Here was a man who put the soil of his home and his family ties into words. Peter Fallon continually spoke about the importance of family and how much his family meant to him. He also speaks through his poems a sense of the land on which he has lived. His home is a stereotypical home scene; people chatting about other people, going to the bar, fence posts and pastures. One poem that he read, "The Late Country" especially portrays this. This was his encore poem about a time that someone, who was definitely not him, went to a bar and had a run in with the police. The poem uses dialect between country folk sitting in a tavern to bring people home.
There were a few things that especially stuck with me that Peter Fallon said. He talked of a poem being a composition It's something that someone composes. To me, this means that a poem is something that is formed both naturally and in a manner which requires work. This duality helps me to understand what poetry is. Poetry often exists in this dual nature, as is exemplified in the social space- between the personal and political. Fallon also said a quote from Robert Frost. It went something like "A poem is a momentary stay against confusion." I'm still grappling with this, but from what I know now, I think it means that poetry is an attempt to contemplate some current struggle.
Thank you for your attention to Fallon at the reading and for your open reflection about what you heard and experienced. Perhaps you should allow some ideas that you are struggling with to rest in the back of your mind and return to them later, the mind has a way of answering itself if you just leave it alone.
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