Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-03-25
Of
AMERICAN POET
CHARMS PEOPLE

An entirely new note in the eX-
perience of present day lovers of
poetry and a persuasive argument
in the winning of others was the
recital of his own verse given last
night at the Rodey hall by Vachel
Lindsay, the Illinois poet. Nothing
like it has been known Lindsay is
quite original; the most yirile poet
Of nature since Walt Whitman, the
only reciter of his own verse since
Oscar Wilde, with the rhythmical
sense of Poe, he is entirely him
self.
His verses cover a wide scope,
poems of nature, and reality; deli
cate and fanciful conceptions,
fairylike and lyric; humorous, Wig
orous, virile themse; and as in the
case of General Booth Enters
Heaven" translation of the spirit
of the salvation Army and the sub
Unity OF the grand Booth, while in
the Congo" an utterly different
subject is treated in an entirely
different way.
. Mr.. Lindsay explained that the
greater part of his poems We're on
the order of those first recited,
and that he had departed from that
in composing the Congo, in which
he has tried to show the three as
poets of the negro race, their basic
savagery, and brutality, their ire
pressible humor and gay spirits,
and lastly their religious hope.
His Interpretation was thiw5
never to be forgotten, so vivid, so
marvellous a picture Of the black
today with his background of
Afric savagery.
The very name Congo, as the
poet pointed out, cOnjures up. the
setting, the mysticism, the animal
savagery, mingled with the poetry
of it.
There ] saw the Congo creeping
through the black,
Cutting through the jungle with a
golden track"
Among the airier, more fanciflll
things were the verses on THE
Moon" and "The Wedding of the
Ghosts" Between poems Mr..
LINDSAY talked in an explanatory
way which added greatly to the in
terest of the recitation. He con-
fessed that the only poem which he
had written which was requested
for school books and the like was,
Abraham Lincoln Walks at
Night" an impressive and beautiful
thing of the better known school,
which lost nothing in the authors
one of Mr.. Lindsay's critics has
said that he borrows somewhat
from the country preacher; that
he intones. 1t is true that he does
with sandy reddish head thrown
back, eyes half closed, and arms
either outspread or finger tips
together, he chants with all his
being, drawing upon a depth and |
richness of voice not used in his
speaking tones, with !
wholly pleasing effect, His voice IS
a true product of the country OF
his part of the country, his SIS are ,
sibilant, his RS unashamed, but |
not unlovely. Undoubtedly part of |
his appeal as a mans man in this |
west is due to the absence of what
might seem an affected cultivation.
A tramp who lived and let live
and produced something to make
the world happier and better, Is
what Nachel Lindsay seems to be
At the university in the morning
and at the high school at a later
hour, he took the students by sur
prise. They expected to find
man with a flowing tie and long
hair. He recited many OF MS
lighter and more humorous things,
and "The Funeral of the Excellent
Kitten" Love Me Little, Love Me
Long" and others were received
with joy by high school students.
The poet recommended that their
school wells he more musical ana
have the swing Of poetry.
Mr.. Lindsay was here under the
auspices of the Community Play
house association, and leaves for
Santa F'p TODAY