Title: Jean Valentine |
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Biography | |||
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Excerpt from Darktown Strutters |
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“I’m a tell you a story,” she said, facing the audience and standing on a portion of the rug. “It’s about a man trying to make his way but everywhere he turns the world is…” Before Zulema could say another word, the man holding the rug yanked it. She scrambled to keep from falling and the crowd fell out laughing every time the story called for the world to be pulled out from under her. But with each character she played who was down on his luck and attacked by villains that people hissed every time she twisted her handlebar mustache, there weren’t as many laughs in the audience as before. And by the time Zulema took her final fall, the truth underneath what was funny about how she fell could only hold enough laughs to fill a cup. |
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Responses | |||
Five Questions for Jean Valentine(Questions by Kelly O’Toole) Q1. Are there any major themes that run through the new poems in Door in the Mountain? A1. Love, loss, the life of the spirit. Q2. How has your writing changed over the years? A2. My poems have gotten shorter, and I suppose more fragmentary. Q3. To what extent do you think of your poetry as autobiographical? A3. To some extent, but only as a starting point. Q4. As a teacher, what advice do you give to young poets? A4. To follow their own voice, and not be too swayed by criticism or praise. Q5. What are you working on now? A5. A new collection of poems – I'm about halfway along I think. |