Smith Hill vs. Jerimoth Hill

Politics and poetry don’t often mix. There are a few old salts that may still remember a white-haired Robert Frost reading the inaugural poem for John F. Kennedy on a bitterly cold day in Washington, D.C., setting the stage for the Kennedy “Camelot” myth. On the other end of the spectrum, during the George W. Bush administration, poets were invited then quickly uninvited to a poetry gala at the White House when it turned out that some of them were going to recite peace poems (or anti-war propaganda, depending on which side of the aisle you stand on).

Now, here in Little Rhody, a mini-controversy is brewing over the proposal of a state poem. Last May, Sen. Leo Blais, a Coventry Republican, filed Senate Bill No. 2175 with three of his colleagues to establish “Jerimoth Hill,” by Rhode Island poet laureate emeritus Tom Chandler, as the official poem of Rhode Island. The poem describes the highest point in Rhode Island as being unrecognizable “except by this bullet-riddled sign by the road that curves through these scraggled third growth woods that was once a grove of giant pines that were cut down for masts that were used to build ships to sail away to the rest of the world from the docks of Providence Harbor…”

“Jerimoth Hill” is a wonderfully rhythmic and wry poem that, in the Rhode Island style, finds humor and resonance in the local identity and sense of place – in this case an 812-foot bump in Foster that for years was protected from curious onlookers and hikers by a shotgun-wielding homeowner. The prologue is one phrase (“812 feet, the highest point in Rhode Island”). The poem is one sentence broken into 26 single-spaced lines that builds like a story-song (complete with refrains). It serves as a reflective celebration and respectful illumination of one aspect of the state’s quirky culture. Most importantly, there’s nothing boosterish about it, which is probably one of the reasons I like it so much.

Gov. Donald L. Carcieri, however, wasn’t sold. Still, give him points for creativity, since he expressed his veto in sonnet form:

Donald L. Carcieri
Governor
June 22, 2010

TO THE HONORABLE, THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE:

In accordance with the provisions of Section 14, Article IX of the Constitution of the State of Rhode Island and Section 43-1-4 of the Rhode Island General Laws, I transmit, with my disapproval, 2010 S 2175, “Relating to State Affairs and Government – State Emblems.”

State Emblems Bill Sonnet

Per Constitution and Rhode Island Law
Bill 2010 S 2175
I must disapprove since it holds a flaw.
It would by law a State Poem create.
A worthy poet had written those lines
Off’ring thoughts about a Rhode Island hill.
This famous bard would certainly decline
Since other poets were unheard from still.
For no contest was held or survey done
To find out what other poems might show.
Open process lets inspiration run
So I ask your support of this veto.

Art is not art if the state must decree.
Verses are best when we let poems be.

OK, so the sonnet veto is no improvement on the vetoed poem itself, but the idea that Rhody’s state poem should be a collective choice has merit – although one does worry that we’ll end up with some version of the unofficial University of Rhode Island fight song:

I’m Rhode Island born and Rhode Island bred
And when I die I’ll be Rhode Island dead
So go-go Rhode Island
Rho-Rho-Rhode Island
Go Rhode Island, URI!

Leading to this week’s question: What should be the designated poem of Rhode Island?