I sometimes think of him, mostly when talking with friends. I was a junior in high school when Father Arthur taught a poetry class which I was obliged to take. I never liked to write. In fact I dreaded it, avoided it. I boasted with relief that I had only written one paper in my younger years. Father Arthur changed that, changed me.
He did nothing particularly special except made me and my classmates memorize and recite 400 lines of poetry. He required that we write an equal amount. All those cadences of words, memorized, recited and written changed me. Those repeated reaching for words of my own, hammered away at my shell of dread and dislike until I was broken. I would never be the same.
Slowly I discovered the hidden music and rhythm of words, not just in poetry but prose as well. I began writing with a growing awareness of how the sounds of words blended together to create a new kind of harmony. I discovered joy in shaping words to carry hidden meaning and nuances not commonly apparent. I took pleasure in writing on several levels with the same text. Father Arthur’s poetry class revealed this hidden magic of words to me.
In time, I learned to use words to reveal not just their common meaning, but my own hidden experience as well. They became the garden that exposed the life of the gardener for anyone to see. They became a path to a special kind of intimacy.
Thanks to Father Arthur, I learned that writing can be fun, exciting and seductive, even if no one ever reads what I write. I am someone who always reads what I write, and so by writing I learn much more of what it is like to be me.
Perhaps thirty years ago, I had a chance to thank Father Arthur in person and tell him how he had changed me. Of all my high school classes, it was his poetry class that I most treasured and made an intimate part of my life. I could tell that he didn’t quite know how to respond, not too surprising for someone who had been hijacked by alcohol.
But I knew. I heard what I said. I am so pleased by what I had the chance to say. I am so pleased by what I had become, thanks to Father Arthur and his pivotal role.