Readings
Oregon Poetic Voices draws from three major collections of recorded Oregon poetry: the two decades of sound archives of the Fishtrap Writers’ Gathering in Wallowa County, collected by Rich Wandschneider; the fifteen years of weekly interviews conducted by Barbara LaMorticella and Walt Curtis at KBOO radio; and the recorded archives at Sandra Williams’s long-running Mountain Writers project. Between them, these three archives contain recordings of almost every significant Oregon poet of the last quarter of the twentieth century, along with a good selection of recent innovators and creative spirits in the increasingly diverse world of Oregon poetry.
The collection also includes a range of other recordings from Oregon Poets.
Listen to KBOO interview with the Oregon Poetic Voices project’s Doug Erickson and Melissa Dalton.
Oregon Poetic Voices also provides resources for Teachers and lists the Oregon Poet Laureates.
About Oregon Poetic Voices
Recognizing the need for poetry in our lives, the Oregon Poetic Voices Project (OPV) is a comprehensive digital archive of poetry readings that complements existing print collections across the state. OPV was funded by the Library Services and Technology Act FFY2010.
Digging Dandelions
On wet knees with muddy hands
I dig dazzling dandelions,
a front yard full of coins,
a plot of gold.
Under the cottonwood tree,
I hear its heart shaped leaves rustle,
and look up as the green-skirted
dervishes whirl and twirl.
***
Gloria
It’s easy to get lost in those sostenuto passages,
running out of breath,
unable to sustain the long legato line
of trills, crescendos and decrescendos,
with enough lung power left over to inhale
and get ready for the next musical phrase.
***
I See You
1.
I see you. Dark hair, marcel waves
sculpted to forehead and temple,
to high cheekbones and jaw,
elegant posture.
Now divorced,
sad distant smile,
straight lips, broad nose,
china-white skin contrasting
to the dark studio background.
Wide white satin scalloped collar
draped over your shoulder,
edged in contrasting
dark embroidered curlicues.
Shiny glass bead necklace at your young throat.
***
Laureate
“Didn’t you know Billy Collins used to be Poet Laureate?” he said.
I said, You have to understand. Those years,
I was washing liquid bowels off
grandmother’s comode legs,
cleaning up pools of it in her bed sheets,
and splatters off the TV console.
***