There’s an old saying that is trite but often true: “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Get too many people managing a project and “creative differences” among them cause the project to fail. That could have happened when members of the 2022 CLSC** Class Vigil Committee were asked to help write a poem for their class’s Sunday evening Vigil Ceremony. There were six of us on this committee, and each of us, no doubt, had his or her own ideas about what the poem should say. That we succeeded in creating a poem that (I’m told) accurately reflected the spirit of our class can be attributed in large part to the leadership of Stephine, CLSC Octagon Manager, and Sony, Chautauqua’s Director of Literary Arts. Other factors also came into play.

First, it helped that no one on the committee acted like a “know-it-all” or a prima donna. Each committee member understood the need to listen to others and to not feel that his or her ideas were better than anyone else’s.

Second, it also helped that the class motto — Reemerge to New Opportunities — and symbol — the Phoenix — already were established. This gave the committee members a starting point for generating content for the poem.

What helped the committee most were four prompts with questions that gave both focus and limitations to the poem’s content. Each prompt tied into the theme of “Chautauqua on My Mind.”

• What do you want future Chautauquans to see and feel? Start your lines with the phrase, “Chautauqua, I want…”
• What memory do you want to gift to the future generation of Chautauquans? Start with “I remember…”
• Start your lines with “I dream…” and tell us what you dream for Chautauqua’s future.
• Try to address Chautauqua directly. What do you want it to be 50 years from now? Start your lines with “Chautauqua, please…”

Committee members as well as some class members outside the committee submitted content for the poem in response to these prompts. A contributor didn’t necessarily have to respond to all four. I answered the first three, but decided any answer to the fourth would only repeat what I said for the second and third. Ultimately, the committee ended up with a block of over 150 potential verses. Some verses reflected on enjoyable experiences. (I remember the first view of the lake with its lovely oval shape and sandy shores inviting me to sit and ponder.) Some were visionary. (I dream of Chautauqua helping to find ways to bridge the gaps between the people inside the gates and the permanent residents outside.) And some offered a challenge. (Why don’t you join the CLSC Book Club and read 12 books, too?) But in one way or another, the submitted verses responded to the prompts. No one, as far as I could tell, went off on a tangent.

Of course, an enormous task still remained: How do we condense the draft of 150+ submitted verses into a manageable poem that could be presented at the Vigil Ceremony? Here’s where the creative leadership of Stephine and Sony provided the answer.

All six members of the Vigil Committee received a copy of the submitted verses and then asked to identify those verses (or parts of verses) they found most significant and/or meaningful. Each committee member was assigned a distinct method, singular to him or her, for identifying key verses:

Robin: Italicize

Clay: Underline

Bill: Bold

Kelly: Change Text Color

Sony: Highlight

Deborah: Change Font Size

The beauty of this approach was twofold. First, it allowed Sony and Stephine to identify which committee member liked which verses from those submitted. Second, this approach showed them which verses were the most popular among the six committee members. The more a verse had been changed from its original appearance in the draft, the more popular it was among the committee members. For example, let’s say this verse appeared in the draft:

The bell tower at Chautauqua cast its shadow upon the lawns and pathways surrounding it.

If Robin found it striking, he would put it in italics.

The bell tower at Chautauqua cast its shadow upon the lawns and pathways surrounding it.

If Bill also found it significant, he would put it in bold, while leaving it italicized.

The bell tower at Chautauqua cast its shadow upon the lawns and pathways surrounding it.

If I agreed with Bill and Robin, I would underline the verse, while leaving the words in both bold and italics.

The bell tower at Chautauqua cast its shadow upon the lawns and pathways surrounding it.

If Deborah added her affirmation, she’d increase the font size while leaving the other changes in place.

The bell tower at Chautauqua cast its shadow upon the lawns and pathways surrounding it.

These cumulative revisions, which did not change the wording of the verse, would allow Sony and Stephine to see which four committee members found the verse to be significant.

In the end, Stephine and Sony, guided by the committee’s input, composed an excellent poem. For the sake of smoothness and clarity, they re-worded some of the verses in the draft but still remained true to the theme, “Chautauqua on My Mind.” The opening stanza of the poem follows. With Sony and Stephine’s permission, the full poem will be printed in my Claywrites blog later this month.

I remember toes wiggling in the cool lake,

its oval shape and sandy shore inviting me.

I remember bells arcing in the quiet air,

nerves falling away, doubts fading

and friends old and new welcoming me.

* The observations, opinions, and explanations in this blog are mine and mine alone. They do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of anyone in the Chautauqua Institution leadership, the Vigil Committee, or the CLSC Class of 2022.

** Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle