Poet, author share excerpts from new works at final Read/Write
Lisa McGunigal
Issue date: 11/17/06 Section: Campus
- Page 1 of 1
| |
|
About 40 students and faculty members attended the final Read/Write of the semester where Sharpe read from his novel, The Sleeping Father, and Jamestown, a book scheduled to debut in March 2007.
The Sleeping Father follows two teenagers struggling with life while their father is in a coma and after he awakes. One teenager converts from Judaism to Catholicism and starts a relationship with her brother's former friend. The other teenager, Chris, is spending time with their mother in California.
Sharpe read an excerpt from the novel that takes place when Chris is eating dinner with his mother and her friend. Chris goes on a rant saying, "I know what you're going to say, 'Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for dinner.' She [my dad's doctor] botched the rewiring to my father's head. … I'm a kid trying to find my place in this crazy, mixed-up world."
Chris goes on to attack his mother's friend, who sells pianos for a living.
"You sell them some piece of weird, obsolete furniture … to make them look better," Sharpe read.
Finally, referring to how this friend's daughter has become a doctor, Sharpe read, "It horrifies you to see … this woman achieve more than you."
Sharpe then read from Jamestown. Sharpe first gained interest in the history of Jamestown when he taught classes how to use creative writing across the curriculum. His novel focuses on the first settlement in Jamestown, Va., with a twist. Instead of setting the story in the 1600s, Sharpe set the story in the future. The two narrators, John Rolfe and Pocahontas, communicate through e-mails and, in a way, Sharpe said, "It's an epistle novel of sorts."
In the book, a mysterious apocalyptic event took place and the world is very much torn down. As the Chrysler building fell into pieces, Johnny Rolfe said, "The grieving faces of my colleagues being worse to look at than the falling glass."
As Rolfe describes the land, he writes, "The roadside field, though what was road and what was field" was difficult to discern. Sharpe continued reading how Rolfe and his friends travel to Jamestown to trade and make a better life.
Historic John Smith becomes Jack Smith and works as a mechanic in the novel. Smith also jokes with Rolfe as he says, "You might fall in love with a nice Indian girl." Pocahontas is 19 and decides to save Smith. After the two discuss negotiations, Sharpe ended the excerpt reading how Pocahontas will attempt to save Smith if he gives Rolfe her e-mail address.
"You can tell a lot about a guy by his e-mails," Sharpe read.
Jones shared excerpts from her poetry books, Femme du Monde and The Weather That Kills, and some new poems. One topic Jones enjoys writing about is travel.
"I love transport, the idea of going [from] one place to another," Jones said.
Jones, who is black, added that she is also "very committed to collaboration with fellow African American artists."
Jones is also interested in fashion and read a poem where "a midnight purple velvet brushes the hand" and "mannequins oddly shaped, as if female form is an afterthought."
Jones talked of how the Milwaukee Art Museum is one the most beautiful places.
"Walk in and you are reminded why it is a good thing to be a human being," she said.
One of the art exhibits inspired her to write the poem, "Sapphire", which is about a couple and the power of women. One line she read was, "I always promised to bring home the bacon, well honey, I brought home the whole hog."
Jones read a line from another one of her poems, "Wheel of Fortune."
She said, "Every turn is unfair … Good luck tastes better … than cheap coffee and stale beer."
"One of the great things about being a writer, you're in an interesting conversation over time," Jones said.
Jones spoke of an admired poet, Pablo Neruda, who wrote a poem entirely full of questions. Jones decided to answer the questions in her new poems. Some of the questions include, "What is sadder than a train standing in the rain?" and "Do salt and sugar work to build a white tower?"
Jones also read poems titled "Dolly Parton Sings a Stairway to Heaven" and "David Bowie Sings All you got to do is Win."
Jones also writes plays.
"Theater for poets is where your poems become three-dimensional," Jones said.
In response to the problematic writer's block, Jones said, "Don't call it writer's block. Call it life."
She said that sometimes people just can't write, or swim, or do certain activities once in a while. Sharpe echoed these comments.
"You're not a writing machine, you're a person," he said.
When people do write, it is great.
"Artists keep reminding the world how to be human," Jones said.
Sharpe was encouraged to write by his parents, high school teachers, teachers in college, and authors he admires. Jones said many people encouraged her along the way, especially her two mentors and fellow poets, the deceased Lorenzo Thomas and Maureen Owen, who published her first poems.
Both Jones and Sharpe advise young writers to worry less about becoming published and more about the actual writing. Also, as Jones said, "The best poets are also great readers."
