Daily
Nebraskan
Friday, January 14,1994
ArtscoEntertainment
To him,
anarchy is poetry
4incpln’$ literary community
has barely had time to cool off
from poet Allan Ginsberg’s
visit last spring.
Now Philip Levine arrives.
Political poet, urban poet,
people’s poet, anarchist —
Philip Levine has been called
all these and more.
However he is labeled, Levine is considered
by many to be one of the major American poets
alive. _
Levine will be reading his poems on Friday at
7:30 p.m. in Love Library’s Gallery of the Great
Plains Art Collection. The reading is free and
open to the public.
Levine was bom in Detroit in 1928 and
worked much of his life in various blue-collar
jobs. At 14, he began working to help fill the
labor gap left by World War II. This working
class background has heavily influenced his
writing.
Levine said he realized early that the people
he met in his daily life were missing from the
movies and literature of popular culture. He
made it his calling to fill that void.
Levine’s poems focus on the struggles of
everyday people, and in doing so, they some
times show the more negative sides of Ameri
can life.
Levine said these poems, his opposition to
the Korean War and his self-proclaimed anar
chism are not anti-American.
He calls himself a “former anarchist1
and clarifies that “the element that at
tracted me to anarchism was the notion that
all of life is sacred.”
Levine said he believes that his writing, and
all writing, is political. He said everything we
do or don’t do is a political statement.
“Refusing to be affected by the condition
of the world around you, that’s a political
act. That’s lackeyism.”
Levine worked full-time in Detroit
and received his undergraduate degree
from a small city college. He later re
ceived his master of fine arts degree
from the University of Iowa, where he
studied under Robert Lowell and John
Berryman.
Levine said he believes a good work
ethic is as important for a poet as it is for
a factory worker. He also said one of the
most difficult things to do is wait.
In an interview printed in his book
“Don’t Ask,” he said, “I’ve learned you
have to do nothing. You have to be silent
and see if the voice will enter you.”
Levine said he does not worry about
acceptance from either popular cul
ture or the academic world.
“When you sit down to write po
etry you try to do the best job you
can. You have a responsibility to
See LEVINE on 10
m msmmm wm
James Mehsling/DN
Forget Reading Chapter One—it’s time to unwind
ety renever iu me.
But if your en
ergy level from
the first week of
school has re
bounded into that
close-to-end-of
the-semester low,
consider doing
something that
doesn’t require
dancing the night
was just crazy.”
Sounds like a good first-week anxi
p-———-1 ety reliever to me.
But if your en
ergy level from
the first week of
school has re
bounded into that
close-to-end-of
the-semester low,
consider doing
something that
doesn’t require
uaiicmg me iiigui
away.
Besides great movies such as “The
Piano and bhadowlands showing
this weekend, two small theaters are
putting on plays that are worth check
ing out.
Off Broadway, On Lincoln, the
theater in The Coffee House at 1324 P
St., features “The Country Girl,” its
first full-length production, this week
end.
Ron Silver, director of the drama,
said the play was about an actor’s fall
from and return to stardom.
“This play, written in the 40s, was
way ahead of its time because it dealt
with alcoholism,” Silver said. “We’ve
modernized the play.”
“The Country Girl” will show Fri
day through Sunday each weekend
until January 30th. Student tickets are
$5.50.
In the next three months, the the
ater, which opened in November, will
put on three shows.
If you’re headed east this weekend,
The Magic Theatre at 325 S. 16th St.
in Omaha is putting on a comedy
called “Belches on Couches.”
Rose Marie Whiteley, theater
manager, said the show dealt with the
role of television in Americans’ lives.
‘“Belches’ examines intuitive
thinking as an evolutionary possibility
for the American couch potato.”
“Belches” will show this weekend
and next, Whiteley said. Student tick
ets are $7.
How do you spell relief from that
first-week mental drain?
Belches?
P.O. Pears?
I don’t know about you, but I spell
it R & R.
Sarah Duey is a senior news-editorial
major and the Arts & Entertainment editor.
