Cultural Event Response 3

Poetry Reading: Yael Flusberg

I chose to attend this cultural event because I am interested in poetry; I write it myself and I like to go to readings. I was a little skeptical before I went because I had never heard of Flusberg beforehand, and especially when she was introduced by Michael Glaser and I learned that she had not studied English or Creative Writing, but studied political science. I thought her work might be about political issues I did not understand and that it might not have the kind of emotional value that I like about poetry.

When she came to the podium, she gave the audience some basic background on her life and after she explained why she decided to write, I began to relate to her. She reminded us that it isn’t the title that matters, such as “Writer,” but it is the story that someone tells that is important. She told us in her introduction that death has always been a big part of her life; her parents were Holocaust survivors and they both died by the time she was 15.

She explained that she has experienced, as an only child, not only a great amount of loss, but also a lot of “absence.” I thought it was interesting that she chose to use the word “absence” because this emphasizes the lasting effects of the loss. She expresses this sense of absence in one of her poems where she states that although many people have died and left her behind, she would not leave anyone behind if she died herself. This particular poem was my favorite because it shows the strength that she has, not only carrying on with her life after all her loss and in the midst of her absence, but also triumphing in the process and turning her life into creative work.