Poetry Reading by Members of English 403

This semester’s members of English 403, the Poetry Workshop, will present their original work tomorrow night:

Tuesday, May 4
7 p.m.
Origin 23 Coffeeshop

6th/Union in Tacoma
This event is free and open to the public.

Crosscurrents Release Event: Thursday 4/29

It’s time for the release of another outstanding issue of Crosscurrents, Puget Sound’s outstanding literary magazine. The release party will take place this Thursday, April 29, at 6 p.m. in the Piano Lounge area of the SUB (behind Diversions). Editor Greta Lindquist writes,

The Spring 2010 edition of Crosscurrents is here! Come and pick up your copy and hear our published authors read their pieces from the book!
Hang out afterwards for an open mic with the Campus Music Network!

You don’t want to miss the last Crosscurrents of the year!

Weds. Night Poetry Reading on Campus

from Professor Bill Kupinse, an event this Weds., March 31:

Poetry Reading by Tammy Robacker

Author of The Vicissitudes

7 p.m., Wednesday, March 31

Murray Boardroom, Wheelock Student Center

Free and Open to the Public

Sponsored by Gender Studies and the Department of English

Your Ass Is Grass

cusses my dad who mows the lawn mad on his only goddamned day

off. And he’s ringing my neck for it. From the front window, I hang

back in the curtain and let him curse me but decidedly,

he should be dead. So, I close one eye and cut off his head

with my fingers. Form them like two busy blades born to a pair

of scissors—and cut cut cut that mean mug clean off

his shoulders. He stands in the yard headless, jerking

the pulley of the rotary mower. He huffs and wheezes

final breaths. That floating head hovers for me like poor old Yorick

speckled with soil and lime green seedlings. Running rivulets

of oily adult sweat that break apart and bleed out

once they reach his neck. They leave a watery puddle of fluid

muddled in his deep throat crease. Believe me, I have studied that

pulpy wrinkle many times at the dinner table. The way it jiggled

while he ate. Split when he swallowed. It cuts a liquid line clear

across his throat like a butter knife might. But, that never stuck. So,

I evaporate his face in a haze. In the fumes of raw blue fuel pluming

up from the sputtering motor, I hear his mouth still mutter. Then,

I detach him and gas him in the grass for good measure.

– Tammy Robacker, from The Vicissitudes (2009)

Reminder: Creative Writing Days–TODAY

TODAY AND TOMORROW ON CAMPUS

Tonight (Weds.) 7-9 p.m., Readings and Book Signing with faculty authors Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the novel Wench, and Ann Putnam, author of Full Moon at Noontide: A Daughter’s Last Goodbye. This event takes place in the Murray Boardroom and Reception Area and is open to the university community and the public.

On Thursday, March 25, there will be a reading of fiction and poetry, featuring faculty writers Beverly Conner, Erik Ellis, Laurie Frankel, Bill Kupinse, Hans Ostrom, and Lynn Sokei, from 4-6:30 p.m., in Trimble Forum. This event is open to the university community and the public.

Campus News Updates for Current Students

A round-up of information about departmental and campus events:

Don’t forget Creative Writing Days: March 24 & 25.

1. The Department’s pre-registration informational and social session will take place on Thursday, April 1 in Trimble Forum from 5-6:30 p.m. Please drop by to get information about Fall courses offered by English Department faculty, including cross-listed courses and core courses. Bring a friend, have some refreshments, and mingle with faculty and students.

2. As you are thinking ahead to fall, remember that those of you who need or want to write a thesis now have the option of a designated course (English 493) in which to do so. The course emphasizes research and writing, and uses a workshop approach to producing your thesis. Contact Professor Joshi (pjoshi@pugetsound.edu) for more information.

3. Detailed course descriptions for Fall will be available at the department event; you can also find them at the Department website under “Fall Courses”
Descriptions are being updated daily, so check back for more information.

4. Don’t overlook the opportunities for fellowships; Sharon Chambers-Gordon (scgordon@pugetsound.edu) reminds us that there is a Fellowships website with more information, and that there will be a Fellowships Forum on Wednesday, April 14th, at 5:00 PM in Wyatt 109.

5. Finally, don’t forget to submit your original work to Crosscurrents Literary Magazine (ccr@pugetsound.edu) and/or to the Departmental Writing Awards contests (Deadline April 2; information in the Dept. of English, Wyatt 335).

Creative Writing Days: March 24 & 25

We realize that right now, your thoughts are on midterms, papers, and the warmer climes you will visit over Spring Break. Here’s something for your post-vacation calendars:

Creative Writing Days will showcase the Puget Sound creative writing faculty in a series of presentations and workshops here on campus, March 24 & 25.

On Weds., March 24:
Master Class in Fiction Writing (students only) with Dolen Perkins-Valdez.
Wheelock 201, 4-5 p.m.

Also on Weds., from 7-9 p.m., Readings and Book Signing with Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the novel Wench, and Ann Putnam, author of Full Moon at Noontide: A Daughter’s Last Goodbye. This event takes place in the Murray Boardroom and Reception Area and is open to the university community and the public.

On Thursday, March 25, there will be a reading of fiction and poetry, featuring Beverly Conner, Erik Ellis, Laurie Frankel, Bill Kupinse, Hans Ostrom, and Lynn Sokei, from 4-6:30 p.m., in Trimble Forum. This event is open to the university community and the public.

There will be refreshments at each of these events.
Don’t miss this opportunity to see and hear our talented creative writing faculty.

Upcoming events

Professor Geoff Proehl, Theater, forwards the following information on three upcoming events of great interest to the campus community, especially as we approach Black History Mont:

1. A Dialogue about August Wilson’s Plays Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson

Exploring History, Culture, Politics and Race: The 1920’s and 1930’s Through the Eyes of August Wilson

Rehearsal Hall

Sunday, January 24, 2010 from 2pm to 4pm

Tickets: FREE Community Event

This dialogue will be facilitated by Dr. Dexter Gordon, Professor of African American Studies at the University of Puget Sound and C. Rosalind Bell, Playwright and Director of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle IV: The Piano Lesson and other plays in the August Wilson Series. Both presenters are also co-founders of Tacoma’s The Conversation, an ongoing dialogue and race and social justice group. Complimentary snacks and beverages will be provided for dialogue participants.

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2. August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle IV: The Piano Lesson
Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Washington State History Museum
Tickets: $14

August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning fourth installment, The Piano Lesson is an appropriate reminder of the importance of heritage during Black History Month. Set in the 1930s Great Depression, the story follows a family divided by the fate of their heirloom piano. Boy Willie, a sharecropper from the South, wants to sell the piano so he can purchase more land. His sister, Bernice, insists on keeping it as their great-grandfather carved onto it the faces of his wife and son-who were sold into slavery in exchange for the piano.

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3. from Hans Ostrom: “A Musical Evening With Langston Hughes,” featuring soloist Awilda Verdejo, who will be accompanied by a pianist and cellist—Feb. 19, 7:30, in Schneebeck. It is part of the Jacobsen Series but is also in honor of Black History Month.

The Adelphians will also perform, and Rosalind Bell and I will read a few of Hughes’s poems. All the compositions are based on his poetry or were co-written by him. Sponsors are Af. Am. Studies, School of Music, the BSU, Race and Pedagogy, Chief Diversity Officer, and the Dolliver Professorship.

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Slam Poetry Comes To Campus

On Monday, November 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Kilworth Chapel, several nationally known slam-poets will perform, and the event is free to Puget Sound students. We’ll see you there!