Why the Corruption?
“They
buy from the Black Riviera,/That silently appears as if risen,/The
apotheosis of wet asphalt,/And smeary-silvery glare,/And plush inner
touchability.” (www.poets.org)
These lines come from the poem Black Riviera by Mark Jarman. His
poems tend to be based on corrupted ideas, and none are positive or
enlightening. Though his poems aren’t the most cheerful, he is still an
accomplished poet and has won many awards including the 1991 Poets Prize for
his poem “The Black Riviera”. While attending the University of California,
Santa Cruz, he studied with both Raymond Carver and the poet George
Hitchcock, the editor and publisher of a modest magazine called Kayak.
Jarman has published many books with various authors, such as Reaper
with Robert McDowell, whom he met at the University of California. Mark
Jarman has also published a remarkable memoir, called Tonight is the
Night of the Prom. It is about his childhood, and although he wrote
most of the poems about his life barely past his teenage years, the style is
outstanding and has been kept consistent.
Born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, on June 5, 1952, Mark Jarman is the oldest of three children. His father, Donald Jarman, was a reverend for several Christian churches. He and his family were constantly moving back and forth from Scotland to California, which triggered an emotional reaction in Jarman. He writes about the constant move in one of his earlier published pieces, North Sea (1978). This collection of poems is very brief and closed off. There are quite a few poems about moving, such as “The Crossing” and also a love poem ‘Lullaby for Amy” is included. Another poetry book that he has published is The Rote Walker, which is about the struggles of different religious beliefs that he faced with his father being minister.
In 1974, Jarman received a B.A. in English literature with honors, and also simultaneously receiving the Joseph Henry Jackson Award for poetry from the San Francisco Foundation. Jarman attended the Iowa Writers Workshop from 1974 to 1976 and studied under the watchful eyes of Marvin Bell, Donald Justice, Sandra McPherson, Stanley Plumly, and Charles Wright. Jarman then proceeded to earn his M.F.A. in poetry. After Jarman graduated from college, he went on to teach at Indiana State University, Evansville which is now the University of Southern Indiana, from 1976 to 1978. From there, he went to the University of California, Irvine, as a lecturer from 1979 to 1980. Next, he went to Murray State University in Kentucky from 1980 to 1983, before finally establishing his teaching career at Vanderbilt University, where he is still the professor of English. Currently, Mark Jarman resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and two daughters, Claire and Zoë.
Mark Jarman is a skilled poet of his time, and he is still writing currently. He has won many exclusive awards for his bits of poetry, including the 1998 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the 1991 Poets’ Prize (The Black Riviera), and the Joseph Henry Jackson award. He also received three National Endowment for the Arts Grants in poetry and the 1991 Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry. He was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Many of the above mentioned poets and authors have greatly influenced Mark Jarman and have helped him be the poet he is today.