SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2018
Poetry
from 1A
The April 4 concert will fea-
ture a unique pairing of music
and poetry performed by Chris
Lee and Colleen O’Brien enti-
tled PoetryMusic.
The duo describes their per-
formance as “Poetry set to
music, music composed to
poetry and poetry as a catalyst
for free improvisation.”
The two musicians have
been performing together for
decades and have developed a
unique approach to presenting
their combination of music and
speech. Lee plays the vibes and
O’Brien plays the cello, a com-
bination that produces a mix of
musical progressions and aural
soundscapes. The music is then
mixed with the recitation of
poems and writings during the
song.
Lee said the process of creat-
ing the pieces PoetryMusic per-
forms has been going on for a
long while — since 1980 —
and continues to this day.
“We were originally inspired
by the great musician Steve
Swallow, who did an album set
to the poems of Robert Creeley.
We really enjoyed that work
and started composing poetry
Special series
with music,” Lee said. “Over
the years we collected these
pieces and in 2014 we decided
we would set up a tour, prima-
rily performing in libraries. We
found there was a great
response to the work and we
ended up touring and staying
on the road for 14 months.”
Spencer said that the
Portland-based group “mixes
great music with the spoken
word.”
“PoetryMusic has performed
at the Siuslaw Public Library
before and they are very much
back by popular demand,” she
said. “I love the mix of the
improvisational feel of jazz
with the very focused and pre-
cise language of poetry.”
Wikipedia describes poetry
as an art form that predates lit-
eracy. The earliest forms of
poetry were likely sung or
chanted and utilized as a way to
share oral histories, genealogy
and law.
Some of the earliest surviv-
ing examples of poetry exist in
the form of tablets carved in
stone, which would have been
recited or performed as hymns
or songs as early as the second
millennia B.C.
Many ancient written works
such as the Vedas (1700-1200
from 1A
The amendment was attached to a
spending bill for the Center for
Disease Control (CDC) that forbade
the organization from using funds to
“advocate or promote gun control.”
An often-cited claim is that the
Dickey Amendment bans all research
regarding gun violence, but this is
not true, according to a February
2018 article by The Atlantic.
But at the same time, the spending
bill stripped any CDC funding for
such research.
The NRA had pushed for the
amendment, stating it was politically
motivated, and the agency may have
had cause to believe this.
The NRA focused on a statement
by CDC National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control then-
B.C.) and the
Odyssey (800- 675
B.C.) were origi-
nally written in a
poetic form to
assist individuals
in ancient civiliza-
tions in memoriza-
tion and oral trans-
mission.
China also has a
long history of
embracing
and
promoting poetry
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
by producing and
distributing
the The National Audubon Society considers the Siuslaw River Estuary as
“Classic
of an “Important Bird Area.” It also declared 2018 “the year of the bird.”
Poetry,”
which
offerings. She invites anyone
included 305 entries dating read.”
Another avenue for people interested in the genre to stop in
from the 11th to seventh cen-
interested in expanding their on the first Tuesday of each
turies B.C.
While poetry has many fans, poetic experience can be found month.
“Everyone is welcome —
some readers have trouble find- at the monthly poetry readings
ing a poet whose’s work res- at Florence Regional Arts poets, writers and performers
onates with them. Spencer also Alliance (FRAA) Art Center, will be sharing their work,”
has advice to address that prob- 120 Maple St. in Historic Old Mesman said. “We support all
Town Florence.
the arts and that includes the lit-
lem.
Florence Big Wave Poetry is erary arts. We also support the
“If you think you don’t like
poetry, I think former Poet hosting the First Tuesday Open efforts of all types of written
Laureate Billy Collins is the Mic Night on April 3 from 6:30 word authors, so this is a great
perfect place to start; anyone to 8:30 p.m. The event draws opportunity to share your work
who wrote a poem called ‘The performers from the communi- and get to know other authors
and poets.”
trouble with Poetry’ is probably ty and from FRAA members.
Caroline Mesman, FRAA
Paul Klippel coordinates
going to be fun to read,” she
said. “And, if you want to read board member, has been poetry events for FRAA and he
a great Oregon poet, William involved in the creation and sees the current high level of
Stafford is definitely worth a presentation of FRAA’s poetic interest in poetry as a way to
spokesman Mark Rosenberg who
stated, “We need to revolutionize the
way we look at guns, like what we
did with cigarettes. … It used to be
that smoking was a glamour symbol
— cool, sexy, macho. Now it is dirty,
deadly and banned.”
To have a governmental scientist
enter the gun debate with a precon-
ceived bias would be considered
unethical by many in the scientific
community and goes to show why
gun rights advocates would be wary
of this, particularly in light of
Rosenberg’s statements.
Since then, multiple organizations
such as the American Public Health
Association and American Medical
Association have been calling gun
violence a public health problem,
and many more have petitioned for a
lifting of the Dickey Amendment,
including Dickey himself. In 2012,
CHARM TRAIL
Start Collecting
Yours Today
he coauthored a Washington Post op-
ed with Rosenberg, calling for more
governmental research.
“I wish I had not been so reac-
tionary,” Dickey told reporters.
The reason scientists want more
robust and regulated research on the
issue of guns involves the role of the
CDC. The agency studies a multitude
of issues surrounding unnatural death,
including drownings, accidental falls,
car crashes and suicides. Thus far, the
CDC has not made regulations to ban
automobiles, swimming pools and
steep stairs.
This is not to say that the CDC
would act as a final word on the sub-
ject of gun violence, and that it would
always provide correct information.
Science is an ongoing conversation,
with studies building on one another
until a majority of peer-reviewed
research comes to a consensus.
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But to reach a consensus, multiple
studies have to be done. For that to
happen, all hands need to be on deck.
It would be a misconception to
believe that banning research would
lead to gun control. Many of the
independent studies thus far point to
the opposite in certain circum-
stances. To understand that research,
it is important to look at what guns
actually are.
“Assault weapons”
Before the Florence March for Our
Lives began, one demonstrator spoke
about what types of guns they wanted
to ban.
“I don’t want to take away the gun
of a hunter, but I don’t think anybody
needs a semi-automatic machine gun,”
she said. “I don’t think that’s neces-
sary. Those guns are used for war-
fare. They’re made to kill. They’re
9 A
share ideas and concerns.
“Our biggest desire as a
poetry group is to connect with
young people. It’s always a
challenge to reach across the
generations and interest the
younger people and get them to
participate,” he said. “Our
Tuesday open mic has been
very popular and continues to
draw a younger crowd that is
interested in writing and per-
forming their original work.”
Klippel also wants people to
know there are ongoing poetry
groups that meet in the area on
a regular basis.
“There is a group meeting
weekly at Shorewood, on
Wednesdays from 3 to 5 p.m.,
and a bi-monthly workshop at
the Coast village Clubhouse, on
the second Tuesday of the
month,” he said.
The growing popularity and
interest in the spoken word is
encouraging to Klippel.
“Poetry is a way to look back
and to look ahead in a way that
is more temporal and more
thoughtful. It puts people in
touch with their inner self and
what really matters to them.”
For more information on
National Poetry Month events,
visit siuslawlibrary.info.
not made to aim accurately. They’re
just made to kill as many people as
possible, and I don’t think that’s some-
thing that should be owned by the
average person.”
The demonstrator was speaking off
the cuff and stated there would be oth-
ers better suited to speak on the issue.
However, the same phrasing they used
to describe the guns was echoed by
many others at the protest — “machine
guns,” “assault weapons” and “semi-
automatic” were terms that were used
interchangeably.
By misusing terms, gun reform
advocates can find themselves inad-
vertently calling for either unnecessary
action, when some types of guns are
already prohibited, or advocating a ban
on the majority of weapons in the
United States.
See
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