Lots going on in town

By Barry Vitcov

This week, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens its 90th season with productions of “Julius Caesar,” “Jitney,” “The Importance of Being Ernest,” and “Fat Ham.” William Shakespeare, August Wilson, and Oscar Wilde are all familiar names at OSF. James Ijames is a new voice with “Fat Ham,” the 2022 Pulitzer Prize–winning take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Who doesn’t like a season beginning with a play where a ghost appears at a family BBQ and demands revenge for his murder? This season unfolds with what promises to be OSF’s always unique productions with lots of familiar and new faces in the OSF Company.

Ashland is experiencing its annual renewal with theater and a busy street scene. Today’s Poetry Corner features two poems that capture the energy of our theater-rich community and the joy of people-watching on the downtown Plaza.

Thanks to those of you who have already submitted poems to the Poetry Corner. Your support has helped to expand the reach of poetry throughout Southern Oregon. And, from what we’ve heard, even beyond! Recently, a local poet, suggested that we might help celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with poetry. Of course, we are fortunate to live in a community rich in theater offerings: OSF, Rogue Theater Company, Cabaret Theatre, Camelot Theatre, Collaborative Theatre Project, Barnstormers Theater and other smaller theater companies, including our university and high school programs.

So, how about it? Let’s use OSF’s 90th anniversary to celebrate the richness of live theater in Southern Oregon.

Submissions may be sent to [email protected]

May We Always Play This Way

By Jill Rothman

Like a masterpiece,
hung in a gallery, for viewing,
theaters tell our stories.
Sitting together, in the audience,
or on a bench, as in a museum,
we see wisdom, beauty,
humor, and tragedy,
mirrored before us.
Chaos can be organized,
sorrow understood,
and perhaps dissipated,
joy characterized and multiplied.
For theirs and our amusement,
for theirs and our learning,
for theirs and our healing,
writers write.
We are grateful to them,
and to the performers,
the directors, the production experts,
artists who bring the words to play.
Like observing skillfully applied paint,
on framed and displayed canvas,
we can sit at a distance.
Be seen, cherished, and embraced,
without touch.

Jill Rothman was born and raised in N.Y.C. She graduated from the H. S. of Music and Art in Manhattan, Antioch in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and has a Masters from Southern Oregon University. She is a poet, a writer, a painter, a creator of a successful greeting card line (onewomansart.com), a singer, a songwriter and more and less than that. Her family, friends and students are her treasures. Jill has had a thrilling and varied teaching career and taught in Ohio; Portland, Oregon; and for many years at Briscoe School in Ashland, Oregon. She sang jazz standards in clubs, performed with the Siskiyou Singers, the SOU Jazz Choir, Rogue World Ensemble and Plain Folk for a total of decades. For nine years, she has been living in Talent, Oregon after 33 years of living and creating in Ashland, Oregon.

Moments in the Plaza

By Andy Anderson

park bench
sitting
watching
woman pushing a baby buggy
not mine – relief!
off leash dog sniffing
seems content
dropped ice cream
long line of black ants
no breeze
blue feather
flutters down
young woman parades
more naked than not
Burrito Republic line of four
Mix Coffee a longer line
Lithia water fountain
tourists drink and spit
two men hand-in-hand
Dorothy with dog
searches for Oz
young man in burlap
god impersonator
old woman Shakespeare dressed
for me a busy day
invisible

Andy Anderson moved to Ashland eight years ago from Sacramento. He has lived two years in Cold War Europe, Austria and Spain, and two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Southern Chile. His life’s work was as a director of tribal and community health centers. He began writing poetry in 1978, inspired by Charles Bukowski’s numerous poetry chapbooks. Andy’s collection of poetry “Groundhog Café” is available from Amazon or Bloomsbury Books.

Poetry Submissions Welcomed!

You are invited to submit original work to the Poetry Corner. There are only two restrictions: First, poems need to show a connection to Ashland and/or Southern Oregon. Your interpretation of that connection is fairly loose! Second, poems need to be aligned to the left margin. The publishing platform used by Ashland.news has issues with the creative use of space! There are no length restrictions but try to keep your poems to no more than 30 lines. Be sure to include the title of your poem, your name as you would like it to appear, the city or town in which you reside, and, if you wish, your preferred pronouns.

To submit poems, send to Barry Vitcov at [email protected].