Today on my Joaquin Miller Park Blog, I re-posted my Medium article entitled, The Oakland Poet Who Wrote the Famous “Columbus” Poem Would Rejoice Over “Indigenous People Day". (Go ahead and give it lots of claps, if you like. I love applause and it helps things get noticed and read!)
There is a story I enjoy repeating about this poem, controversial because colonization is controversial, that I would like to share in its entirety from the sensational 1953 Miller biography, Splendid Poseur by M. M. Marberry (Vail-Barton Press, also now extinct).
Also, for good measure, here is my interpretation of this poem, from whence comes the motto of my writers club, the 100+ year old California Writers Club, “Sail On.” Every year at our branch’s summer social, we do a fun group reading of this poem with much shouting on the rousing refrain. My marginalia illuminate how I see a difficult sea crossing as a metaphor for writing success. If you are a writer, I’m sure you’ll appreciate this!
Your relatives who are Boomers or members of the Silent Generation may still remember this poem. Gen-Xers remember the poem “In 1492 (Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue),” attributed to Jean Marzollo, and sometimes unattributed (there’s more mystery there; the date on her Amazon paperback is 6 years after she was born…).
On October 22, I’m hosting the CWC’s annual Writers Picnic in Joaquin Miller Park (please come!). The open mic call is for local writers to read something historical, and read their own work. I’m hoping to hear some poems for the future of this day. Can’t make it? Leave me a link if you know of any, especially by California writers.