Willis to Reflect on the Power of Poetry

Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Paul Willis shares several of his poems and his thoughts about a poet’s place in our community at “A Poetry Reading and Reflection” on Thursday, April 12, at 5:30 p.m. in the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St. The event, part of Westmont Downtown: Conversations about Things that Matter, is free and open to the public. Tickets are not needed, although the limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please call 565-6051.

“I hope to feature several poems I have written in the past year about our shared life in Santa Barbara,” Willis says. “And I’d like to report on what it may mean to be a poet to and for a community.”

Willis, Westmont professor of English, was installed as Santa Barbara Poet Laureate last April. He earned a doctorate in English at Washington State University and has taught at Westmont since 1988. Last year, he published a revised version of his first novel, “No Clock in the Forest,” together with three sequels, in a single book, “The Alpine Tales.” His most recent collections of poetry are “Rosing from the Dead” (WordFarm, 2009) and “Visiting Home” (Pecan Grove Press, 2008). Willis also worked with former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate David Starkey to edit “In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare” (University of Iowa Press, 2005).

Willis says he hopes to leave the audience thinking about themselves. “If a poem about my own experience lands correctly, it can awaken a lost moment of the listener’s own experience — which then becomes our common experience,” he says. “Through a few shared words, a metaphor, we can shake hands.”

The lecture series is sponsored by the Westmont Foundation, which hosts the annual President’s Breakfast in Santa Barbara to promote discussion and consideration of current issues among local community leaders.