Idaho poet to share his work
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| Professor Emeritus William Johnson |
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!