Craft: Gerald Stern and the Ecstatic

The late Gerald Stern (1925-2022) did not publish his first poem, “The Pineys” until he was 44, and didn’t publish his first book, Rejoicings, until 1973 when he was 50. “Stern” is the Yiddish (and German) word for “star,” and he was in the best interpretation of that word: giving standing room only readings, telling jokes, eyes tearing, and bringing people into poetry through his being more than anything else.

I knew his poems, of course, before we became acquainted because they’re part of the fabric of American poetry. I first wrote to him in the summer of 2003 because of something he said in the now-defunct Lyric magazine. I don’t even remember what it was, but it was something to do with the uselessness of MFA programs that I disagreed with enough to write to him about it.

In general, I am pathologically conflict-avoidant, but in this case—again the memory fades after 20 years—I was sufficiently pissed off to defend what I thought was right. (At that time I was much grumpier than I am now).

This was his kindhearted and generous response: “I was being cute.”