Shakespeare and elk sightings
By Barry Vitcov
The previous Poetry Corner featured a theater-related poem and another set in a forest. So why not keep those settings for this column. Whimsical? Perhaps. Hidden meanings? Not likely. Peter Finkle’s poem offers a humorous account of Shakespeare sightings in Southern Oregon. Barbara Parchim’s poem takes us into the life of a forest elk. Why do these two poems belong in the same space? I hope you’ll have fun figuring it out. Or not!
Do you have an original theater-related poem? If so, you are invited to submit to the Poetry Corner and help celebrate the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 90th Season and all the other Southern Oregon theaters that enrich our lives with a variety of dramatic, comedic … sometimes musical and sometimes not … productions. See below for how to submit.
Poetry is alive in Southern Oregon!
Here are some upcoming events for your consideration:
Poems of Reckoning and Reclamation
Hidden Springs Wellness Center
1651 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland
7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 28
Poetry will be presented by spoken word artist Shoshana Alexander. She will read the poetry of Jane Hirshfield, Ada Limón, W.S Merwin, Mosab Abu Toha, Joy Harjo, Mary Oliver, Langston Hughes, and others.
Poetry readings will be interwoven with music by cellist Kris Yenny and Indian bamboo flute and percussionist Aharon Wheels Bolsta.
Suggested donation of $20-$25, with a portion of proceeds to be given to a local nonprofit dedicated to the well-being of the Earth.
Poetry Reading
Bloomsbury Books
290 E. Main Street, Ashland
7 to 8 p.m. Monday, June 2
Kathleen McClung is the author of five poetry collections, including “Questions of Buoyancy” (Longship Press, 2024). Others include “A Juror Must Fold in on Herself,” winner of the 2020 Rattle Chapbook Prize, “Temporary Kin,” “The Typists Play Monopoly” and “Almost the Rowboat.” Winner of the Morton Marr, Maria W. Faust, and Rita Dove national poetry prizes, her work appears widely in journals and anthologies. In 2024 she was a finalist for San Francisco poet laureate. Guest editor for The MacGuffin in 2021-23, Kathleen teaches English at Skyline College, where she directed the annual Women on Writing conference for 10 years. She also teaches for San Francisco State’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) and privately. Website: kathleenmcclung.com
“Kathleen McClung may be the finest poet writing in form today. Questions of Buoyancy is a remarkable collection…. Wistful and haunting, these exquisite poems deserve to be read and reread.” — Jim Daniels
Amy Miller’s “Astronauts,” a chronicle of two sisters and addiction, won the Chad Walsh Chapbook Prize and was a finalist for the 2023 Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Her full-length poetry collection “The Trouble with New England Girls” won the Louis Award from Concrete Wolf Press. Her poems and essays have appeared in “Barrow Street,” “Copper Nickel,” “Missouri Review,” “North American Review,” “Terrain,” and “ZYZZYVA,” and she received a 2021 Oregon Literary Fellowship. She works as a communications editor for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and serves as poetry editor for JPR’s listeners’ guide, Jefferson Journal.
Shakespeare first came …
(a humorous history poem)
By Peter Finkle
As the story goes,
William Shakespeare
first came to Ashland in July 1935,
invited to see one of his plays
by a young college English professor,
Angus Bowmer.
But what about March 1887,
before Bowmer was born?
Was Will spotted by theatrical paparazzi
having tea and scones
with jolly Grants Pass residents
Professor H.L. Benson and his wife
in an Ashland-bound Southern Pacific train?
How about February 1908?
Was Will incognito in the back row
of the Ganiard Opera House on Main Street,
watching highly touted touring actor
Charles B. Hanford
play The Merchant of Venice?
There have been many “Shakespeare sightings”
in Ashland’s 170-year history.
After all, we live in the land of Bigfoot.
Peter Finkle leads history tours, art tours and Haunted Ashland tours — fun for residents and for visitors. He received an Individual Award from the City of Ashland Historic Preservation committee in 2019 for contributions to the historic Railroad District “Marking Ashland Places” project. He also cooperates with the Public Arts Committee to raise awareness of the rich arts heritage in Ashland. Prior to founding WalkAshland LLC, Peter’s leading role at a nationally successful dietary supplement company brought him to Ashland in 1991. His education responsibilities at the company included speaking about health and nutrition to audiences in four countries. Outside of his professional life, he has been a poet, writer and tennis player for more than 50 years. Since founding WalkAshland, thousands of hours of walking neighborhoods, interviews with leading Ashlanders and deep-dive research have prepared Peter to share hundreds of historic photos and fascinating, little-known stories with you – both in writing and in person.
Forest Elk
By Barbara Parchim
massive and muscled,
a white-rumped, bearded beauty
on the cusp of rut,
he is progeny of an ancestral herd
that knew this place –
before the farm, before the road
when the slough ran thick with salmon,
the forage was rich
and egrets and heron stalked the shallows
forest of spruce and fir at his back
he stands at the edge of a clearing
taking in the expansive green
he has a taste for sedge and willow
and something else –
as yet elusive, but familiar
he lifts his head
and bugles across the beaver meadow
breath condensing in the chill dawn
testing the waters
announcing his place in this world
sending out invitations
Barbara Parchim lives on a small farm in southwest Oregon. She enjoys gardening and hiking and volunteered for several years at a wildlife rehabilitation facility caring for raptors and wolves. Her poems have appeared in Allegro, Isacoustic, Turtle Island Quarterly, Canary, Windfall, Pedestal, Jefferson Journal, Cirque and others. Her first book, What Remains, was published by Flowstone Press in October 2021. Her second book of poetry, Muscle Tree, was published in September 2024 by Flowstone Press.
Poetry Submissions Welcomed!
You are invited to submit original work to the Poetry Corner. There are only two restrictions: First, poems need to show a connection to Ashland and/or Southern Oregon. Your interpretation of that connection is fairly loose! Second, poems need to be aligned to the left margin. The publishing platform used by Ashland.news has issues with the creative use of space! There are no length restrictions but try to keep your poems to no more than 30 lines. Be sure to include the title of your poem, your name as you would like it to appear, the city or town in which you reside, and, if you wish, your preferred pronouns.
To submit poems, send to Barry Vitcov at haikubjv@gmail.com
