OCR Text |
Show The Forum Poet Opens Annual Series September 17, 2002 Social-Minde- d from one of his heavier poems, I Cried When Stalin Died, he looked at the audience and playfully asked them to keep the poets from crying. Codrescu lightly chuckled as he flipped through pages of Alien Candor. This is the part a poet looks through a book, its traditional, he said, joking- Kelli Coppens Staff Writer poet Andrei Codrescu filled the Jewett Center auditorium with poetry fans of all ages, kicking off Westminsters annual poetry reading 15 series Thursday night. Associate Professor of English and director of' the series Dr. Natasha Saje introduced the award-winnin- g poet as an insider and an outsider, referring to his Romanian and United States citizenships. Dressed in black jeans and a sports jacket, Codrescu took the podium and said he is not usually called upon to talk about his Romanian-bor- n works but when he a background much differ- ly. ent from his own. Pretending to look puzzled, Codrescu scratched his white beard while he told the amused audience how one of the invented poets wrote 25 works before she mysteriously went away. After the reading, listeners flocked to the lobby to obtain a promised autograph by the poet. After reading a poem titled The American Westminster College graduate Warren Barnes remem- Dream, he turned to a more serious tone. Many should not have died in bers writing papers on historical events many of Codrescus poems pertained to. Barnes said it was interesting to hear the perspective from someone who had personal experiences in countries such as Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He is amazing, Barnes added. English Professor Elree Yugoslavia. Codrescus works brought sadness, laughter and reflection to surface with poems such as Morning Hike in which he personifies animals in battle. He told the audience the piece was written during the Bosnia conflict. Codrescu is known for creating imaginary poets. In his book, he explains how each poet he creates is invented' with a career and he makes stuff up. He had the audience laughing and is, cheering with funny comments thrown in between poems he read from his most recently published book of poetry Alien Candor. Reading a line Page3 911 (with Allen Ginsberg in mind) by Andrei Codrescu 911, can barely remember you, theyve buried you 1 in so much hype! wept when you were first on television! I wept for New York, for the dead, for all of us, for myself, for the world! 911 I 911, I was sure that the world had changed forever because bad guys wanted America dead and hated us because we listen to rocknroll and wear no miniskirts on our naked faces! 911, I cheered when our warplanes ripped through the skies of Afghanistan scorching the caves where our enemies burrowed and I marveled at our precision-guided bombs trying to ignore their occasionally murderous imprecision! 911,1 sat mesmerized in front of Fox News and CNN as that gargoyled faces of the Cold War began crawling out of the musty cellars of history and, eyes unaccustomed to light, blinking, began to spout the doctrines of Total War! Harris said Codrescus poetry is refreshingly unpretentious. She said hearing 911, 1 started to feel sorry for you when retired generals, admirals, spies, loonies and fakes brushed off their swords and rushed to your defense! So many , double-chind So many watering eyes! So many double-bottogrins and baish haircuts! So many Codrescus straightforward approach was a nice break from other poets regular den-ture- s! m Book Festival Takes Over - M: Jessica Faulkner I DM DO The fifth annual gathering V V jaws of you from the other side with their guilt-fille- d I told you so, and their eternal excuses for the wretched exotics of the world whose suffering they kitchens between experience in their marble-toppe- d arguments about what wine to serve with the wild rice! And I wept for you again, when soured professors who missed the collapse of commie fascism in 1989 descended on you like rabid wolverines led by Noam Chomsky, whose teeth marks are all over the zero ground of American academia! fmmr y ipr 911,1 felt bad for you when the Lefties crowded m2 h!th r i of writers and readers at the Great Salt Lake Book Festival took place on the Westminster campus Saturday and Sunday. The festival, sponsored by the Utah Humanities Council, was a free event for authors to show and speak about their work. Westminster campus was full of poets, novelists, childrens authors and writers of non fiction and mystery who were begging to show their talent. Many different experts in publishing and the writing process attend- - hands! suitcases clutched in so many pimp-ringe- d They even brought Ollie North from felonious dis- grace to stand up for you with his Constitution-overthrowin- g boyish old looks! a, -- te u . ed, also The festival is about bringing writers and readers together to focus on the actual meaning of literature. Combining diverse writers and readers is necessary for a successful book festival, said a Utah Humanitarian Volunteer. The festival was selling new, used and rare books of every kind. Also, there were many activities such as papermaking. Papermaking is a lost art that most people dont 911, you saved the paranoids from 911, you were 2 art . iiif I - ? i m t am&iZ&.s, Bibliophiles congregated at Wesminster this weekend as part of The Utah Humanities Council s Great Salt Lake Book Festival. even think about. We take old shirts and cut them into cotton, and put them into a machine to make fiber. Then we put the fiber in water to soak. We then take a screen and dip it in the water to take out the fiber. By pressing the water out of the soaked fiber, this creates new paper, said Gene Valentine, an employee of the Almond Tree Press and Paper Mill in Tempe Arizona. One of Westminsters professors was one of the experienced authors signing books at the festival. Susan Gunter, Professor of English, was signing her most recently edited book about Henry James called, Letters to Younger Men. Although the students from Westminster were sparse at the Festival, there were many people from the community, ranging from infants to great- - grand parents, enjoying themselves thoroughly. I was disappointed that there werent as many stu- - a self-cannibalis- m! boon to advertisers and publicists and flag manufacturers, and they sold you with cars and pizzas and they drained you of your raw primal power even as they pretended to grieve for you! Zero down payment until Doomsday! 911, you were a godsend to poetasters who were out of the gate lamenting and whining before your towers even gave out! 911, your dead and your heroes are covered by thick layers of ash and greed and the Republic owes you an apology... 911, 1 close my eyes and recall you in all your glory and I still hate those who did this to us and to our greatest city. 911, 1 can barely remember you and Im sorry. |