Dance on: FSU prof David Kirby in a groove at 80 with wild new poetry

Professor David Kirby is a poet; one with credentials trailing behind him like the train of a literary robe.

More on that later, except to say that Kirby is the longtime Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University; author of 15 books; and called "a literary treasure of our state" who will be launching his newest book of poems called, appropriately, "Winter Dance Party, Poems, 1983-2023" (LSU Press, Paperback, $34.95) at Midtown Reader on Dec. 5.

Any resemblance between a suffering soul grinding out a verse and the dynamic, funny, fit, and insightful Kirby could only be that they both like a good walk along the Seine. Only one of them might go dancing when it's cold.

Make merry: A complete calendar of Tallahassee's favorite holiday events for 2024

Kirby, who is married to poet Barbara Hamby, has just turned 80 this fall. Yet the title of his newest collection of new and previously published poems, "Winter Dance Party," reflects who the man is and what thrilling digressions and convivial conversations continue to flow from the head of an octogenarian who obviously still thinks and feels mostly like the man he was at 25.

Kirby sat down with the Democrat on a recent fall morning, settling into a vintage chair in a vintage house, surrounded by art created by the local artists he and Hamby love. In a flowered shirt, wrists and hands bejeweled by beaded bracelets and large skull rings, the coolly spiky-haired Kirby is at once a professorial guru and a youth ready to poke into corners, both natural and intellectual.

Chatty and scattering literary facts like fairy dust in the living room, Kirby answers questions about his life and work — a virtuoso performance of free-association, which might leave any listener happily out of breath. And the proof of what he says is on full display in the 269-page collection, "Winter Dance Party, Poems 1983-2023."

Four questions: 'It's a magic act'

Here is a bit of our conversation:

Q:For those who typically don't read poetry, how do you keep a reader engaged in a poem?

A:"You need a high energy beginning…with little 'explosions' along the way. Like a bridge in a musical piece, you need a little quiet, then pick up and hit hard. I like my poems to be like conversations…say the ones with my neighbor over the fence. So when it's over, you feel content…like you've had a good meal. Also, I could say that poetry is a bit like "show business." It's a magic act. You must startle to please…like the magician who operates through distraction."

Q:What about your poetry makes it feel so youthful…even though many works in this volume have been written within recent years?

A:As a teacher I must "be in the world"….interacting with all kinds of people, all ages. You could say I am "bi-lingual" or "tri-lingual" in that way. My father spoke five or six languages, my mother was a farm girl from Louisiana, and I was raised by them and the nature of the land we lived on. All of that remains with me. Besides, creating poetry doesn't come from a "sensitive soul." It comes from busy cells, synapses, muscle fibers that tell us about the world. And so my advice to my students is: "Fifteen minutes of exercise each morning, followed by a protein shake! It works to keep you young…and maybe write better."

Q:What is the best and worst thing anyone has ever said about your work?

A: The best is that I am a "generous" poet. For me, that is like Keats, Stoppard, Shakespeare who give us more than we expect. Generosity!…offering high-calorie material!" The worst came from an editor a long time ago who took the time to send me a personal letter saying, "I hate your work."

Q:How do your poems come to you these days? Does the creative spring flow as strongly?

A:I try to add new "tools" to my poetry…always finding an emotional connection. I take notes every day. I work with poetry every day. I am not a novelist…I am a sprinter, not a marathon-runner. But yes, the 20-year-old is still there. What I write is the outgrowth of the Louisiana boy poking at things in the bushes with his stick. And so far, I think life has given me a pretty good deal!"

Roots and reason

This is David Kirby, the kid from the Deep South whose mother had him shooting cottonmouth moccasins on their little 10-acre plot, who fell in love with Fats Domino and Chuck Berry and who might have been happy playing his bass and banjo in a folk trio.

It is also Professor David Kirby, recipient of the 2024 Louisiana Writer Award, a Lifetime Achievement from the Florida Humanities, and a National Book Award finalist, who with his life-companion, Barbara, has traveled the world, been inspired by the world and uses its experiences to make poetry — what a Jesuit poet and philosopher said was, "…a dream made in the presence of reason."

So if you'd like to hear about Marie Curie's ethnic background, the travels of an Orange Plastic Shoehorn, what pigs actually laugh about, Gustav Mahler, or why Kirby sometimes wishes he were a cannibal, be sure to be at the launch of "Winter Dance Party" at Midtown Reader at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5.

Kirby, whom poet Darrel Bourque says is like, "a messenger from the gods of old bringing vital, life-saving messages in the form of poems," will be reading and signing his newest collection.

If you go

What:Launch of Winter Dance Party, Poems 1983-2023 (July 1, 2024; LSU Press, Paperback, $34.95)

When:6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5

Where:Midtown Reader, 1123 Thomasville Road

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU prof David Kirby launches 40 years of poems in 'Winter Dance Party'