LALE Sponsored Events

"The Music of Poetry...the Poetry of Music"

An unusual program of poetry and song will be presented at the Los Altos Library on Friday, September 18. That evening, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Nils Peterson and pianist and author Maureen Draper will combine their talents. Peterson will read from his own works and Draper will respond at the grand piano. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. with refreshments and is open to the public free of charge. A selection of books by the two artists will be available.

Of their performance, Nils Peterson says: "We feel that that poetry reaches lovingly towards music and music towards poetry, that poetry is not only word, but sound, and music is not only sound, but speech.  Maureen and I are like their friends trying to arrange dates so that poetry can find the right music to talk to and music the right poetry.  Sometimes the connections between the two are obvious, sometimes more subtle, but when the right poem meets the right song. there is wonderful conversation which we can all enjoy overhearing."

Maureen Draper ads: "Poetry and music are sister arts; they long to be rejoined, as they were in the beginning. They share a love for the image, for rhythm, repetition and form."

Nils Peterson is Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University where he taught in the English and Humanities Departments. He has published poetry, science fiction, and articles on subjects as varying as golf and Shakespeare.  His poetry has been collected in, Here Is No Ordinary Rejoicing, The Comedy of Desire, Driving a Herd of Moose to Durango, and For This Day. In March of this year, the Santa Clara Coounty Board of Supervisors named Peterson the county's first Poet Laureate, a two-year post.

Maureen McCarthy Draper is a classical pianist and teacher, who has taught for Stanford Continuing Studies and other organizations for 30 years. In her book and its two companion CD's, The Nature of Music: Beauty, Sound, and Healing she relates music to the other arts and to the psychology of listening. She edited the 2007 edition of The Music Lover's Anthology of Poetry. Until recently she was Coordinator of the Music for Health Program at Stanford Hospital, which continues.