Interview With Former LBCC Student Poet Laureate
Former Student Poet Laureate Dari Lawrie said farewell to Linn-Benton Community College at the end of the spring 2016 term. She’ll be going into her senior year as an English undergraduate at OSU, and will be applying to master’s programs in creative writing after graduating. After college Lawrie plans on teaching English and writing at a community college.Q: What inspired you to become the student poet laureate?
A: My best friend works with the elderly and she would tell me a lot of stories about things she encountered while she was caring for elderly people. A lot of things around how their identity was disappearing gradually with dementia. It just made me feel like it would be really great to do something that was around the topic of identity for some of the elders in our community; who are sort of disappearing in pieces. So I came up with this idea for “Life in Art;” of having student writers and photographers interview elderly people in our community, then write a part of their life story down. And also taking portrait pictures, or maybe painting a portrait of them as well.
Q: Can you tell a little about the projects throughout your time as a student poet laureate, and which ones have been your favorite?
A: I would have to say it would’ve been that first project we did. I was working with a gentleman named Larry, who was 100-years-old. We both shared a favorite poem, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” We just had such a lovely connection, and he was very funny. When he came to the reception and heard me read his poem he cried. It was the last time he left his house, so it was really special for me. He died a few weeks later. It just felt like ‘what a lovely connection you can have with somebody that you might never have met.’ But we’ve done a lot of things, and a lot of the things we do were established long before I came. We do ekphrasis projects every year, where we work with artists. Basically our art talk to each other. To me it’s all about community anyway, when you have artists working together in the community it just seems more powerful as an art form. It’s just new ways to connect with each other.
Q: What is the process of workshopping like in poetry club?
A: It’s a very personal thing; it’s an art form. So workshopping is this really delicate process. You have to sort of look at yourself while you’re doing it too, and try to make sure that you’re not putting your ideas on to something. Sort of just helping that person clear the way so their ideas come out more strongly.
Q: So that it’s still their voice, and not becoming yours?
A: Right. Listening is the most important part of what we do in poetry club. Actively listening to somebody’s poem is really healing I think for that person. But it’s also really healing for me, because I can actually be surprised by something that I might not have seen before. It just leaves a lot of space in the room for things to happen. I would say that’s the thing I’ve gotten from poetry club, just open actively listening.
Q: Why do you want to teach at a community college?
A: I feel like community college is a place where you can make more of a difference as a teacher. My interest is in teaching, not in research or being published, which is sort of an expectation of a university professor. I really like the community I have found here at LBCC.
Q: Have you always wanted to be a teacher?
A: Yes, I’ve always been a teacher. I taught kindergarten and I’ve taught first through sixth grade.
Q: You’re from Australia, right?
A: I’m from Australia. I traveled a lot after high school, and I spent almost four years in India. I traveled in Europe and Asia, then I went back to Australia periodically. Then I met an American man, got married, moved to Oregon, and had children. Then got divorced but stayed, because of my children. So I’ve been here for 20 years.
A: Right now, my favorite book, that changes constantly is “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. I’m enjoying American novelists from minority backgrounds, like Junot Diaz, Toni Morrison, N. Scott Momaday.
Q: If you could describe your poetry style how would you describe it?
A: I was just so tired of writing about myself all the time. So I started writing more external poems, and I actually think those are better. I think there’s a lot of different ways you can enter them. For me it was starting with myself. Now I’m really consciously trying not to just write poems about how I feel, although I still do. I feel like using it for a purpose is helpful; saying things that need to be said.
Q: Anything else you’d like to share about your experience as poet laureate?
Poet laureateship, the way I see it, is more of a service position. I think it’s more about how you can support other people in your community. Giving students opportunities and raising them up in a sense, valuing the arts, and the power of poetry. Really Robin Havenick is the reason there’s a beating heart of poetry in our school. She’s one of those people who seem to find the very best in everyone and then celebrate that. It makes it easy to want to be good, easy to shine, because she believes in you.
Q: Why do you want to teach at a community college?
A: I feel like community college is a place where you can make more of a difference as a teacher. My interest is in teaching, not in research or being published, which is sort of an expectation of a university professor. I really like the community I have found here at LBCC.
Q: Have you always wanted to be a teacher?
A: Yes, I’ve always been a teacher. I taught kindergarten and I’ve taught first through sixth grade.
Q: You’re from Australia, right?
A: I’m from Australia. I traveled a lot after high school, and I spent almost four years in India. I traveled in Europe and Asia, then I went back to Australia periodically. Then I met an American man, got married, moved to Oregon, and had children. Then got divorced but stayed, because of my children. So I’ve been here for 20 years.
Q: Favorite book?
A: Right now, my favorite book, that changes constantly is “Beloved” by Toni Morrison. I’m enjoying American novelists from minority backgrounds, like Junot Diaz, Toni Morrison, N. Scott Momaday.
Q: If you could describe your poetry style how would you describe it?
A: I was just so tired of writing about myself all the time. So I started writing more external poems, and I actually think those are better. I think there’s a lot of different ways you can enter them. For me it was starting with myself. Now I’m really consciously trying not to just write poems about how I feel, although I still do. I feel like using it for a purpose is helpful; saying things that need to be said.
Q: Anything else you’d like to share about your experience as poet laureate?
Poet laureateship, the way I see it, is more of a service position. I think it’s more about how you can support other people in your community. Giving students opportunities and raising them up in a sense, valuing the arts, and the power of poetry. Really Robin Havenick is the reason there’s a beating heart of poetry in our school. She’s one of those people who seem to find the very best in everyone and then celebrate that. It makes it easy to want to be good, easy to shine, because she believes in you.
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