Poet Who Celebrated the Ordinary
She coped with a difficult childhood but was eventually able, as an adult, to create fine art appreciated by many.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Bernadette Mayer was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Her father died when she was 12. Two years later, her mother died of cancer.
Following the death of both parents, Bernadette and her older sister lived with their maternal grandparents. Home life was not happy, as Bernadette recalled both grandparents were ‘stodgy and mean.’ “My grandfather used to yell at me for reading at night” she said while later recalling her childhood. “He would say, ‘Why don’t you read in the daytime when there’s light instead of wasting electricity!” (Editor – This timeframe was in the late 1950s, a period of U.S. history which was generally one of economic growth, unlike earlier decades dominated by economic depression, pandemic, or world war. So, Grandpa shouldn’t have been so concerned about the cost of electricity, but he probably grew up during the economic depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s when he formed his rigid economic concerns.)
Bernadette’s mother was similarly rigid; a staunch Catholic who discouraged her daughters from socializing with anyone from another faith or background.
(Editor – Growing up in such a rigid household, Bernadette was likely to follow one of two paths as she matured into adulthood: either adopt the same rigid attitudes or become defiantly independent. Make your guess and then read on to find out.)
EDUCATION
Following high school graduation, Bernadette enrolled in a Roman Catholic related college. It did not go well. As she recalled, “The priests and nuns there told her “They would throw me out for wearing sandals and reading Freud. “ (Editor – Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist, most famous as the founder of ‘psychoanalysis’, a clinical method for evaluating and treating conflicts in the mental psyche, through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst; Freud introduced theories of the ‘id, ego and super-ego, Oedipus complex, repression and defense mechanisms.’ His theories were initially controversial even within the fields of psychiatry and psychology and more so within a strict, religion-based, school curriculum.)
After withdrawing from her first attempt at higher education, Bernadette later finished her college at a different school, which focused on social research while offering a liberal arts curriculum including a course in poetry, where the professor introduced the class to prominent poets like John Ashbery and Frank O’Hara.
(Editor – Ashbery was an American poet and art critic who published more than 20 volumes of poetry. His work was noted for its wide vocabulary and not following conventional poetic forms. O’Hara was also an American poet and art critic. He is regarded as a leading figure in ‘The New York School”, an informal group of artists, writers and musicians who drew inspiration from jazz, surrealism, abstract expressionism, action painting and contemporary avant-garde art movements.)
SUPPORTING HERSELF FINANCIALLY AS A ‘FINE’ ARTIST
(Editor – In European academic traditions, ‘fine art’ (e.g., painting and poetry) is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from ‘decorative art’ or ‘applied art’, which also must serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork.
Unless you are wealthy, without ever having to work to save money to launch your career as an artist, you will have to find a job or jobs to financially support yourself until a few art customers refer their friends, or an art critic publicizes your artistic work to the general public in a positive way.)
To start her fine arts career, Bernadette and an artist friend created a ‘radically experimental’ literary magazine for sale to the general public, though its customer readership was mostly limited to fellow artists. When the magazine was unable to earn more income than its expenses – after a two-year trial period – Bernadette and her business partner decided to shut it down while she began teaching poetry workshops to earn income to support herself financially.
Eventually, Bernadette published (and sold) more than 30 books of poetry and prose and was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. (Editor’s note – This fellowship was created in 1925 to honor the deceased son of its benefactors. Each year, about 3000 applications are received, of which 175 receive cash awards to individuals who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts and exhibit great promise for their future artistic endeavors.)
UNIQUE POETIC STYLE
Bernadette Mayer’s poetry brought a sense of magic to the rituals of daily life, with a ‘stream of consciousness’ approach that pushed the boundaries of poetry. Throughout her career, she rejected ‘formalism’ for the avant-garde (new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts). She expanded the parameters of poetry by incorporating other elements into her work, including photography, collage, letters from friends, audio recordings and personal datebooks.
Ms. Mayer believed that “poetry didn’t have to be a thing in the middle of the page with a lot of white space around it,” she said. “It could be anything: over the page, off the page, anything.”
The title poem of her book “Another Smashed Pinecone” (1998) celebrated the simple pleasure of a walk in the woods with her family, as well as the timeless cycles of life in nature.
We start down the road
another smashed pinecone!
past cock-a-doodle-doo
he’s greedily sleeping
the pines are whispering to kids
ice cream cones ice cream cones
One of her best-known works was “Memory” a multimedia project in which she shot a roll of film every day in July 1971 and recorded her life in journals, then later she made six hours of audio recordings of the text, she presented, along with 1,116 photographs at a gallery. As she stated later, “July 1971 was a random point in time. I didn’t know what was going to happen and that was the idea.”
CAREER SATISFACTION
For Ms. Mayer, the occurrences of daily life were an endless source of fascination – and material. Her book-length poem “Midwinter Day” is a six-part reflection on the rituals, both simple and glorious, of a single day (Dec. 22, 1978) in the life of a family, including waking from a dream state, taking care of children, and strolling the town. The work combined verse, prose, lists, dreams, history, and biography:
I write this love as all transition
As if I’m in instinctual flight,
a small lady bug
With only two black dots on its back
Climbs like a blind turtle on my pen
And begins to drink ink the light
Of tradition
An art critic called ‘Midwinter Day’ “an epic poem about a daily routine.” To the poet John Ashbery, it explored “the richness of life and times as they happen to us in tiny explosions.”
Editor – Certainly one measure of career satisfaction includes a poet’s private enjoyment in producing her (or his) craft but additionally, earning the praise of independent professionals, permits the artist to realize that her (or his) efforts may have a positive influence upon the lives of others.
This career story is based on an obituary written by Alex Williams, published in The New York Times on 12/4/22.
Editor’s note – Normally, this collection of career stories does not reveal the name of the person whose life decisions and career form the basis for the story – for several reasons: (a) a name or place(s) where lived or schools attended or business(es) where worked, could be a distraction to the reader; (b) if the story is based on a personal interview with a living person, the story teller is more likely inclined to reveal facts which might be considered embarrassing, if there was no possibility of push-back since the identity of the storyteller will never be revealed. However, for the story of Bernadette Mayer, since its based on an obituary, she is not alive to be embarrassed. Moreover, aspiring poets might be interested to find and read more of Ms. Mayer’s poetry than could possibly be contained in this brief story.
