Sometimes humor helps keep us alive

On Monday, Thomas Lux will read his poetry in Charleston as part of the Ashley Hall Guest Writer Series. The author of 11 books of poetry and winner of numerous awards, Lux is one of our greatest living poets.

There is much that sets this fine poet apart from the rest. Lux's poems are at once filled with humor and compassion.

There's a quirky quality to his work that always surprises me. I am particularly fond of his choices for titles, and studying them can give you a pretty good idea of the quality I'm describing.

Here's a small selection of some of my favorites: "The Man Into Whose Yard You Should Not Hit Your Ball," "Plague Victims Catapulted Over Walls Into Besieged City," "Unlike, for Example, the Sound of a Riptooth Saw," "Motel Seedy," "Hitler's Slippers," "Apology to My Neighbors for Beheading Their Duck" and "Her Hat, That Party on Her Head."

To say these titles inspire curiosity is an understatement. When asked about his unusual titles, Lux replied, "I often do write, or find, the title first and then try to discover what it is about the title that makes me want to try to write a poem, try to make some discoveries, etc. I'm a dogged worker — 15-20 drafts on most, over weeks, at least."

A wonderful epistolary poem (with a fantastic title) that sums up much about the Civil War appears in the new anthology "After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events":

Letter to Walt Whitman From a Soldier He Nursed in Armory Square Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1866

dear Walt, kind uncle, its near two years since I left Armory Sq. & I'm home now. The corn grew good this summer and we bought 2 cows. My leg ain't right still but it's still my leg. When you promicced they wouldn't take it was the first time after the grapeshot I didn't want to go to the world where there is no parting. Dear Uncle, we have a son borned & we call him Walter Whitman Willis, he is well & Bright as a dollar. Yrs

Affectionately, Bill Willis

I admire everything about this poem. The form, spelling, punctuation and word choice demonstrate a master craftsman who is striving to be understood.

Well-known for using concrete, simple images, Lux cares deeply about the reader. I found an interview in the magazine Rambles, where he said that he wants his audience to enjoy his poems.

"If you have an art form that is not accessible ... it becomes snobbish and elitist and people aren't going to be interested. That's one of the reasons people hate poetry, why it has such a small audience. And that angers me because it takes poetry away from the people."

Lux's emphasis on finding ways to connect to his audience contributes to the humor and satire that characterizes many of his best poems.

When asked about this aspect of his poetry, particularly in relation to serious, if not grave, topics, Lux said, "The humor/satire in very serious poems is hard to explain. I don't understand it myself. Sometimes humor helps keep us alive. Nothing new about satire. I don't know. My father (accidentally) dropped me on my head when I was a child, maybe that has something to do with it."

His new book, "God Particles," which celebrates the hope and joy that are found everywhere despite the horrors of this world, embodies the sensibilities of a deeply compassionate man.

Lux faces brutality in his poetry, but he manages to find hope in the most ordinary things.

Here's a poem that identifies with the actual pain a sword must feel. It catches you off-guard by making you think beyond the object he's describing, which is exactly how a poem should work.

"Put the Bandage on the Sword and Not the Wound"

It must hurt, too, the sword, heated to red (exactly: burnt

orange) hot, beaten and beaten, hard,

by a strong arm

and a hammer

up and down its long body, plunged

in icy water,

then beaten again

and then the grinding, the awful grinding

on stone on steel

before the thick and bitter taste of blood

on its lip.

Lux lives in Atlanta and holds the Margaret T. and Henry C. Bourne Jr. Chair in Poetry at Georgia Tech. Since his appointment, the poetry scene in Georgia has blossomed and thrived, and there are now two endowed chairs for poetry at the university. There is an excellent reading series and numerous community outreach programs (all free), including a program that sends poets into schools throughout the state.

(Poems reprinted with permission of the author. "Put the Bandage on the Sword and Not the Wound" first appeared in "God Particles" and "Letter to Walt Whitman" in "The Cradle Place: Poems by Thomas Lux." Both books were published by Houghton Mifflin Co.)

Marjory Wentworth is South Carolina's poet laureate.