{"id":4005,"date":"2023-11-27T11:20:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T16:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=4005"},"modified":"2023-11-27T11:20:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T16:20:20","slug":"the-poems-of-jay-jacoby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2023\/11\/27\/the-poems-of-jay-jacoby\/","title":{"rendered":"The Poems of Jay Jacoby"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shortly after I joined UNC Charlotte\u2019s English Department in 1984, I met Jay Jacoby.  He had joined the department six years earlier, so I naturally looked to him for guidance as I set out to build my career as an English professor.  I remember talking with Jay about publishing, and I was surprised to learn that he regularly published poetry in addition to his scholarly articles on the teaching of writing and on Jewish literature.  He shared with me a few of his poems at the time, and I liked the way he drew on his teaching experiences in his poetry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay retired some years ago and moved to Asheville, where he hosts a monthly book group at Malaprop\u2019s Bookstore, leads a weekly study group associated with his local synagogue, participates in three different writing groups, teaches literature and creative writing classes at UNC Asheville’s College for Seniors, and plays competitive Scrabble as a member of the Asheville Scrabble Club. However, he remains in touch with his former colleagues at UNC Charlotte, and he continues to write and publish poetry.  Earlier this year, ArsPoetica brought out a collection of Jay\u2019s poetry titled Lessons Learned & Unlearned. <\/em>For more information about Jay\u2019s collection, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>I recently contacted Jay and asked him for more information about this collection.  Here is what he sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the poems in this collection, written over a period of nearly sixty years, reflect many things I have been taught and that I have gone on to test, either through experience or imagination. They represent not only lessons I have learned over the years, but also those I have not.  Several of the poems were written during my 27-year tenure at UNC Charlotte, including elegies for former colleagues and reflections on my writing conferences with students.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many of the poems, I have followed the advice of Sir Philip Sidney: \u201cLook into your heart and write.\u201d In many more, I was just messing around with language, engaging in wordplay but, as Frost once noted, \u201cplay for mortal stakes.\u201d There are a number of \u201cfound poems\u201d and centos in this collection, occasioned by my \u201cstealing\u201d and juggling words of other writers. There\u2019s an acrostic, a few anagrams, dictionary poems, shaped poems, and ekphrastic poems inspired by works of art. And there are poems constrained by fixed forms: haiku, tankas, sonnets, villanelles, even a golden shovel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay also shared with me one of the poems in his collection.  Titled \u201cUntethered in Dixie,\u201d this poem was written on the occasion of his leaving Pittsburgh for his tenure-track position at UNC Charlotte:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNTETHERED IN DIXIE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten years of marriage finally gone South<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and so, to my greater surprise, will I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite early vows otherwise, I will<\/p>\n\n\n\n

now traverse that Mason-Dixon line<\/p>\n\n\n\n

though still haunted by Life<\/em>\u2019s images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from childhood:  Emmett Till, Little Rock,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pickrick\u2019s Drumsticks, and bodies managed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so easily with firehoses and vicious dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My pride and prejudice now also managed, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

worn down by the promise of a paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An itinerant Pennsylvania Yankee will soon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

descend to serve in Queen Charlotte\u2019s court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farewell Steel City, a.k.a. \u201cCity of Bridges,\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all four hundred and forty-six of them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

spilling us into ninety-one enclaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gert Stein, your native daughter, was right:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Holubky is a Go\u0142\u0105bki<\/a> is a Golubtsy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cabbage roll by any other name <\/p>\n\n\n\n

would smell as sweet. In Blitzburgh,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they\u2019d tell me, \u201cThese lines need fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I roll down from your sooted hills<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And into the khaki piedmont flatland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello Queen City, a.k.a \u201cCity of Churches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one or more at every intersection,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all ready to serve me country ham biscuits,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

seven-layer salad, Cheerwine or sweet tea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am now a stranger in a strange land, like<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geronimo stranded among the white-eyes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, everyone is blond; here we cannot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sing of ochi chyornye <\/em>or schwartze oygen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explain that I am a recent transplant,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

happy to exchange my \u201cyinz\u201d for \u201cy\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am amazed by all this southern charm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t expecting Deliverance, <\/em>but this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

other than my asking \u201cWhat\u2019s Cheerwine?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At every 7-Eleven, they all invite me to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome back and see us.\u201d  And I always do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked myself why I stayed north so long?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a year or so I would have my answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank Jay for the information about Lessons Learned & Unlearned<\/em> and for sharing \u201cUntethered in Dixie.\u201d Although Jay is now a resident of Asheville, as far as I am concerned, he is still tethered to Storied Charlotte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shortly after I joined UNC Charlotte\u2019s English Department in 1984, I met Jay Jacoby.  He had joined the department six years earlier, so I naturally looked to him for guidance as I set out to build my career as an English professor.  I remember talking with Jay about publishing, and I was surprised to learn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-4005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4005"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4008,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions\/4008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}