Alice Walker at the Skirball

Like a congregation of lapsed Catholics suddenly faithful in the
face of distressing times, literary lost sheep packed into the
Skirball Cultural Center on April 10 to listen to writer Alice
Walker read selections from her first collection of poetry in over
a decade.

The collection, titled “Absolute Trust in the Goodness of
the Earth,” includes poems about friendships and marriage,
and many deal with timely issues such as war and starvation. At the
reading’s beginning, Walker invited the audience to use the
evening as chance to contemplate the current war on Iraq.

Walker is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
“The Color Purple” and for her political activism
during the Civil Rights Movement. Standing at the podium of the
Skirball’s elegant Ahmanson Hall, she often sounded more like
a minister than an author. With her deep, smooth voice and a
tendency to dwell on new-age topics, Walker swept the mostly
female, middle-aged audience into a meditative trance.

Most of the poems Walker read tackled large topics like the
status of children around the world or the threats to Mother Earth.
A handful were about smaller, more personal moments, such as
“Thanks for the Garlic,” about a friend who sent the
author a garlic bulb in the mail. The audience could not help but
giggle at the simplicity of the poem’s title after listening
to Walker speak for nearly an hour about pressing world issues.

The poem itself was one of the reading’s highlights,
proving that although Walker made a name for herself by tackling
complex issues like racism, her writing can still carry weight
without carrying the weight of the world.

– Sommer Mathis