BOOKS
BROADSIDES
ORDER
NEWS
EVENTS
CONTACT
ABOUT
THE IDAHO PRIZE
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
LINKS
The Idaho Prize for Poetry
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Lost Horse
Design Studio
|
| |
January 2004
Vol. 2 No. 1
ask. magazine
Washington State University
Two Unusual Minutes with a Drive-Time Poet
BY KATHEY-LEE GALVIN
“I like to take everyday things into that mythical realm and make
them important.” — Scott Poole
IT’S 7:50 ON Monday morning in Spokane, and your car radio is
tuned to KPBX 91.1. With no fanfare, you realize that someone
has started talking about his garage door opener or encountering
a clipboard-toting bear in the woods. At the same time on a different
Monday, you might have heard this man recite an ode to a never-conceived
brother or a grandfather who wouldn’t remain dead. It’s Scott
Poole: editor, father, husband, writer, organizer, WSU alumnus,
and poet.
First impressions of Poole belie the skewed and thoughtful writer
beneath the seemingly normal exterior. Soft-spoken and easily
amused, he looks like just another guy with a briefcase. Even
the topics he writes about are routine. Referencing the everyday,
Poole’s poetry is often simultaneously humorous, serious, and
fantastic, with titles such as “Unabomber, Poet,” “Ducks and
Death,” or “Cake at a Funeral.”
At home, Poole is father to Ryan, 5, and Katie, 3, and husband
to wife Leslie (Leslie Evans, Sociology, 1993). In the evening,
after family time is over and the kids are tucked into bed, Poole
sneaks away to his second love—poetry. “Being a poet is like having
two marriages,” says Poole. “I write because I have to. If I don’t,
I become physically ill. It is something like breathing, eating,
or drinking water.”
Poole’s public popularity as a poet began to grow when he started
a weekly e-mail poem. Marty Demarest, station manager of KPBX,
a National Public Radio affiliate in Spokane, was on Poole’s distribution
list and among his fans and saw the potential of a weekly poetry
spot. The idea is working. Poole gets feedback from listeners
and considers himself a lucky man. “After all,” Poole says, “what
poet gets to read to 18,000 people every week?”
Poole’s on-air gig has garnered national attention. As far as
anyone can tell, Poole is the only regularly scheduled radio poet
in the country. The Associated Press in Spokane did a story about
that in 2003, and it was carried on several networks, including
CNN. The following day, Poole received 73 e-mails from people
requesting to be added to his weekly newsletter. “It was freaky.
I got an e-mail from someone who said they read about me on CNN.
I went to the entertainment page on the Web site,” he recalls,
“and there, where J-Lo should be, was me.” Poole has received
attention from as far away as Turkey, Australia, and Japan, and
his online poetry fan base has swelled to nearly 600 subscribers.
Poole believes eastern Washington is becoming more receptive to
poetry, and in particular, he says Spokane is becoming “more of
a poetry town.” He should know. Poole is associate editor of Eastern
Washington University Press, one of “maybe eight jobs like
it in the state,” he says happily. Part of his job has been cofounding
the Spokane “Get Lit”
Festival, planning its sixth year this April. Past years have
included readings from such literary heavyweights as David
Sedaris and Jack Prelutsky. Plans for
the 2004 festival include Dave Barry, Kurt
Vonnegut, and Garrison Keillor. Poole
proudly relates that the festival has never lost money.
After his reading at the inaugural “Get
Lit,” Poole was approached by Christine Holbert,
publisher at Lost Horse Press. “I want to publish
your first book,” she told him. She did. “And,” Poole says, “they
published my second, and they are going to publish my third.”
He laughs when asked about royalties from book sales. “Maybe two
poets in history have made enough money from book sales to live
on.” Poole is not giving up his day job.
Poole isn’t sure where his talent for literature originates. Raised
with a younger sister in Yakima by his psychologist father and
schoolteacher mother, he doesn’t remember those years as especially
defined by an active regard for high culture. “There was no encouragement
or discouragement from my parents in that direction.” He recalls
failing the entrance exam at his local high school when he applied
for a creative writing class. That seemed to be the end of his
literary career. When he enrolled at Washington State University,
he first majored in pharmacy and later in psychology.
His first foray into poetry at WSU was borrowing a friend’s tactic
of using poetry to impress women. Poole was more successful than
his friend, and his first attempt, “Chambers in My Mind,”
eventually resulted in marriage to Leslie.
Poole’s talent for writing finally found expression and encouragement
in the WSU class that he credits with changing the course of his
life. In his senior year, Poole enrolled in a creative writing
course taught by the late Ricardo Sanchez, professor of English
and the poet who is widely acknowledged as the grandfather of
contemporary Chicano poetry. “That class started me on writing.
If it wasn’t for that class, I don’t know what I would be doing.
It lit that spark. He totally lit that fire.”
Inspired by Sanchez, Poole decided during his senior year that
he had to earn his English degree. Leslie had a few semesters
left, and by piling on the credit hours, Poole completed a double
major in psychology and English.
After graduating from Washington State, Poole went on to earn
an M.F.A. at EWU, where he continued to hone his writing talent.
Poole considers a poem a success when the reader “can’t stop thinking
about it. Writing poetry is a huge high because every day, people
have thoughts that could make them crazy wondering ‘Has anyone
else ever thought this?’”
How does Poole define poetry? “It’s what you are thinking that
you won’t tell your friends about because they won’t think you’re
cool. Poetry makes interesting writing, but freaky conversation.”
|
|
