Idaho poet to share his
work
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September 19, 2011 |
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Professor
Emeritus William Johnson |
Writer and teach William "Bill" Johnson,
professor emeritus of Lewis-Clark College,
Lewiston, and who has served as Idaho's "Writer
in Residence" twice, from 1998 to 2001 and again
from 2010 to 2011, will share his work with
Bonners Ferry residents at 7 p.m. Friday,
September 23, in the visitor's center, and
everyone is welcome to attend.
Johnson has published two collections of poetry,
a chapbook, "At the Wilderness Boundary," and a
full collection of his works, "Out of the
Ruins," which won the Idaho Book Award in 2000.
More recently, he's published another chapbook
of poems, "Dogwood," and a book of essays, "A
River Without Banks."
Even a simple question provokes a provocative
answer.
"A recurrent anxiety prods me to write," he
wrote. "It's a feeling seeking form, half-given
form, by whatever nags or prods me; glint of
bottle glass by the road, a woman's downcast
eyes, or a mouse dead on a path. Intersections
as yet inarticulate, perhaps unsayable, trigger
a felt change, and if I'm lucky my anxiety --
whether dread, bliss or something between --
lets words in, and the words move toward a
pattern, jumping ahead in hopes the pattern will
grow, lapsing back to find it again, and in the
process, if I'm lucky, in moments rare as they
are redemptive, becoming a poem."
In addition to his reading Saturday, Professor
Johnson will lead a seminar for local writers
who earlier this year formed a local writing
society, "The Write Stuff."
You can find out more by calling Norman Braatz,
whose paean to graduates appeared on these pages
at
http://www.newsbf.com/social/110630braatz.html,
to much local acclaim, but no fiscal gain.
Come to think of it ... that describes News
Bonners Ferry, too! |
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