Poet pulls from pop culture, Superman

Trees, elks, ravens, the moon … and Cher’s tits.These were a few of the subjects of the poems that nationally-recognized poet Dorianne Laux read last Friday to an audience made up of students and several of Clackamas’ English instructors, in the Literary Arts Center.

Laux, who has a Bachelor’s Degree in English, works as a professor in University of Oregon’s Creative Writing Program, as well as the Master’s Program at Pacific University. She has many awards to her name, including a Pushcart Prize, an Editor’s Choice III Award, the Oregon Book Award and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

As a single mother in her twenties, she first started seriously writing poetry between several jobs. Today, she is married to fellow poet Joseph Millar and has four poetry collections published, with a fifth soon to be finished.

Laux began the readings with the slightly raunchy poem “Cher,” describing her longing to be like the pop icon, “butt,” “tits” and all. This is from her newest book, titled Superman: The Chapbook, which holds poems inspired by pop culture, including The Beatles and, yes, Superman.

Next was what she said is a favorite of hers, from her fourth book, Facts About the Moon, titled “The Life of Trees.” This poem was inspired by her coming to Oregon and falling in love with the trees here.

The following two poems were inspired by and written during trips with her husband. The first, titled “Ravens of Denali,” she wrote while in Alaska, after her husband told her a lot about the ravens that they were seeing everywhere. At the reading, her husband said that when he heard the poem for the first time, he said “Jesus, you stole my bird!”

The other, called “The Crossing,” was a humorous piece about an elk in the middle of the road, which her husband tried to get to move so that their car could pass. It ended with the line, “This was how I knew the marriage would last.”

“I do a lot of writing on the bus,” Laux said, leading into her next poem, titled “The Secret of the Backs,” inspired by the backs of people walking along the sidewalk. “I thought, ‘That’s never been done before.'”

Laux finished out the hour with the poems “Moon in the Window” and, last but not least, “Facts About the Moon.”

“[‘Facts About the Moon’ is] filled with real facts from the Discovery Channel, which I watch religiously,” she explained to listeners, laughing.

With her elegant poems, sometimes lightly peppered with swear words, Laux’s reading proved an enjoyable stop between classes for many students. The quick wit and underlying ponderings of her poems left the audience with something to think about.

by Emily Walters
The Clackamas Print