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Portland Observer, May 9. 1984 Page 9
OBSERVATIONS
FROM THE SIDELINES
BY Kalhryn Hail Bugle
T
WO
P O R TL A N D
POETS.
Nathaniel Scott and Lois
M arie Lewis, recently spent a cool
spring afternoon in the park sharing
their poetry, (heir thoughts on
creativity, themselves, and life.
Each is a published poet; each will
participate in the Friday. M ay 18th,
••Festival of Cultural Events" plan
ned by Scott with the general
student body of Portland State
University.
The festival, a mid-day event to
which the public is invited in the
South Park blocks o f the PSU cam
pus, w ill feature other poets and
their works also. Those expected to
participate include Primus St. John,
Vern
Rutsala,
Kim
Stafford,
Doreen Gandy and Lisa Steinman
The next day, Saturday. May
19th,
Lois
Lewis,
and
her
"Professional
A m ateurs",
will
conduct a "L e e l-L ig h t" workshop
production entitled, “ A Hint o f
Sunshine". A small donation for
this one will allow a "peak through
the window of poetic m inds" at the
display Lewis has arranged. Poetry
presentations,
lectures,
musica,
mini-workshops and story telling
will be featured during the evening
dinner hours at the O ld Wives Tales
on East Burnside.
Scott, who credits Lewis for
showing him the ropes o f getting his
first two poetry books, " T h e Theme
Is" and “ A M an and His M oods,"
into publication, had his first poem
published in I960
The poem,
" T im e ,” appeared in the M ia m i
Times, a Black weekly newspaper
where he was then employed.
"P o e try — or rather rhyming—
began with me as a child in M a
con, G eorgia,"
said Scott as
he picked out some milestones in his
artistic pursuits. " M y two brothers
and I were always called to entertain
my parents' friends when they came
to our house to visit. I recited, I
could play a little on the trumpet,
the bugle and drums, and we all
could sing. We even had a little
gospel song group when we joined
in with three of our cousins. We had
no real training for any o f this but
we enjoyed performing and sharing
our jo y . It was just something in
us.”
Sco’ t said that he later dropped
out o f high school, enlisted in the
U S Armed Forces and was sent to
Korea. Circumstances o f the un
popular war, the arm y, separation
from his family and friends served
to bring many changes in Scott’s
life. He turned to alcohol, he said,
to alleviate the pain and loneliness
Poets Nathaniel Scon and Lola Maria Lewis raad their works In the
South Park Blocks.
(Photo: Kenneth How ell)
that had altered his life. Once out of
the service, he found it was not easy
to re-enter civilian life and to find
old patterns that fit him.
He changed his residence to
California. Eventually, he began to
recognize himself as an alcoholic
with
a
number
of
attendant
troubles. The years rolled by with a
remarkable sameness, he said.
Scott knew he wanted to write.
He wanted to set down his feelings
about what he had learned, about
the social and racial injustices in the
world. He fell in love, and out
again. He wrote words and music to
two love songs, one a ballad, the
other blues, but his life remained a
tangle And the years continued to
roll by. It took a brush with death
on the streets o f Sacramento to
change his life, Scott said.
The change came when, one
night, a thug confronted Scott to
rob him at gun point. The assailant
sent four bullets into Scott’s body,
one bullet missing his heart by only
a fraction of an inch. Afterwards, a
long recuperation gave Scott a long
time to think, he recounted. He
remembered staggering to a Black
man’ s porch to ask for help after he
was wounded by gun shots. He
recalled hearing the man say, "Y o u
can call an ambulance after my wife
gets o ff the phone— she’s talking
now ." He remembered leaving the
porch and finding a police car to
report his plight. The blessed relief
of the care given him by the
paramedics is clear in his memory.
It was in the remembering of all
that, Scott said, that he decided to
set his life on a new course. W ith the
TURKEYBREAST
SWIFT
BUTTERBALL
3 TO 4 P O U N D S
Boneless
'•’«así Tariwy
'
BONELESS
ALL
WHITE MEAT
decision came action.
By 1980, Scott had received his
high school equivalency certificate,
recovered from his acute alcoholism
and moved to Portland He enrolled
in journalism courses at Portland
Com m unity College and he began,
again, to write his poetry. After two
years, Scott became a PSU student.
He is looking forward now, to his
graduation in June o f this year
A SALUTE TO THE PAST
Did you
have to ride
on the back of
a bus?
or have to
drink voter
from a tin cup,
hanging
beside a hydrant?
or have to squat
behind an outhouse
meant for white only?
or have to shuffle and
scratch your head
to get your day's wages ?
or have to cringe
in shame
while
a five-year-old child
called your mother ' 'gal “?
or your father "boy”?
If you haven't,
you don ‘I understand
the implications of:
"RUN, JESSE. R U N ”
By Nathaniel Scott
Tae Kwan Do was the next phase. I
enjoyed it and gained confidence in
mastering the physical skills o f the
performance Still, I needed more.
The real confidence in my life style
eluded m e ," Lewis said.
" I became interested in yoga and
enjoyed the postures. I moved on to
breathing methods, to meditation
and then began to shift my eating
patterns. For a year and a half, I ate
only fruit, vegetables, seeds and
nuts and brewers yeast. I had high
energy levels— I could work all day
and maintain that high level of
energy.
Medical
examinations
showed my physical condition to be
perfect. " I discovered I had learned
and found my own self identity with
this strict regimen— there was a
revelation o f the innate g ift— the
gift of creativity, Lewis said softly.
"T h e gift o f writing poetry had
been, up to now, a buried talent. It
was a discovery and it was a foun
dation of other creative skills I
possessed. Music was found in my
words. I wrote a play I shared my
creativity with others through my
reading performances in an ever-
widening sphere. I wrote children’s
stories I wrote " T u f f y " , about a
little fox terrier. I wrote "T h e
Flower and the W eed" an allegory
telling o f the slave trade. I wrote a
seven section book. "Relationships,
Thoughts and Other Stuff” , Lewis
said with a twinkle.
Scott broke his silence saying. “ I
think we all have a contribution to
make, our purpose on earth is to
share
I
can
write
out
my
frustrations, my philosophies, my
inabilities. As I read what I have
written, sometimes I feel that I've
been a vehicle to express the
thoughts of others.
“ Sometimes," Scott continued,
“ I feel good about something I've
written, sometimes I feel that I have
not fulfilled that which I aimed to
do, but I forgive myself— for at
least I tried, and, another time,
there will be one closer to the aim.
" I feel that I must use my talen t,"
the poet said. “ 1 feel an allegiance
to my creativity."
In the Production Workshops
conducted by Lewis, they (the
students) work on their materials
looking for titles, copyright info r
mation, refining and keeping ex
cellence as the goal, learning about
self— from a teacher who knows
herself.
Said Scott, " I ’d like my epitaph
to read: *1 tried to be truthful to
mankind and faithful to m y s e lf."
"Share, Teach” and " l earn" are
part of the credo o f Lois Lewis, the
accountant-tax
consultant
and
creative artist. Lewis has her degree
in business administration and
another in teaching, " Y e t ,” she
said, "there came a time in my life
when none of the scheduled things I
had accomplished had value in my
situation A ll that I had was not
enough to be comfortable, to be
happy and loving and confident.
" I n an exercise class, I met a judo
and karate teacher. I chose to do the
judo and found it interesting. The
I
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