Hello and
welcome to this segment of Arts on the Hill, which I must say when I heard of this project
I thought it was such a fantastic idea
And when I started thinking about the kinds of poems that I could possibly share with you in this segment
I was stymied because I realized that a lot of my poems were about what some people would call
Not quite feel-good subjects. And so the question is can something sad
make you happy?
I really believe that a work of art can because I think that any art that
Touches us does so because of resonates with our profoundest
terrors, so when we discover that someone else feels the same way we do even if the situation is
in its details a little different we feel less alone and
Therefore it can make art can make us feel better
so in that vain
The first poem I'm going to read to you
Today is a poem, it's a poem from my second book
so it's from a long time ago and it's about another pandemic the Black Death - the plague
a few references of Boccaccio many of you will remember was the author of The Decameron
He was a 14th century Italian writer a great writer in the Decameron
There were a hundred tales that were told by ten people who had fled Florence where the plague was raging they were
sheltering-in-place
Right outside Florence and to pass the time they told these stories
Now Boccaccio's muse was a woman by the name of Fiammetta and not much is known about her
We know a lot about him. But as usual the woman did not get much attention. So in this poem
we have
Fiammetta Breaks Her Peace
I've watched them mother and I know the signs
the first day rigor
Staggering like drunks. They ram the rooms sharp edges with the most delicate body parts and feel no pain
Unable to sleep. They shiver beneath all the quilts in the house
Panic gnawing a silver path to the brain
Day two is fever. The bright stream clogged eyes rodent red
No one weeps anymore just waits for appear they must in the armpits at the groin
hard blackened apples
Then at least there is certainty an odd kind of relief
a cross comes on the door
a few worthy citizens gather possessions around them and spend time with fine foods wine and music
behind closed drapes
Having left the world already they are surprised when the world finds them again
Still others carouse from tavern to Tavern
doing exactly as they please
and to think he wanted to meet beautiful to be his fresh air and my breasts too soft
spiced promises
stand still he said once and let me admire you
All is infection mother and avarice and self pity and fear
We shall sit quietly in this room
And I think we'll be spared
Hi, I'm Jim Ryan and I am here with my favorite daughter Phoebe
How are you doing B.? Good. Excellent, and we are both here to welcome you to the third episode
Arts on the Hill the digital edition. You just heard from the remarkable poet Rita Dove a Pulitzer Prize winner
and member of the UVA faculty
Someone I'm proud to call a colleague and a friend coming up next you're going to hear some
singing, some poetry
You'll see some dancing and I understand that there is another spectacular performance from a U.S. Senator
So stay tuned. I hope you all are well and with that
I'll turn it over to my colleague and friend Matt Weber who just had an essay published in The New York Times
Which you should check out about building a church in his backyard. Thanks for tuning in
Hi everyone, and thank you President Ryan
unnecessary to reference that article
But I am reporting to you from this little backyard church I built for my kids our church is closed
So wanted a place to count our blessings today
So we threw this together speaking of blessings Nathan Colberg a recent grad of the University of Virginia
Is our next performer
He is a talented person over 4.5 million listens on the internet recently sold out the Jefferson Theater
And we reached out to him and asked would you like to perform on digital Arts on the Hill?
He said if it helps people out to provide solace during these difficult times
Count me in and then he also said maybe I'll get a new fan in president Jim Ryan to which I respond was saying
Nathan Colberg check and check
Performing a song called Charlottesville. Here's Nathan Colberg
Hey everyone, my name is Nathan Colberg. This is a song I wrote while I was at UVA about a wonderful town of Charlottesville, Virginia
[PIANO PLAYING]
Cheapest cigars in hand
as we sat on the marble stairs
And put words to the story that we didn't know
Dusted piano keys as the song blows across for tea
And the floorboards sing to their own melody
Don't go, Charlottesville
Leave me by the pillars that hide here
Write me the letter that I wrote you
'cause I'm coming back to you
Yeah I'm coming back to you
I'm coming back to you
[PIANO PLAYING]
Stay safe go Hoos
Hi Charlottesville community and UVA and Friends. I've come to my favorite place
Which is
with the animals
My dad was my best friend as I was growing up
and he always used to say as I left the house remember who you are and what you stand for
And that's left a strong imprint on my soul
Our favorite movie was Lonesome Dove. And when one of the main characters passed away they said about him
never shook the task splendid behavior, and I was thinking about what splendid behavior looks like and
so a poem about splendid behavior is "If"
by Rudyard Kipling and it reads
if you can keep your head when all about you are losing their's and blaming it on you
if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting, too
if you can wait and not be tired by waiting or be lied about don't deal in lies, or
Be hated don't give way to hating and yet don't look too good nor talk too wise
If you can dream and not make dream your master if you could think and not make thoughts your aim
If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same
If you could bear to hear the truth
You've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools or watch the things you gave your life to broken
And stoop and build them up with worn-out tools
if you could make one heap of your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss and
Lose and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone
And so hold on when there is nothing in you except the will which says to them
Hold on if you could talk with crowds and keep your virtue or walk with Kings
Nor lose the common touch if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you if all men count with you
but none too much
If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run
Your's is the earth and everything that's in it and which is more you'll be a man my son
Thank you Coach love that poem so much it's one of my favorites one of my dad's favorites as well and love that
you incorporated animals into it gave me some inspiration
For my segment here. This is Sandy. I don't know if anyone cares
Maybe you're sick of seeing people with their animals on the Internet the past month or so, but anyway
Sandy named after a Bruce Springsteen song which by the way Bruce
I'm pretty sure you're watching
Just email me we can probably squeeze it on this show
You know who we don't have to squeeze in the amazing and talented
Indian dance group the HooRAAS next on Arts on the Hill the digital edition
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi there, my name is Henry Skerritt
And I'm the curator of Indigenous Arts of Australia at the Kluge-Rue Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia
Okay, so even though we're not meant to be traveling, today we want to take you on a journey to one of the most
Spectacularly beautiful parts of the planet we're gonna head to northern Australia a place called Arnhem Land that occupies
37,000 square miles on the northern tip of Australia, it's home to
10,000 Aboriginal people who speak around 20 different languages
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go into the show and we're gonna travel from west to east and we're going to look
At a hundred and twelve works by 55 artists some of the leading artists in Australia and they're all from this
very special place
Are you ready? Let's go
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right, folks, did you like our little commercial break there I thought that was kind of good I think they call that
Cross-promotional synergistic marketing with some maybe product placement in there Kluge-Rue Fralin Museum go check them out online or in person
decided to keep the dog here too
Hi Sandy just in case you get bored with me you can be like, well don't want to listen to that guy anymore
But at least the dog's cute which leads me to
Well, I don't know I don't think there's a good transition from that so I'm just gonna do a whole full stop
our next guest
Is not to be outdone by senator Tim Kaine last week who played the harmonica
This is our other Senator U.S. Senator from Virginia Mark Warner with what I will call his piano opus
Enjoy
[BAD PIANO PLAYING]
[REWIND SOUND FX]
[GREAT PIANO PLAYING]
[CROWD CHEERING]
Senator Mark Warner everyone next stop Carnegie Hall
Which is the typical progression once you've appeared on Arts on the Hill the digital edition folks
It's the end of our show episode three
we're still recording in our
Backyards on iPhones and we want to hear from you if you like what you see if you don't like what you see you want
To see something new write to us at uvaarts@virginia.edu
And we're closing out the show as we always do with performances by children. Wendy Binns who is a
class of 1997 from University of Virginia submitted this performance of her son playing the drum and may I just say
I hope the drumbeat of the Arts during these troubling times continues to just always always beat on and
in the case of Wendy Binn's son
I hope it lasts, you know about a minute because if it continued on forever and ever and ever he'd probably get a little tired
[DRUMS PLAYING]
[DOG BARKING]