Boston University Professor and former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney joined 12 other distinguished poets in expressing their gratitude to AGNI Magazine for its long-standing support of struggling artists in a benefit poetry reading last night.
An estimated 400 students, poets and fans gathered to honor the 30-year success of AGNI Magazine, a literary journal supported by BU, and to bid farewell to founding editor Askold Melnyczuk, who is retiring as editor of the magazine he created in 1972.
Several poets lauded Melnyczuk’s role in keeping AGNI alive after so many years.
“Even good literary magazines often die after three or four years,” Pinsky said. He attributes AGNI’s survival to Melnyczuk’s “tremendous interest and curiosity in other times, countries, and languages.”
In his farewell speech, Melnyczuk said he would miss the comradeship of the AGNI staff and would come back to visit often. However, he said he believed he was leaving AGNI in capable hands with his successor as editor, Sven Birkerts.
“I have absolute confidence in the guidance of Sven Birkerts,” he said.
Birkerts then announced the goal of the night. “We are honoring the past and marking a moment of transition,” he said.
Many poets took time during their readings to thank Melnyczuk and AGNI for the instrumental role they played in the poets’ careers. Stuart Dischell, who formerly taught freshman composition at BU, said he was indebted to AGNI for publishing his writing.
“I’ve known Askold for 30 years. I grew up in the magazine. It published work when no one else was interested, and it continues to do so,” he said.
Fred Marchant said that Melnyczuk pushed him to reach for new career heights.
“Askold urged me to step a little further out into the world than my inclinations would be,” he said.
Some poets shared encounters that fueled their poems and gave insights into their states of mind while writing certain pieces. Sharon Dunn said that her poem “Refugees in the Garden” was inspired by her experiences growing up in the staff quarters of a New Hampshire mental institution, and said that one of the “refugees” in her poem represented the institution’s cook.
Another poet, Gail Mazur shared that her poem, “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” portrayed her constant desire for escape. She said that she wrote the poem because every time she saw a car pass by on the street, she would wish that she were in that car and escaping to a new environment.
Pinsky focused on the importance of poetry and literature in practical as well as artistic terms. He said that literature can unite people regardless of political or religious differences.
“The role of poetry and literature is not merely to accept the other, but to feel what it is like to be the other,” he said.
Several BU students said they enjoyed the readings. “I liked the wide variety of poets,” said College of Arts and Sciences freshman Corey Bindler.
Armineh Halloran, a junior in the School of Education, said she came to the readings because she was impressed with the high statures of some of the poets. As a former English major, Halloran said she studied Heaney.
“Seamus Heaney is a great literary figure I didn’t want to miss him. It’s cool to have someone you studied in English class and then to see them in person,” she said.
Rebecca Barnatt, an SED junior, said she took a class with Melnyczuk at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and came to the event to support him.
“He’s a wonderful person and a warm soul. It’s nice the night turned into a celebration of his work,” she said.
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