Street roots
9
April 29, 2011
POETRY, from page 8
mind going crazy. I found writing as a way to vent
my rage rather than kill somebody. I was realty
close to committing homicide on these people. It
helped me get the rage out.”
It doesn’t take a close, exegetic reading to sense
Shirley’s emotions, just empathy. Bitterness forms
a salty exterior, a protective shell built up around
her. But there is also a sweetness which manifests
as we talk about the man she dates. “We’re taking it
slow,” she says, hopeful he’ll be the one, and
hopeful she won’t experience homelessness again.
Portland is a convergence zone, a modest city
with a high per-capita homeless population and a
writing class with Portland poets Kaia Sand and
strong culture of non-profits and artists. The act of
Lynn Grannan, he wrote a draft of a soon-to-be-
writing and art-creation are elevated to
important work of art. This quickly-composed poem
fundamentally important ones rather than ancillary
put him onstage with Oregon’s former poet-laureate
concerns.
Lawson Inada; Inada wrote a poem about a
One such group is the Colored Pencils Art
Japanese internment camp situated on Rhodes’
Collective, whose monthly art shows and open mics
reservation. The two men read together at 2010’s
highlight visual art, writing, music and storytelling.
Japanese American Historical Plaza Rededication
The all-volunteer staff works closely with the
ceremony.
artists, gaining trust and teasing out works that
would otherwise never be shared. And though the
I d id n ’t know their names or faces
Rose City has a reputation for a lack of diversity, i
No peace o f m ind
I really d id n ’t know too m uch o f their history
No quiet to embrace
this organization breaks the mold.
A ll I ’ve seen was slabs o f concrete in the ground
God does exist
Nim Xuto, Colored Pencils’ executive director
Foundations I was told fo r people long ago.
B u t so fa r from this place
and co-founder, gives a short list of their
participants’ cultural backgrounds: Bhutanese,
Leo R h o d e s
Who are you? You sleep on the sidewalk
Cambodian, West African, Mexican, Iraqi, Thai,
In fro n t o f the building I live in
Samoan, Palestinian, Burmese, Laotian, Togolese,
Leo Rhodes writes about events outside of
There you are
Cameroonian, Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, Native
himself as well as those personal to him. He does
American, African-American, Indonesian-American,
— Shirley
so, he says, in order to foster greater
Indian, Nepalese.
communication between people, to show how we all
“Music and art are within us, they are of our
Shirley attends meetings at Central City Concern
share more than we think. “We need to start
souls,” Xuto says. “Art is a universal language. It
and is on the list for permanent housing through
hugging each other again. No matter what anyone’s
doesn’t come out in the conference room or over a
the Housing Authority of, Portland. In addition to
monetary status is. With writing, people see that
coffee table. The stories that come through art and
reading onstage, her poems were featured in Write
we are all the same. People come up to me and say
Around Portland’s Fall 2009 anthology, “More Than music touch our hearts. Portland should be proud
1 have those problems too, only I have a house.’”
that we’ll grow into a city filled with diverse
a Book,” foreword by Dave Eggers. For her next
communities that can work as one.”
project, Shirley hopes to write her own poetry
“Writing and art and community building are
collection — one about recovery, happiness and joy.
any of Portland’s street writers mention how
vital,”
corroborates Robyn Steely She is the
“Writing,”
she
says,
“helps
me
find
a
voice
within
writing allows them to express things that
executive director of the non-profit organization
myself.”
would otherwise remain unvoiced and left to fester.
Write Around Portland. “We’re complex people,”
Michael Vance is a good example of this. Though
says Steely. “We all have to create and express
not homeless, he’s spent many nights in treatment
ourselves and make connections with other people
isters
of
the
Road
Café
serves
as
a
meeting
centers, shelters and on couches. Having previously
to be fully human.”
point for many street writers, in organized
published writing in Street Roots, an experience he
Since 1999, Write Around Portland has facilitated
writing
workshops
as
well
as
informally.
One
counts among the most important in his life, he
of Portland’s most vocal poet/activists works thére writing workshops, partnering with over 170 social
now works at a packing plant on Hayden Island.
service groups and more than 3,000 individuals.
in a cramped upstairs office. Julie McCurdy is a
I met with Vance in a Barnes and Noble coffee
Steely explains how their classes are accessible and
housing organizer and speaks with the pragmatic
shop. The other patrons were noticeably
centrally-located, with transit passes provided to
urgency
of
someone
knowledgeable,
first-hand,
uncomfortable, the veins on his shaved head
participants.
about homelessness. She sees her writing as part
tensing while he speaks about his writing,
“We’ve worked with JOIN, Julie West House,
confessional
and
part
as
a
shared
voice
for
others
in
emotional turmoil, his addiction struggles.
Sisters of the Road, as well as Central City Concern
similar situations.
Occasionally Vance’s Tourette’s Syndrome kicks up
— lots of folks who are homeless or who’ve been
After a traumatic event, McCurdy became
in sharp wheezes, like a bull exhaling. Vance says
homeless and are transitioning to more stable
terrified
of
unfamiliar
men.
She
tells
me
how
Native
his writing helps undo emotional blockages.
housing situations.”
American
writer
and
activist
John
TrudeU
eventually
“When I write it’s basically venting anger*
Write* Around Portland compiles writing from -
inspired
her,
finally
demonstrating
a
way
to
so m e tim e s a t society, so m e tim e s a t life in g e n eral. I
workshop participants into three yearly anthologies.
transform pain and trauma into creative self-
know I was stupid. I overdosed twice. When I’d
The Spring 2011 anthology will be released at a
expression.
been clean long enough I started writing.”
May 26th event, the foreword written by Street
“Before being unhoused I had no background in
Roots’ executive director Israel Bayer, himself a
writing. Then I felt I had to write about the
“A ll the joy and all the pain
poet
difficulties of women experiencing homelessness.
absorbed silently within steel structures
The empathy inherent to writing and art brings
My writing let me be heard in a place where I was
look a t those trackmarks
invisible. I write as a form of therapy, just like every people together, revealing differences as well as
so proud o f them scars. ”
universal experiences. “Stories: From the Street”
other writer. It felt like I mattered to someone.
— M ich ael V a n c e
Writing is a go-thoughyoü process. I vomit poetry. I perhaps gave Portland’s homeless and street
writers their due, though it was just one event. The
write poetry on napkins. I don’t write unless
hirley is another poet whose content trends
lights went down at the end of the night and .
something moves me.”
toward the personal. Her work emphasizes
everyone went home — those of us with homes of
McCurdy speaks also of the empowerment of
visceral powerlessness* Seated at Sisters of the
our own.
having one’s writing read,' especially for the
Road Café in downtown, Portland, Shirley wistfully
There are a humber of responses one may have
homeless. Her own work has appeared in local
watches the light rail trains pass by. Her coat.is a
publications, including the website poMotion, which to fight The first is self-congratulation, feeling good
vinyl impression of leather, the waves in her hair
about yourself for going to an event or reading the
‘ she helped create. Love Letters from the Concrete
Streaked a orange-blonde, like a pop star at 50.
work of homeless writers. Another is pity, thinking
Jungle is a CD McCurdy recorded of her poetry set
Though periods of addiction and homelessness *
how awful it must be to live on the street. Then
to music.
mark her life, once upon a time she had been stable
there is hopelessness, forgetting all the ways we
and a homeowner. Shirley tells me how the man in
can, and must, support the disadvantaged in our
Somewhere along this bumpy road
her life had invited over a friend to stay with them.
society. We have as much to learn about ourselves
other peoples opinions lost their ability
Then two friends. Then many. They abused drugs,
as we do about others. People are people, whether
to define who I am .
she says, and forced substances on her as well.
they’re onstage, in the audience, inside the office
and the rules th a t society lives by
“Before I knew it there were 20 to 25 people at
building or crouched on the sidewalk.
slipped away
any one time running around. They fed me just
, — Ju lie M cC urdy
enough dope to keep me frustrated and kept my
M
S
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