aaron poochgian He is an acclaimed poet and translator whose work bridges the ancient and modern worlds. His translations of Greek and Roman classics are widely known, and his original poetry has appeared in such prestigious publications as The New Yorker, Poetry, and the Times Literary Supplement. His latest work is “Four Walks in Central Park: A Poetic Guide to the Park.” It represents a bold revival of didactic poetry, an entertaining and teaching form that brings this ancient tradition into vibrant dialogue with modern life.
In “Four Walks in Central Park,” Aaron combined his classical training with deeply personal experience to create a work that serves as both a guidebook and a pathway to healing. The book chronicles four different walks through Central Park, each addressing a different state of the soul, including depression, disillusionment, fatigue, and creative fallow.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with him about his innovative books and creative work. Aaron and I discussed the following:
1. What inspired me to write Four Walks in Central Park?
My strong encounter with the richness of parks was my main motivation for writing this book. Although vast, the park is not infinite. There are fixed boundaries, both on the map and in terms of the content offered. These limitations were important in creating a book that aimed to capture the entire park as viable. If the park had been larger and more diverse, the possibilities would have been overwhelming and we would not have been able to present them in a consistent way. The attractions within the park are compressed by the park boundaries in the same way that my descriptions are compressed within the scope of the book “Four Walks in Central Park.”
Another impetus for writing this book was my desire to write my own version of “didactic” poetry, that is, poetry that aims to teach things. The ancient Greek poet Aratus wrote a poem called “Phenomena” that taught about the constellations. The Roman poet Virgil wrote “Georgics” to teach his readers how to become farmers. British poet Alexander Pope wrote “Critical Essays” and “Human Essays” in poetry. I love those poems and wanted to do something similar to them outside of Central Park.
Thirdly, I wanted to expand the scope of my contemporary poetry activities. Today, when people think of poetry, they think of lyric poetry, strong emotions captured in relatively short bursts. Didactic poetry has not existed in English since the 1700s. I wanted to write “Four Walks in Central Park” because I wanted to show that didactic methods are not obsolete, but are permanently viable. I stuck to our own living idiom, today’s English, because otherwise the endeavor would become an exercise in creative anachronism – you know, the way people dress up like knights in shining armor and run around like they’re living in the Middle Ages. I wanted to show that didactic poetry, no matter how ancient its origins, can be essential in the here and now.
2. This book feels like a combination of a tour and a healing journey, with each walk addressing a different symptom. How do these relate to your own experiences?
With “Four Walks in Central Park,” I tried to write literature that was both a vacation and an exploration. It aims to improve a situation that I have struggled with both in my creative work and in life in general. Depression that refused to see the value in new experiences. Disillusionment that rejected hope. I have lost my creativity due to overwork. And the fallow life required stimulation to bring the ideas latent within me to the surface. I knew that I was not unique in my ennui, and thought that by giving myself a refresher course on enjoying life, I could seduce the similarly afflicted reader, the “you” in the poem, through the same process.
I worked to prove to my depressed self that there were sensory experiences worth having. I overcame my disillusionment with excited anticipation of what was waiting for me in the park around the turn in the next lane. I cured fatigue and fed fallow by intentionally capturing sights, sounds, and textures on the page that reminded me of the next phase of my creative life. Visiting the park every day acted like a revelation to calm me down from my sad and disappointing state of mind. “Four Walks in Central Park” is, among other things, a record of my recovery from mental malaise (and drug addiction), and I tried to set it up to have the same effect on readers suffering from the same or similar symptoms.
3. This book is full of great instructions for stopping, looking, listening, and reflecting. What’s the underlying message — it’s not really about being just a tourist, right?
The overall message of this book is that vacations and childlike play invigorate us. Rejuvenation comes from a deliberate retreat into playful behavior relative to our age. I wanted to not just embody “Four Walks in Central Park,” but to bring that retreat to life for my readers.
After working on my work as a poet for a long time, I realized that creativity is not about discovering and following rules, but rather about relearning limitations and restraints. It sees the world with childlike candor and ingenuity. The narrator’s voice in “Four Walks in Central Park” is that of a guide, a tour guide, but instead of reciting facts in a dry, pedantic way, he guides you, the reader, through Central Park as a house of fun and a carnival of make-believe. We will take you to a space like Alice in Wonderland. Alice herself appears in the form of a sculpture in the park and as a hero in the poem. I tended to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, “inquisitive and inquisitive” as I tried to unravel the events in the book.
4. What impact do you want this book to have on the readers who experience the park?
I’m obsessed with Freud’s concept of “regression in the service of the ego.” It means “going back” to childhood for mental health. I wanted this book to encourage purposeful, childlike play in the reader. Poetry (and literature in general) is moving in that direction, and I made it the main theme of “Four Walks in the Middle.” It wasn’t difficult to do so. The park itself features children’s attractions and homages to children’s literature characters and authors that encourage and celebrate play. In a way, Park wanted me to capture that theme and run with it.
Play energizes us. Play allows us to make the amazing connections that are the hallmark of creativity. Yes, what I want readers to learn from this book is a way of thinking that sheds adult inhibitions and surrenders to the richness of exploding ideas in fun and innovative ways.
If you would like to learn more please visit: Aaron Poochgian | Poet and translator
Source: Spiritual Media Blog – www.spiritualmediablog.com
