March 3,1988
THE LANCE
page II
Students Compete Gifford Finds Strength
for Chapbook in Simplicity
Beth Russo
Nine St. Andrews students have
entered their manuscripts for the 1988
Bunn-McClelland Chapbook Competition
in search of the coveted prize of being the
best prose and poetry writers St. Andrews
has to offer.
Each year, St Andrews Press
prints 300 copies of the winner’s boek,
funded solely by the Student Government,
in honor of two outstanding St. Andrews
writers, Alan Bunn and Jeannette McClel
land, both of who were tragically killed.
The series has been publishing since 1972
when there were two winners - Ames Ar
nold and Charles Gottenkeinney.
A professional off-campus judge
The St. Andrews Theater department is
presenting the popular Moss Hart and
George Kaufman play, You Can't Take It
With You, tonight, Friday night and
Saturday night at 8 p.m. in the LA Audi
torium.
The play is set in 1940s New York City
and revolves around eccentric Sycamore
family, particularly the budding romance
of Alice Sycamore and her boss' son, Tony
Kirby.
COPING HEARTS
Looks can kill emotions for real,
waiting for love and tears to spill.
Eyes that cry feelings shall die,
looking for hope I continue to try.
Thoughts can hurt pain that lurks,
hiding each tear hoping it works.
Hearts that bleed your love I need,
while you’re gon it’s easy to grieve.
is always used. This year a St. Andrews
alumni, Dan Meizell, a senior literary
agent at Curtis Brown Agency in New
York, and who has worked in publishing,
theater, and film, will be judging. This will
be the first year an alumni will do the
judging.
The contestants this year are:
Janice Adamson, Playing
With Guns & James Kristian Deal,
The Last Quarter-, Paul Dinkins,
Thickets & Thorns',]oe\Fnas,Love &
Other Feelings; Robert McLean, Zon
ing Ordinance-, Carolyn Moore, Can
Be Anything-, Jon Pargas, Ghost of
Myself -, Elizabeth Ross,/fa/nfrcc; and
David Southwood-Smith, My Dog
Ralph.
Junior Pam Coble plays Alice and
freshman Don Smith plays Tony. Scotland
County Library Director Lois Kilkka plays
Alice's nftother, while Rick Moser, minis
ter of Caledonia Methodist Church in
Laurinburg plays her father. Dr. D.K.
Beyer is the artistic and stage director.
Those who missed the Tuesday and
Wednesday dress rehersals or who have
not bought tickets already are out of luck.
All three performances are completely
sold out.
Beauty can shine love is divine,
jmpty souls that fall behind.
A boy that copes a girl his hope.
It’s now I know I want you most.
DEVO
Tanya Olson
Giotto’s Circle, a 1987 St
Andrews Press release, is a collection of
poetry both written and translated by
Barry Gifford, a poet, novelist, and
biographer from Chicago, Illinois. His
impressive list of endorsements, awards,
and prizes signifies his strength in the
form of prose, and Giotto’s Circle
proves his ability as a poet
The title poem conveniently ap
pears first in the book and serves to explain
the style of the rest Telling the story of
Giotto drawing a circle as an example of
his work for the Pope, Gifford seems to take
this example to heart
Gifford always seems to choose
the simplest word, yet it is always the
correct one for the situation. It is this power
of perfect word followed by perfect word
which gives his poetry the validity and
PAINFUL MEMORIES
My tears now fall so quickly
As I painfully recall:
the hours spent just driving,
and those long and lonely calls.
My mind goes back to a time
When our love was fresh and new.
And it seemed my only goal in life
ws to try to be with you.
All the hours we could spend
just “watching” the TV —
And the feeling we had met our match...
We’d found perfect harmony.
Our fights would never escalate
Because our love meant so much more.
There was nothing worth the love we’d
found
that we could ever both fight for.
I miss the man I once loved so...
although I think he’s still out there.
I miss the love that colored our lives,
and the closeness that we shared.
Right now, I feel so empty
as I think about our past:
I hate the thought of us giving up,
...hardest lessons being our last.
If I had a single wish tonight
It could only be for you...
to feel the same, to make it right:
just like we used to do.
MICHELE HAYES
sU^ength that makes it structurally and emo
tionally appealing. He takes this Zen-like
abilty even further in the selection of
poems entitled “Chinese Notes.” None of
these poems are longer than 50 words,
most are untitled, and they all seem to walk
the line between a type of haiku and a form
of imagism. The second section, “The
ParisA^enice Poems,” is the weak link of
the three sections, as the poems become
wordier and longer, denying Gifford’s
strong point seen in the other two sections.
The poetry itself, though, is inter
esting enough to drive the reader to the li
brary to investigate the historical allu
sions.
Overall, Giotto’s Circle is an
enjoyable book of poetry, and like its
author, contains many talents. Writers may
be drawn to it for its lessons in technique
and diction, but all will be drawn to it for its
memorable poetry.
roses smoulder in my head
leaves are stained with blood
from the thorns my love has bled
i’ve drowned in crimson flood
in darkness once i called her name
which echoed from the moon
a spark she tended into flame
love spoken none too soon
a time
to live to laugh to love to lie
to give too much or not at all
to dance in Hell to die to die
scream silence in the darkened hall
to play the fool one disattached
to dance along the edge
imagine wrists by razor slashed
or leaping from the bridge
to be unloved unlovable
exist confused in doubt
a mystery unsolvable
drunk rocking freaking out
and so the cycle always turns
and nothing is the same
yet in my soul the rose still bums
with all-consuming flame
so every moment i still dance
i court eternity
in fragments i await the chance
the search for unity
without the Breath to animate
there’s nothing i can do
so while i dance i also wait
and wait and wait for you
JON PARGAS
You Can t Take It With You
Opens Tonight
Quill & Ink
MS HEROIN You’ll swindle your motherjust for a buck
You ’ 11 turn into something vile and corrupt
If you think you have an hysterical hack
So riow young man you’ve grown tired of Then honey just try getting me off your
grass
LSD, goofballs, cocaine and hash T*'® hot chills, the cold sweat, the with-
And someone pretending to be a true friend drawal pain
Introduced you to me as, Ms. Heroin Can only be saved by my litde white grams
c ,,, . . You’ll solemnly run to the pusher and then
So one afternoon you 11 try me and then ,,,,,, . ,
, . ,,, . You llwelcomemebacktoyourarmsonce
Into your life, you II usher me m.
For once I’ve entered deep down in your , j , i i.
There s no other way and no need to look
veins
r . j • for deep down inside you’ll Know that
the feelmg will nearly dnve you insane , l ■ j
j, , u u you re hooked
you II need lots of money as you have been ^
^ ’ You 11 give me your conscience, your
, . . morale and your heart
cause doling I m much more expensive ^ ^
NORAMAH BURCH