KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Poems that have been penned by writers with a strong connection to the Klamath Basin will be featured in a presentation at noon Friday, Feb. 2, at the Klamath County Museum.
The program, titled “A Poet’s Perspective: History and Poetry in the Klamath Basin” is offered as part of the museum’s Free First Friday event. Admission fees will be waived during extended hours, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.
Museum visitors are welcome to bring their lunch to eat during the noon poetry presentation.
“Many poets have lived in the Klamath Basin, and many poems have been written about the Klamath Basin,” said Katie Snow, registration technician for the museum and organizer of the program. “This presentation will highlight some of the more historically significant poems of the area.”
Examples of topics that have inspired local poets range from life in the Japanese segregation center at Tule Lake to the special brand of humor enjoyed by loggers.
“We’d like to invite people to explore how poetry and history have intersected in our community, and learn what insight these poems can give as we look towards the past,” Snow said.
Friday’s presentation will include a reading of excerpts from poems written by O.C. Applegate, Laura Chiloquin, Dorothea E. McAnulty, Winfield H. Cahill, Geffrey Davis, W.B. Shea, Charlie Hurst, Muin Otokichi Ozaki, Violet Kazue de Cristoforo, Lawson Fusao Inada, Ron Crete, Shuina Sko, Donald Zane Underwood and Teresa Rennick.
For more information contact the museum at (541) 882-1000.
This sketch appears in a book produced by the late well-known Klamath tribal member Edison Chiloquin. A poem from the book will be read during a presentation at noon Friday, Feb. 2, at the Klamath County Museum.
