Poet Ben C
We were young , and had no idea who Sam was at the time . He taught our poetry workshop that particular year — stepped in because the poet they had scheduled backed out at the last minute . After the workshop , until I moved to Kansas for the first time at age eighteen , I used to drive from Spokane over to Seattle , take the ferry up to Port Townsend and stay at the youth hostel in Ft . Warden . Once , when the hostel was full , I just slept on the grass in the park . I would show up at Copper Canyon and ask if I could talk to Sam . He talked to me ! He did this several times - just let me into his office , interrupted his work , gave me free books from the press , and talked to me about poetry . I ’ d get back into my parents ’ car and drive home . I was so clueless — embarrassingly clueless — but it seemed to work out . I tried to thank Sam for all of this at a recent AWP conference in Seattle . He had absolutely no idea who I was .
I ’ m not sharing all this about not receiving funds by way of a complaint , by the way , but to illustrate how much the arts community has changed in Spokane . I can ’ t imagine that happening to a young poet in our city today . There are so many talented younger poets here , like Lauren Gilmore , and Ben Read - countless others . Even with the growing , thriving arts community in Spokane , I hope that we don ’ t lose our piss and vinegar .
This may be borderline inappropriate to share , but after the high school turned me down when I asked for funds , and I was nervous about going to Centrum , Mary Ann gave me some very particular advice about dealing with the west side poets . She told me :
“ don ’ t worry about them — they ’ re going to seem like they know what they ’ re doing , but being a poet , or an artist , is easy over there . Most of them will quit , because they ’ re more interested in being a poet than in making poems . If you ’ re a poet over here , you have to defend what you ’ re doing all the time . Being a poet here means you ’ re stubborn enough to stick with it , because almost everyone you meet is going to turn their nose up at you , and ask you how you make money at it .”
Granted , I think Mary Ann was trying to psyche me up for the trip , but her advice helped me a lot when I was starting out . I think it ’ s hard to be a poet anywhere , though , and always has been . Also , I love the west side and the east side of our state , especially after so many years living away from it .
Ben has been very productive since returning to Spokane to teach at Gonzaga . His first book , After Our Departure , was chosen by Nance Van Winckel as the winner of the Powder Horn Prize and was published in October 2016 by Sage Hill Press . He has a flash fiction story in the current issue of Crab Creek Review , and a poem in Prick of the Spindle . He is a collaborator with Spokane poet Emily Gwinn on a poetry manuscript titled Additional Lyrics that incorporates found images , and lyrics from traditional American folk songs .
“ I have focused on poetry the most in my career , but I also have a keen interest in speculative fiction . I write it , and I teach it . I have taught courses in feminist and environmental utopias . I also taught a course on the Science Fiction novel for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas . This spring , I am teaching a course on Afrofuturism at Gonzaga . So far , I have only written a few speculative poems , but I think the questioning that is at the heart of Science Fiction literature overlaps with my approach to poetics . I also collaborate with Lindsey Merrell . I took a course on print making that Lindsey taught at the Spokane Art School , and I ’ ve started experimenting with creating my own block print illustrations for my poetry , and my fiction .”
36 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE