in that pocket, but part of the fun of knowing they’re there (like a concealed pickle) is knowing that if the occasion warrants, you can pull something out — though not necessarily from your back pocket.
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If you have an event where the words of internationally acclaimed poet Vachel Lindsay of Springfield, Illinois might add value to your day or event. please comment after this post so I can track you via e-mail and invite further discussion.

I’ll tell you all about Saturday Sunday.

Live long . . . . . . . and proper.