Project 7 Article Take II

I changed some things and have written more. I am still not finished...

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.