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Tara Hart: her call
to poetry
Tara Hart makes her living through words—not by selling
them, but by teaching them—so it is not surprising that she turned to words to
help her cope with a traumatic life event. After earning her Ph.D. in English
Language and Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park, Hart
began her teaching career as an associate professor at Howard Community College
in 1997. She spent years teaching freshman how to formulate and research essays
in college composition and imparting her love for the classics to students of
English and British literature. While Hart taught an occasional creative
writing class, her primary focus was on teaching composition and literature. She
worked her way up the ranks to full professor and in 2001 Hart was appointed
chair of the English/World Languages Division at Howard Community College. Once
chair, her teaching duties lessened and eventually halted so she could focus on
the numerous administrative duties that the position entailed.
Hart is very much connected to the literary world. In 2004, she
facilitated a formal partnership between the college and the Howard County
Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo). HoCoPoLitSo, whose mission is to
enlarge the audience for the appreciation of contemporary literature, brings
nationally and internationally renowned poets and writers to our community. She
co-chairs the HoCoPoLitSo Board of Directors and is also on the Friends of the
Howard County Library System Board.
While Hart is an avid supporter and appreciator of poetry, at
this time in her life, “poet” was not a role that came to mind. Though she
began writing poetry at age eight (a poem of hers was published in grade school)
and wrote on and off through the years, she did not fervently pursue the art. And while elated to have a poem, “The Platform of
Absolute Rest”, published in the Baltimore City Paper in 2001,
Hart primarily kept her writing to herself and had no strong desire to send her
poems out. In 2004, however, this would change.
Hart and her husband Stephen Horvath, also an administrator
at Howard Community College, were expecting their first child in 2004. Hart
went into labor four months early and delivered Tessa Hart Horvath on October
12 who weighed just over one pound. In addition to being severely premature,
Tessa was born with a rare blood disease—she died just five days later. No one
can ever prepare for the death of a loved one, especially a child. Hart and her
husband were drowning in sorrow and it was at this time poetry became as vital
to Hart as breathing.
I sat down with Hart in April 2011 to talk about her poetry.
She told me that the loss of her first daughter filled her with a “compelling
need to read more poetry and to write to try to capture for [herself] or
articulate what [she] was going through.” For Hart, poetry is not so much a
profession as it is a calling, and a poet is something that you become. She
thinks we are all poets, but in varying degrees of practice and acknowledgment.
In 2004, poetry called to her in a way it had not before; it became her sustenance,
something she needed, and a necessary part of her day and life.
The loss of Hart’s daughter filled her not only with sorrow,
but also with anger. She was angry at circumstance, angry at God, angry at the
church’s lack of solace in her time of need and grief. In 200?, Hart penned
“Patronized,” the pinnacle poem that pushed her to reexamine the role of poetry
in her life. “Patronized” is about the inadequacy of Catholic St. Gerard, the
patron saint of expectant mothers, to ease Hart’s pain at the loss of her
daughter. In the summer of 2010, Hart submitted “Patronized” for consideration
in the Little Patuxent Review,
Columbia, Maryland’s literary journal. “Patronized” was published and
subsequently nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
The Pushcart Prize, awarded by Pushcart Press, honors
writers of short stories, poetry, and essays who have been published in small
presses. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry
and essays have been represented in the pages of their annual collections.
Writers who were first noticed here include: Raymond Carver, Tim O’Brien, Jayne
Anne Phillips, Charles Baxter, Andre Dubus, Susan Minot, Mona Simpson, John
Irving, Rick Moody, and many more.
Susan Thornton Hobby, consulting editor at the LPR who
nominated Tara’s poem, has this to say about “Patronized”: “Its protagonist’s
voice–both weary and sassy with grief–speaks a sincere reaction to the
sentimentalized saint, who is clearly inadequate to ease her pain. The clever
word play and religious imagery contrast and blend to create a poem that both
cries out in grief and raises a sarcastic protest to sacred comfort.”
In 2011, “Patronized” won the Pushcart Prize.
Hart explained to me that though being nominated was an
honor, she did not expect to win as the Pushcart Prize is very competitive and
they receive thousands upon thousands of nominations a year. And when she won,
she looked at it as a stroke of luck—that is until an acquaintance made mention
to Hart that she knows hundreds of people who’ve been nominated but no one who won.
This person told Hart to look at it as a wake-up call from the universe—she
listened.
Hart decided to take her poetry
more seriously. She was approved for a sabbatical project to revamp the
creative writing program, so Hart added the task of writing a poetry chapbook. During
her sabbatical, Hart drew inspiration from reading poetry and attending poetry readings.
She was particularly inspired by Billy Collins because, as she told me, “he
does a wonderful job explaining his craft as well as writing wonderful poems.” Collins
inspires Hart to be the best at the craft by reminding her not to be too
obscure. By the end of her sabbatical, Hart produced a 24 poem chapbook, The Colors of Absence. Hart’s poems take
the reader on a journey of loss and healing, including “Patronized” and other
poems written about the loss of her first child and poems written about Hart’s second
and third children.
