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Chris Olander |
J. Chris Olander is a poet and bio/educator who has been writing since 1980
and teaching for California Poets In the Schools since 1984. His poetry has
appeared in anthologies, two chapbooks, radio and TV performances and readings
from Seattle to San Diego---Hawaii to New Mexico; a tape/CD, Mass Man's Epiphanies,
was produced in 1997.
"I am called a spoken word performance poet; I call it action art, blending
drama, mime, poetry, song and music from oral bardic traditions using myth,
symbolism, images and characters such as the trickster and shadow. More dynamic
than listening to a recording or reading, i act out and become the poem.
"My work concerns human relationships with environments and spirtual matters.
I extract images from contemporary events using mystical, mythic and surrealistic
techniquest to create mirrors of reality: humorous to sorrowful, always enlightening.
Poetry is life experiences in words and has the power to heal and transform
one's way of life. After exploring the Sierras from 1972-76, I studied humanities
and fine arts, graduating with honors from Saint Martin's College and C.S.U.S.
with an M.A. in Creative Writing.
"I am a sound poet technician, exploring how similar syllable sounds and
rhythms in various patterns enhance image phrasings to create emotional, mental,
spiritual and physical meanings and responses in listeners and readers, even
when rapidly produced---like scat---consciously unintelligible at times, yet
subconsciously intelligible so as to affect the listener. I enjoy exploring
the various meanings of words depending on how they are spoken using tones,
volumes and expressions of body.
"Presently, I explore mythic archetypes in every day events and the relationships
between humans, plants and animals. This work is concerned with re-establishing
the integrity and respect between humans and what is called 'the Other' of the
natural world that much of civilized suburbanization has shut out.
"Poetry creates mirrors from life experiences that allow people the power
to learn, heal and transform their lives; it is a way of life. The arts are
a necessity for learning in school curriculums. Time after time, working with
CPITS students, a student suddenly realizes his or her unique beauty and self
worth from a poem written in class!"
CHRIS OLANDER jcjb@nccn.net
E Major
Tonight, I walk Its fumes
gathering moon petals splashing headland stone----
Bless them and our cliffs dissolve----
Their words speak shadows across sand
burn intensity like stars
pulsing this dark God's Void----
And when dawn's birds fall from Its twilight
to peck our shells scattered across this darkling shore
on farther shores, we peck out Its night!
The waves carve our gilded sky
in ebb sand I commune with mist
collect shells and decorate seascapes----~Chris Olander 2003
Unsaid Words
He who will let his woman walk
into her estranged fancies----
picking wild rose blooms
from the thicket's thornest tendrils
yet, still stands where she left him
quiet, a sage for her return
and with untroubled hands
tends her bleeding fingers
know this----the hardest thing to learn!~Chris Olander 2003
SCHOOLS & COMMUNITY_________________________
California Poets In the Schools Teacher
South Valley High School
Potter Valley High School
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