John Lane Opens Sundown Poetry Series in Dock Street Theatre Courtyard
BY VARUNI SINHA Special to The Post and Courier
May 28 2015 4:57 pm
The Dock Street Theatre courtyard opened the Piccolo Spoleto Sundown Poetry Series today with John Lane, of Spartanburg. Lane has authored several books of poetry and prose, inspired in part by his love of nature. “The Old Rob Poems” (2015) and award winning “Abandoned Quarry: New & Selected Poems” are two of the books Lane revisited this week in Charleston. His first novel, “Fate Moreland’s Widow,” was recently reviewed in The Post and Courier.
Lane’s interest in environmental science and literature allow him to teach interdisciplinary courses at Wofford College that merge the humanities and sciences. His poetry, like his life, encompasses many moods and flavors. Lane’s experiences include years as a chef and white water kayaking.
He joked that he might suffer from “literary ADD,” which is why he never sticks to a specific genre. His poetry can be about the crocodile hunts he embarks upon with his biologist friends, or the first time he saw wild horses gesture with a “swift nod of freedom.”
At 15, Lane wrote poems about an invented 80-year-old man called Rob, a simpleton from the mountains who lamented social change. On visiting a Walmart store for the first time, Rob “notices how his niece walks aisles, as his great grandfather must have walked under Chestnut trees.”
The series schedule also includes Valerie Nieman, Joseph Zealberg, Quitman Marshall, Kendra Hamilton, Warren Slesinger, Julia Koets and John Repp. The intimate courtyard is an ideal setting where sparrows chirp, the evening breeze flows and flowers lean toward the resonating voice of the poet.
Published in The Post and Courier on May 28, 2015 at 4.57 pm
Available Link
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150528/PC2106/150529277/1093&source=RSS
