Soft-spoken and genial, Eugene Platt wears his 86 years jauntily, like a feather in a hatband.
But it does not obscure the thoughtfulness of the man, a poet of distinction.
As French essayist Joseph Joubert so aptly noted, “Life is a country that the old have seen, and lived in. Those who travel through it can only learn from them.” Especially when seeking and learning remains their life-long commitment.
As it does for Platt, who believes a poet’s vision deepens and broadens with age.
“It’s about the three E’s,” he says, “emotions, encounters and experiences.”
A fixture of the local poetry scene for decades, Platt, a Charleston native, is celebrating the release of his seventh collection, Slaughter of the Innocents (Revival Press). The book was launched on Dec. 15 at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church, accompanied by Wayne Helmly’s performance of Tombeau, a new work for organ by composer Carson Cooman.
The music was inspired by the title poem of Platt’s collection, which itself grew out of a horrific event in American history.
“The genesis of Slaughter of the Innocents goes back to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012,” Platt said in an interview with the Charleston City Paper. “It affected me as deeply as any tragedy I had even heard of. As poets often do, you feel you should respond in some way, as was also the case after the Emanuel AME Church shooting here.
“It was my literary response to the tragedy. It was also an appropriate springboard for the collection as a whole, which contains two poems that came out of the ongoing tragedy in Gaza.”
Platt, who currently serves as poet-in-residence at St. Stephen’s, said Cooman is also preparing an ensemble work for piano, brass and timpani inspired by the poem. He anticipates the piece will premiere in December.
Platt is a life member of the Poetry Society of South Carolina, and his verse has appeared in numerous literary publications. He has also given more than 100 public readings, including at the inaugural Dublin Arts Festival. He was also the first poet laureate of the Town of James Island.
Upon his graduation from St. Andrew’s Parish High School, Platt served three years in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper and chaplain’s assistant with the 11th Airborne and 24th Infantry divisions. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of South Carolina in 1964, and taught composition at Clarion (Pa.) University while pursuing his masters degree in English in 1970. Platt later did graduate study at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, focusing on the literature of Ireland in the English language.
Platt is politically, as well as culturally, involved. He served as an elected member of the James Island Public Service District Commission from 1993 to 2020 and, as a staunch environmentalist, was the Green Party nominee for U.S. Congress in 2013. He lives in Charleston with his Montreal-born wife, Judith, their corgi Bess and two cats, Finnegan and Maeve.
Most writers like to think their latest work is their finest. But Platt demurs on whether Slaughters of the Innocents is his most accomplished volume.
“Let me put it this way,” he said. “I think it is a good place for me to retire from actively writing poetry. With what time I have left I think it’s a good time to move on and focus my creative energy on drama. I know it’s a long shot, but I’d like to see my plays Perennial and Believing Is Seeing produced for the stage.”
Platt will give a reading from Slaughter of the Innocents on Feb. 29 at the Waccamaw Library on Pawleys Island.
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