Participation Type
Reading
Session Title
Session 10.13 Literature, Poetry, and Song
Presentation #1 Title
These Tunes, This Circle (poetry reading)
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Abstract: My great-grandfather Tom was an old-time dance fiddler, and his daughter (my grandmother Tilly) was his accompanist as well as a fine singer and player in her own right. She passed his memory and his fiddle on to me, as well as the passion they shared for playing music with one another. In turn, I’ve passed the music and the passion on to my own son Jacob (now a professional mandolin player). Before he went full-time on the road, he and I logged thousands of miles and played hundreds of dates together, working everything from major bluegrass festivals to little churches and economically challenged nursing care facilities. During a sabbatical a few years ago, I forced myself to read through all my published work. What I discovered was that after publishing several hundred poems of various sorts in various journals, the only ones that mattered much to me were those that centered on musical relationships, with my grandmother, with my son, and with friends found along the way. So I gathered these pieces into a collection called These Tunes, This Circle, and, if you find a place for me, I’ll be reading from it for my presentation.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Bill Jolliff teaches English at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. His poems, reviews, critical articles, and songs have been published in a variety of academic journals and magazines, including Appalachian Studies, Southern Poetry Review, Southern Humanities Review, and Poet Lore.
These Tunes, This Circle (poetry reading)
Corbly Hall 354
Abstract: My great-grandfather Tom was an old-time dance fiddler, and his daughter (my grandmother Tilly) was his accompanist as well as a fine singer and player in her own right. She passed his memory and his fiddle on to me, as well as the passion they shared for playing music with one another. In turn, I’ve passed the music and the passion on to my own son Jacob (now a professional mandolin player). Before he went full-time on the road, he and I logged thousands of miles and played hundreds of dates together, working everything from major bluegrass festivals to little churches and economically challenged nursing care facilities. During a sabbatical a few years ago, I forced myself to read through all my published work. What I discovered was that after publishing several hundred poems of various sorts in various journals, the only ones that mattered much to me were those that centered on musical relationships, with my grandmother, with my son, and with friends found along the way. So I gathered these pieces into a collection called These Tunes, This Circle, and, if you find a place for me, I’ll be reading from it for my presentation.
