Crowd packs hall to hear Irish poet

Nobel Prize-winning poet and Harvard prof. Seamus Heaney packed in a crowd for a second time this week at last night's much-anticipated poetry reading in Rackham Auditorium. More than 1,000 members of the University community lined the aisles and flowed out into the lobby, delaying the reading with concerns from the Ann Arbor Fire Marshal and Department of Public Safety officials. Audience members waited patiently, buying books of Heaney's poetry until officials gave permission for the reading to begin.

In an interview prior to the reading, Heaney said, "You stand up in front of a strange audience and just hope that the transition of whatever is inward can reach out. You hope that the audience can hear and listen in ... become one ear."

The audience did just that, pausing and anticipating for Heaney's every word. Heaney's voice tingled with a melodious serenity, his Irish accent lingering over what seemed to be low whisperings of a story just beginning to be told.

DANNY KALICK/Daily Nobel Prize-winning poet and Harvard Prof. Seamus Heaney gives a poetry reading in Rackham Auditorium last night.

Heaney started by reading his poem "Digging," which he said he "feels safe

11-18-99