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

Take a trip to Oklahoma!

Rodgers and Hammerstein invade campus theater in spring production.

Just shoot him. Go on. Do it.

Shoot him and take his girl, his horse, his boots, his hat and his maiden aunt Matilda. Then, sing and dance, because that’s what happens in flat places with long names like “Oklahoma,” evidently: everything settled neatly at gunpoint and with plenty of musical interludes, in case events start leaning a little too darkly.

No matter how one may feel about the movie/Broadway/high school/middle school/etc. version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! do not miss Clackamas’ own production of the musical.

It’s the story of Laurey, played by Emily Jackson, and the two men (both idiots in their own right) who want her.

Nick Jones takes on the role of Curly, the decent, bow-legged fellow who loves Laurey, despite likening her to a mule in the first scene. Michael Mitchell is Jud Fry, a squinty, evil, lecherous creeper who desires Laurey for his own vile – rather unholy – purposes.

The rest of the cast is made up of a mix of drama and music students and community members. Choir Director Lonnie Cline and Music Instructor Gary Nelson work as musical directors for the play.

“It’s wonderful how collaborative this production is,” said Director David Smith-English. “[There are] a number of people from the Music Department, the Theatre Department and some really good people from the community.”

“I think we’ll have an approach to the play that people haven’t always seen in the past,” he added.

Part of this approach involves how scene changes are handled. The curtain will never drop.

“Everybody’s involved in those scene changes,” said Smith-English. “There are units on the set that represent three very special changes. We’re sort of sketching the place.”

Also “there are some wonderful technical things that take place: windmills, a water pump that really works …”

There are challenges to every production, according to Smith-English, and Oklahoma! is not unique in this respect. One challenge for the cast has been to push the bounds on the script.

“One of the things that I was very interested in is that the characters be fully-rounded,” said Smith-English. “Laurey isn’t just this sweet, little cupcake … there are reasons why she’s motivated to do what she does.”

And what exactly does she do? Go see and find out.

by Katie Wilson
The Clackamas Print