If I put some straw into the suitcase,
I'll always have a bed. Scraps of olive wood,
slow to light, dense, will burn all night.
Some hard pumpernickel for good gums.
A sad bundle of underwear. A leaf
dropped by a poor scrub oak to remind me.
It will be a long Monday when I go.
The alarm throbs inside me, the early news
is crowded with bodies returning.
I'm off to the front lines in the war to preserve
the privilege of myth-making,
the consternations of art, the nerve to think
the future and remember the past. Others
left their homes to sail and trek, to consort
with consorts and outsiders and so
learn the reaches of mankind's instinct
for survival. They breathed the fumes and ate
the stew. They lived among the heroic
who did not want another life, and if
they erred in creating bigger-than-life characters,
they broke bread with the unspeakable,
and that is worth something.
Marvin Bell has been called "an insider who thinks like an outsider," and his writing has been called "ambitious without pretension." He was for many years the Flannery O'Connor Professor of Letters at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and served two terms as the state of Iowa's first Poet Laureate. He has collaborated with composers, musicians, dancers and other writers, and is the originator of a form known as the "Dead Man" poem. His 23 books of poetry and essays include three books released in 2011: Vertigo: The Living Dead Man Poems, from Copper Canyon Press; Whiteout, a collaboration with the photographer Nathan Lyons, from Lodima Press; and a children's picture book from Candlewick Press (illustrations by Chris Raschka) based on the poem, "A Primer about the Flag." A CD is forthcoming of a song cycle, "The Animals," commissioned by the composer, David Gompper, which premiered in 2009. Mr. Bell lives mainly in Iowa City, Iowa, and Port Townsend, Washington. One can see a brief interview with him about writing in the "On the Fly" series at: YouTube.
This presentation of readings by the faculty of the Pacific University MFA Program were created by Jordan Carter, Jessica Just, and Michael Nelson, students in the MEDA 350 class of Spring 2012. We sought to add a beautiful, inspiring display of the wonderful stories and poems written by the MFA authors that engages the viewer's senses and imagination.
We went through several different designs before we reached the final product and spent many weeks brainstorming and trying new ideas. Once we worked out the kinks, our class collaborated with the program director, Shelley Washburn, and the authors to achieve the best design for everyone.
Our class learned all about project management, design, and the technical issues involved in a web project. Thank you for watching and listening. We hope you enjoy the works displayed here.
Terms of Service
This Site is owned and operated by Pacific University and the information and materials appearing on the Site ("the Content") are displayed for personal, non-commercial use only. All software used on this Site and all Content included on this Site (including without limitation Site design, text, graphics, audio and video and the selection and arrangement thereof) is the property of Pacific University or its suppliers and is protected by international copyright laws.
None of the Content may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, republished, posted, transmitted, stored, sold or distributed without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Modification of any of the Content or use of any of the Content for any purpose other than as set out herein (including without limitation on any other website or computer network) is prohibited.
Everything is laggy and slow, almost to the point of being unusable. What do I do?
The MFA Multimedia Project takes advantage of newer web technology that requires more computer power to run. We recommend at least the following:
Operating system: Windows XP SP2, Windows 7, Macintosh OSX Tiger and above
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 CPU, AMD
1 GB of RAM
There are problems with the display of the website.
Make sure you are using the latest version of your browser.
The MFA Multimedia Project relies on relatively new web technologies, and for these to function correctly, newer browsers are required. The names of the major browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. This should run without issue on the latest version of all of these, plus 2-3 versions older. If you are on Internet Explorer, consider trying a different browser, as IE has a history of failing to adhere to standards.
We went through several different designs before we reached the final product and spent many weeks brainstorming and trying new ideas. Once we worked out the kinks, our class collaborated with the program director, Shelley Washburn, and the authors to achieve the best design for everyone.