Welcome to Poetry Friday, this first week of February hosted by Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone. Thank you Molly. The name of your blog seems perfect.
I have been thinking, and mourning, the loss of our beloved Kennedy Center. In the late Seventies, I lived in D.C. I saw Andres Segovia, the great master of classical guitar, play there and Julian Bream, another master of classical guitar, both no longer living. I saw the opera Faust by Gounod, and several plays. I lived three blocks away.
I was young, single and working in Washington and since I’d grown up in a small town in a middle class family, the Kennedy Center opened my eyes to the arts. I have wonderful memories of D.C. and to me it seemed in many ways magical. It brings tears thinking of what has happened and I just wanted to remember it here.
One night this week I was transported back to the Kennedy Center by YOUTube watching the Tribute to Paul McCartney at the Kennedy Center. You can find it easily on YouTube if you want to watch it. Below is the link. (I couldn’t embed it.) It was absolutely wonderful to watch. Sir Paul sat next to Opra. Obama was President and the audience was as diverse as America is.
Free images of the Kennedy Center from iStock.
So why does it matter that the Kennedy Center is closed, besides the fact that it’s a memorial to JFK? It matters because Great art heals people. It just does. Life is hard and music and visual art helps us process our experiences and emotions. In times of national crises, we often share it together through art. When the space shuttle burned up on re-entry, President Reagan recited a line of poetry by John Gillespie Magee Jr. and how the astronauts “slipped the surly bonds of Earth.”
I saw an example of how art heals this week at the movie HAMNET. The movie is about the Shakespeare family’s grief over a loss of a child, and healing from that grief through Will’s art. I won’t spoil it, but the ending was magnificent.
My only point here is America needs art and public art and we have to watch treasured venues like the Kennedy Center disrespected and assaulted. Here is a Paul McCartney- inspired haiku.
HONORED BY THE GHOSTS OF THE KENNEDY CENTER
Paul McCartney mouthed
the lyrics to Let It Be--
in his front row seat.
© Janice Scully
The Beatles from an exhibit of McCartney’s photos the De Young Museum in San Francisco.
I hope that after our current national nightmare is over–and I am certain that someday it will be–that The Kennedy Center will be returned to the people of America where it was meant to be. And we will have a lot of loss to process.
I bought a watercolor book with a few exercises. This is an attempt to paint like Turner. I ended up liking this version.
Have a great weekend!
I’m with you on mourning the closing of the Kennedy Center, and hope it will return sooner rather than later. Some years ago I saw a play by the South African playwright Athol Fugard there. It’s a treasure.
Amen and amen. Sadly, I think our national nightmare is going to take all us mother’s waking up in our night to go take care of the details of a sick child. We aren’t going to be able to wait this one out. And, that’s all I would love to do. I’ve been writing and calling. I’ve been printing out ‘know your rights’ info. from the ACLU for loved ones. But for right now…I’m just going to take a moment and be sad with you, right here. We are losing so, so, so, much.
Janice, you so beautifully said what is in the hearts of so many of us. Art is healing, and that is why it is so important to put out art and words into the world. I believe in the end we will return to peace and art and compassion. Your Haiku featuring the words “Let it be” really sum it up.
Yes, we NEED art. No doubt. And your little blurb about HAMNET has pushed it to the top of the watch list. Thank you! xo
Bring tissues. Xo
Janice, Thank you for this tender homage to the Kennedy Center, and the reminder that great art heals. It is another loss, but like the couple you mention in HAMNET, out of great loss something comes next but that doesn’t diminish today’s sadness. Love your haiku and sketch!!!
Beautiful and loving post, Janice! My son was an intern in DC right after college and went many times, and I took my students there when we had a trip to DC, wanted them to know about it, and the Kennedy history there along with other places. This is lovely, showing your concern and its importance. I have watched nearly every one of the “Honors” evenings. Thanks for the remembrance of McCartney, too! Those ‘ghosts’ won’t leave!
Thank you for this lovely post, Janice. I like picturing you as a youngster, visiting the Kennedy Center. When my kids were little, we went to see a French revue there and I remember a dancer kissing my toddler son on his forehead. 🙂
I did a post last year about being sad about the Kennedy Center (https://theoppositeofindifferencecom.wordpress.com/2025/02/14/the-howlin-old-owl-in-the-woods/)
You’re right, someday this national nightmare will be over. In the meantime, we can practice painting like Turner! xo
Beautiful post, Janice. I wrote about Hamnet last week too, and yes, one of its themes, the healing power of art, is magnificently executed. I’ve seen it twice and sobbed each time.
Janice, wow, what neat experiences you have had with this cultural treasure. I love your conclusion, it is full of hope. Yes, of course, it will change and the Kennedy Center will be restored. I think the closing will be a time to let the slime and gunk get off, and to restore the name. I love your water color painting. Very lovely. Art is healing, and it is beautiful to bask in your painting.
Your poem captures well the loss of the Kennedy Center, I too hope sometime in the future it will re-emerge, though as it’s original namesake. BTW I saw Segovia at our Chicago Symphony Orchestra many years ago. Lovely mood and colors in your watercolor, thanks Janice!
It was a thrill to see Segovia, wasn’t it? He was quite old, had an aura about him and played beautifully.
There are so many losses to process these days. Thanks for sharing your heartfelt experiences with the Kennedy Center. The title of your haiku is poignant and perfect.
I’m heartbroken over this turn of events in my backyard. I love the Kennedy Center. So many favorite things I’ve taken my kids to over the years. Thank you for honoring it with your words today.
A beautiful tribute to the Kennedy Center (it will never be known by any other name) and a beautiful painting!
Thank you, Mary Lee.
Janice, you should send this poignant essay in to the NYTimes. How can we continue to watch our beloved national treasures and identity be so callously destroyed? Your Haiku is exquisite by the way. Thank you for your words, Doida