Martha B. Hopkins
PATRON SPOTLIGHT:
AN INTERVIEW WITH MARTHA B. HOPKINS
by Debby Jo Blank
How did you first get involved with the Poetry Center?
Before I moved from Oregon to Tucson in 1982, the poet Bill Stafford told me to get to know the Poetry Center. So when I arrived in Tucson I walked in and asked Lois Shelton, the Director of the Poetry Center from 1970 – 1990, if there was something I could do to help. She smiled, handed me a cloth, and said "Dust the books."
Since then I’ve been doing all sorts of things as a volunteer, but haven’t "dusted" since Alison Deming was the Director at the little cottage on Cherry Street...the first "temporary home" that lasted for many years.
What caused you to become interested in poetry in the first place?
My parents were both attorneys and I was lucky that there always were books, papers, magazines and interesting people around. I'd always written stuff...poems, from when I was very young. I vaguely remember one about a rooster. When I was twelve, during WW II I wrote, typed (back then it was with carbon paper) and distributed "The Tiny Press" to friends of the family. It had war news, poetry and jokes among other things. While at the University of Michigan I took a poetry class, but was belittled by the professor for my interest in e.e. cummings...who, he said, “was a flash in the pan and wouldn't last.” I also had a "paramour" who had discovered Bohemian Paris and brought me poetry books. I kept thinking T.S. Eliot was a stuffed-shirt, but I have come around to understanding his writing more in context.
Can you tell us about the vase you have donated to the Poetry Center?
A minor problem of mine was what to do with the beautiful 3-foot tall cloisonné vase that had been in my family for many years.
It had originally been owned by the Emperor of Japan and was part of many beautiful art exhibits held in the Palace of Fine Arts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915.*
But it sustained a small "bruise" and therefore is slightly less than perfect...and is now unfit for an emperor to own. Art collector friends of my family bought it, and eventually it became mine.
While it had been in my home for many years and my three kids grew up knowing it, none had a suitable home or lifestyle to properly house it. And I didn’t want to just stick it in storage while I was out of the country. There was a protected and visible space on top of a low bookshelf in a corner of the Poetry Center bungalow on Cherry Avenue, so I gave it to them.
I didn’t know many of the students and visitors at the Center, but occasionally I would see someone just staring at it. And I’m surprised when learning that some now well-known graduates of the University of Arizona mention having taken pleasure in seeing it.
Because I am what is called "altitudinally deficient" - meaning really short, I "authorized” Frances Sjoberg, a tall, young assistant of Alison’s at the time, to be the “official duster” of the vase.
When the vase moved to a second “temporary home” on First Street, I again found joy in other people finding joy in contemplating this beautiful work of art. So many people don’t grasp the pleasure and satisfaction of giving. Now the vase has again found a new home at the Poetry Center. It’s been placed in the “Poet’s Cottage” We had trouble finding the right spot for it because it’s so tall and didn’t seem to fit in the new modern building but the more cozy “Cottage” seems the perfect place for it.
You have written a book about South Africa and are working on a second. What draws you to write about that part of the world?
I’ve spent about a year of my long life there. It combines so many of my interests...geology, I used to be a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. I love the rich music, the vibrant colors, incredible scenery, the freshness and yet antiquity of their governance systems, what people do with their lot in life and the wisdoms they gain through strife. Traveling is not always easy, but I love to experience new, new takes on the familiar. I learn a great deal about my country and myself there.
I enjoy the act of writing, the necessary thought behind doing the actual writing. I seem to have little time left over for reading or writing fiction, except perhaps what is called "science fiction," which often is simply a step ahead of nonfiction. I like that. When I was a kid I liked Buck Rogers comic books and to this day remember a panel showing several levels of road built above each other...and was astounded when I saw the very sight fifty years later in San Francisco.
How does poetry influence your life now?
Mightily! Poetry is a precise and cleaner way of looking at things. I've always been an observer, and it is exhilarating to read or hear something expressed in ways better than I am able. I strive for that depth without the need to call myself a poet.
How does writing change your life?
Hmmm. It helps me put ducks in a row and organize myself so that I can send and receive messages from others more clearly...written, spoken and nonverbal. When my kids were growing up, it was a relief to drop into other worlds, even if for just a few minutes. And now nobody is the boss of me, so responsibility good and bad is mine to bear or enjoy.
What do you like to do when you come to the Poetry Center? Do you have any favorite things you like to read?
I come for many reasons, but almost always start out by reading the New York Times and glancing at the local papers and magazines that I don't subscribe to. Sometimes I will visit with a staff member if I have something to deliver or to learn. If I don’t have an appointment, I always knock on their door first and ask if they are interruptible.
Often I bring my laptop and work on whatever I'm writing. The carrel at the north end facing onto the garden has become like a private office – peaceful, quiet, lovely. I wander through the stacks and pick out something to read. Sometimes I listen to tapes or watch videos of past readers at Poetry Center programs over the years – sometimes following along with the book
Over the years of your work with the Poetry Center, do you have any favorite memories?
Many. Recently, one that embodies most other favorites was handing out pencils and talking to little kids at the Housewarming Festival for the new building. Watching the enthusiasm in “children’s corner" of the Center is invigorating. Kids don't think poetry is boring or spooky or too complicated. They just do it and aren't afraid to change something.
I also have had wonderful experiences at some readings and learned a lot from special programs...like the Native Voices Symposium. And needless to say, some of the on-going friendships are precious.
* The Egyptians invented cloisonné in 1800 B.C. Although the Chinese highly prized Cloisonné as early as the Yuan Dynasty during the 1200s, the Japanese didn’t begin using it until the late 16th century. Originally in Japan cloisonné was used in architectural fittings, such as, doorknobs and nail covers. In the late 1899s the artisan Kaisuke discovered how to apply cloisonné enamel to ceramics. The height of Japanese cloisonné was in the Meiji Period, when Imperial Craftsmen, appointed to Emperor Meiji, created numerous vases, many of which won international awards in Europe. The vase Martha has donated to the Poetry center is typical of the turn-of-the century Japanese period with its beautiful enamels of irises and wisteria.
