Register-Guard • June 25, 2000
Oregon authors / George Venn
Oregon authors / George Venn
LA GRANDE WRITER OUT WITH
A POETRY COLLECTION
NAME: George Venn, La Grande
HE WROTE: “Marking the Magic Circle” (OSU Press, 1988), “West of Paradise.”
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE “WEST OF PARADISE”?
“After `Marking the Magic Circle' was published, I proposed the `Oregon Literature Series' to the Oregon Council of Teachers of English. Oregon writing has never been collected in historical anthologies. So from 1989 to 1994, editing the six-volume, 2,000-page `Oregon Literature Series' (OSU Press) took over my literary life. After the `Oregon Literature Series' was finished and I'd received the Stewart Holbrook Award, I started collecting my published poems that hadn't been collected in a book. Over the next five years, `West of Paradise' went through multiple revisions, drafts. Finally in 1999, David Memmott of Wordcraft of Oregon published it.”
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
“This book suggests the grand journey of river, water, life, time, soul, persona - from mountains through canyons, past small towns, across deserts, through coast mountains and great cities to Astoria, the delta, bar, salt sea, then rises and returns again to the mountains - the great, cosmic water-spiritual cycle we all know and live. Along the way, anything can happen - from ignorance to grace to love to death.”
WHAT'S YOUR BACKGROUND?
“For 25 years, our family lived in an old farmhouse on a ridge above the Oregon Trail in the Grande Ronde Valley, just south of La Grande. Those years, I was married to Elizabeth Cheney and we raised our daughter and son, farmed and gardened organically, restored a remnant 19th century apple orchard and renovated the farmhouse. I taught part time, wrote part time, worked on the house and land. Elizabeth worked part time. “In 1997, we were divorced. `Change your expectations or move on,' my wife said—her back turned to me in the new kitchen made exactly to her plans. So I moved on. Now, I live alone, close to blackberries, a spring, willows, Mill Creek—in La Grande. Neighbor cats and dogs visit me. Tree frogs tremble all night in the trees.”
WHAT DO YOU DO FOR WORK?
“Professor of English and writer-in-residence at Eastern Oregon University.”
WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO WRITE POETRY?
“At Albertson College of Idaho in 1961. I was recruited there on an athletic scholarship—full ride for football and basketball— but dropped that high school heroic illusion the day I was given a too-small pair of football shoes and tore both my big toenails off during the first practice. From that day on, I changed. Haven't stopped.
“During my (master's degree program) in Montana—where I studied with Richard Hugo, Madeline DeFrees and Earl Ganz— I wrote mostly short fiction. I have a collection of stories in the works. My first published essay focused on a Pacific Northwest subject—the Missoula free speech fight in 1909.”
WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING?
“Singing and memorizing the Bible were the passion of my Presbyterian family. So my introduction to poetry was through song. My maternal grandfather and grandmother - who lived in rural Western Washington - gave me Stephen Foster's sentimentality; a few cowboy ballads; and many church hymns, spirituals and Sunday School choruses. And my grandfather performed numerous 19th century popular art songs like `The Vagabond' and `The Road to Mandalay.'
“We sang while driving, working, playing. We hummed to ourselves. We practiced solos, duets. We sang for funerals and weddings.”
WHAT'S NEXT?
“Finishing `Honeycomb' is a priority now. My book-length essay on the Chief Joseph `Surrender Speech' has also been accepted for publication. A book of personal essays, a book of Northwest literary essays - these are also in the works. I also have a chapbook-length poem that is nearly ready to send out.”
WHAT ARE YOU READING?
“Any free time left over after teaching and daily writing tends to be given now to my research and reading on Chief Joseph. One book I have squeezed in around the edges is Rick Rubin's history of the Columbia River Chinook, `Naked in the Rain.' “
Oregon Authors appears regularly on the Books page. Direct comments or suggestions to Assistant Features Editor Paul Denison, who can be reached by phone at 338-2323, or by e-mail at [email protected]
HE WROTE: “Marking the Magic Circle” (OSU Press, 1988), “West of Paradise.”
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE “WEST OF PARADISE”?
“After `Marking the Magic Circle' was published, I proposed the `Oregon Literature Series' to the Oregon Council of Teachers of English. Oregon writing has never been collected in historical anthologies. So from 1989 to 1994, editing the six-volume, 2,000-page `Oregon Literature Series' (OSU Press) took over my literary life. After the `Oregon Literature Series' was finished and I'd received the Stewart Holbrook Award, I started collecting my published poems that hadn't been collected in a book. Over the next five years, `West of Paradise' went through multiple revisions, drafts. Finally in 1999, David Memmott of Wordcraft of Oregon published it.”
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
“This book suggests the grand journey of river, water, life, time, soul, persona - from mountains through canyons, past small towns, across deserts, through coast mountains and great cities to Astoria, the delta, bar, salt sea, then rises and returns again to the mountains - the great, cosmic water-spiritual cycle we all know and live. Along the way, anything can happen - from ignorance to grace to love to death.”
WHAT'S YOUR BACKGROUND?
“For 25 years, our family lived in an old farmhouse on a ridge above the Oregon Trail in the Grande Ronde Valley, just south of La Grande. Those years, I was married to Elizabeth Cheney and we raised our daughter and son, farmed and gardened organically, restored a remnant 19th century apple orchard and renovated the farmhouse. I taught part time, wrote part time, worked on the house and land. Elizabeth worked part time. “In 1997, we were divorced. `Change your expectations or move on,' my wife said—her back turned to me in the new kitchen made exactly to her plans. So I moved on. Now, I live alone, close to blackberries, a spring, willows, Mill Creek—in La Grande. Neighbor cats and dogs visit me. Tree frogs tremble all night in the trees.”
WHAT DO YOU DO FOR WORK?
“Professor of English and writer-in-residence at Eastern Oregon University.”
WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO WRITE POETRY?
“At Albertson College of Idaho in 1961. I was recruited there on an athletic scholarship—full ride for football and basketball— but dropped that high school heroic illusion the day I was given a too-small pair of football shoes and tore both my big toenails off during the first practice. From that day on, I changed. Haven't stopped.
“During my (master's degree program) in Montana—where I studied with Richard Hugo, Madeline DeFrees and Earl Ganz— I wrote mostly short fiction. I have a collection of stories in the works. My first published essay focused on a Pacific Northwest subject—the Missoula free speech fight in 1909.”
WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING?
“Singing and memorizing the Bible were the passion of my Presbyterian family. So my introduction to poetry was through song. My maternal grandfather and grandmother - who lived in rural Western Washington - gave me Stephen Foster's sentimentality; a few cowboy ballads; and many church hymns, spirituals and Sunday School choruses. And my grandfather performed numerous 19th century popular art songs like `The Vagabond' and `The Road to Mandalay.'
“We sang while driving, working, playing. We hummed to ourselves. We practiced solos, duets. We sang for funerals and weddings.”
WHAT'S NEXT?
“Finishing `Honeycomb' is a priority now. My book-length essay on the Chief Joseph `Surrender Speech' has also been accepted for publication. A book of personal essays, a book of Northwest literary essays - these are also in the works. I also have a chapbook-length poem that is nearly ready to send out.”
WHAT ARE YOU READING?
“Any free time left over after teaching and daily writing tends to be given now to my research and reading on Chief Joseph. One book I have squeezed in around the edges is Rick Rubin's history of the Columbia River Chinook, `Naked in the Rain.' “
Oregon Authors appears regularly on the Books page. Direct comments or suggestions to Assistant Features Editor Paul Denison, who can be reached by phone at 338-2323, or by e-mail at [email protected]