Verlena Orr Interview

There's a very specific subject matter in the poems of Woman Who Hears Voices. What else do you like to write about?

Woman Who Hears Voices was written about hospital experiences in 1964 and 1976. I wrote it in tandem with other things I was experiencing at the time that are in a long manuscript Now I'm redoing that manuscript, and working on another that took a left turn or a totally different direction after Woman. What do I write about? Anything that comes into my life that I find interesting. It can be anything from a visit to the oral surgeon, the gynecologist, the Honda car dealer--all prose poems that work best in performance to the assorted other things that cross my path.....so I'm writing about street people I notice or speak to---my take on my muse, "my muse smokes camel straights" is my line. I have a kajillion nursing home poems, eulogies, and other assorted death poems--and have moved on from that--for a while my family--parents, uncles--were dropping like flies and the big loss of my lover of 8 years who died suddenly. It took me a bit but I have written of that and continue to move on with memoir, Missoula poems, etc., etc.

Where does your unique sense of humor come from? It seems like poetry in general is lacking of smart humor.
My sense of humor comes from being a country girl and farmer's daughter. It's a dry wit. Well, if you are raised on a farm and your dad is raising wheat and barley your life depends on the weather and the bank--neither under one's control. Back in the days when banks were your friends--a long long time ago. Anyway, if you don't have a sense of humor in these circumstances you are not going to survive. I lease out farm land I have in Idaho--I receive a set amount yearly from the farmer who leases it--his wife asked me about poetry once and I tried to explain and she came up with a line I plan to steal, "oh, poetry is like farming--a lot of hard work and there is no money in it."

You've taught workshops for quite a while. Do you think people can be taught how to write poetry?

No, people cannot be "taught" to write poetry. They are either born poets or they are not. If they are born poets, teachers can save them time, give them some information about craft, and let them find their own voice. The teacher nor the poet knows exactly what "voice" means until it happens...my philosophy as a "teacher" is to make people think and then get out of their way.

Do you like doing readings?

Yes, I like doing readings--during my first, at the Long Goodbye, Walt Curtis and Marty Christensen were carrying on a loud conversation while I was reading, and I didn't even mind as I was shaking so badly that the poems were shaking and if I got that under control then my legs starting shaking. I was terrified but I did it and continued to do it until I got used to it. Teaching was helpful as I had to talk to students and give some instruction--this was teaching developmental education at Portland Community College--I had done quite a bit of acting in college, and even got a best actress award one year. But that was easy because it was other people's language not mine and I wasn't exposing myself. I don't worry about it anymore. I just do it. Let the chips fall where they may and go on.

Have you tried writing any short stories?
I had a brief very brief fling with fiction--took a class from Bill Kittredge and Rick DeMarinis at University of Montana. My idea of a long piece of fiction to bring to class was two pages double spaced. I learned something but I just don't know how fiction writers do it--maybe I'm too lazy but it is way too much for me to keep track of. I might have written a couple of good lines for a story but that's about it--I am now playing with a tiny tiny memoir of very short little vignettes with a title (working title) of The Me and Dickie Fargo Stories. They're the many things I remember with my only playmate growing--the nearest neighbor a mile away--I won't go into details as I'll lose my energy to write it if I start talking too much about it.

Who are your favorite poets these days?

My favorite poet today is Willie Nelson--it's difficult for me to read--I find poetry everywhere--song lyrics, conversations--overheard--I do read poetry waiting in doctor's offices--and mostly I try to read Poetry Magazine out of Chicago to see what people are doing. I like other people's work--my favorite thing to do is to go to a poetry reading with a copy of their book in my hand so I can follow them along. That way I am visually and auditorially connected and I learn a lot and enjoy it much more than reading something on the page cold. However, I have read a lot and I have kept a journal--handwrirtten of my favorite poems--which once again makes them indelible in my head.

Meat or fish?

Fish when I eat at a fancy place. Meat when I'm at the Nob Hill Tavern, where I get a steak and baked potato once in a while.