Oct. 17, 2012 ARS Poetica

The first ARS Poetica of this school year took place in the newly remodeled Pierce Library. The Film Production students recorded the event that was put together by Film and English student, Will Bowman. Rows of seats filled up quickly with barely enough empty to accommodate the late comers. Most of the people I recognized at this event were from this class. However, I noticed many others I know who I assume were there for the event’s own sake. Poet and translator, Carlos Reyes (also publisher and editor of Lost Horse Books) and writer and EOU professor, David Axelrod read from their works.

Reyes, who spoke first, read works he has translated as well as poems in his latest book Pomegranate, Sister of the Heart. He has won awards including the Oregon Book Award, and though he reads throughout the country, he hasn’t read at EOU since 1972. Some of the works he read include, Collar, Flying Fish by Kipling, Hard Water, Pomegranate Sister of my Heart, Song for a Caribbean Afternoon, and Macker Wells. Pomegranate Sister of my Heart is originally in Spanish, which he read first in the language he intended then a second time in English. Axelrod is the author of more than six books with a new book awaiting release for 2013 called Folly. He also has won awards and has been nominated for the Oregon Book Award and winner of the Spokane Prize. His reading was particularly interesting since, over the last 10 months, he had been reading the same poetry selections. However, this time, he chose to read poems he has never before read aloud. Poems he read include: Stray, The Kebab Stand, Swallow It, Our American Friend, Crossing Walker’s Court, and STET!.

On the whole, I found their readings very evocative and intriguing. It was also interesting how both men seemed to have quite the sense of humor, but their poetry - though thought provoking - wasn’t comedic. Stray was particularly fun, though crude and a bit vulgar. Read by Axelrod, the character in Stray was a dog. Crossing Synagogue Plots was thought provoking and Axelrod wrote it on the anniversary of Kristallnacht. He became emotional and “mystified” as he read the end. Reyes’ work was also emotional. Particularly, I liked the poem his new book is named after. Though it was very short - only about three or four lines - the tonality of his reading combined with the Spanish language evoke a unique lyrical quality that I very much enjoyed. I read more about his book on the internet (Lost Horse Press website) and learned that in Spanish, the word for pomegranate is grenada which is also grenade giving a unique spin on the short poem - an undertone of violence being subdued by the naturally calming description Sister of the Heart.