Weber State College Comment, October 1988, Page 3 WSC dean named poet of the year ai twilight years of her life, a poem that spoke of a talent she never found time to develop. Years later that grandson sits ina stiff-backed chair in his office discussing what it means to be Utah Poet of the Year. “T like to write better than anything else,” said Dr. Sherwin W. Howard, dean of the Weber State School of Arts and Humanities. Sherwin W. ‘Howard homespun “Poetry ... lets you to talk about feelings that simple statements don’t allow.” “My wife always asks me when I’m going to take a vacation, and I tell her I am. I’m writing.” Dr. Howard was selected poet of the year by the Utah State Poetry Society, and Cedar City,” as he illustrates in Begin- the society recently published a collection of his poems in a book titled Sometime Voices. ‘Poetry is fun, interesting, challenging nings: Pictures in books suggest That I first stood grey and white and very rewarding when it works,” he said. On short black kodak grass The WSC dean is a playwright by profession, but noted that most early plays were written in verse. Dr. Howard has written poetry all his life, he said, and focuses on people and their relationships. “T try to tell stories in poems. I tend Parental evidence Tells how I cried at trains Of crayoned bedroom walls And infant oddities to write in the first person. should assume they’re The reader listening to His book is divided into three sections, the first of which deals with Dr. Howard’s early memories of life in Cedar City. “T remember seeing the pictures of my early life, but I really began to be me in the Utah Poetry truths, and balances pathos with humor.” Dr. Howard was 10 years writing the poems that comprise his current book, and entered the collection in a poetry contest sponsored by the poetry society. The resultant honor was a combination of luck and persistence, he said. “A surprising number of people write poetry. It’s a form of communication that Above the rumpled sheet I would not know : How lonely eight years old can feel Your mother held you on her lap For half an hour Before you told us why you cried And telling brought new tears to follow old Two lives had gone from us And yours had been — The only soul to sense the void and give Them proper mourning inanempty dark lets you talk about feelings that simple statements don’t allow,” he said. “One of the attractions of poetry, more There will be more, we said Cats are prolific naturally - than other form of literature, is its invitation to the voice and ear to savor conso- But though words Spirit was And being Your lone nants, rhythms, and even silences,” Dr. Howard wrote in the book's Most poetry should be read poems particularly, he said. words gives a sense of the preface. out loud, his Hearing the rhyme and rhythm and puts the reader in a better frame of mind to understand the essence But this is borrowed memory: I begin in Cedar City... of the poem. The second section consists of small- Kittens Were Given Away. a person speak,” he said. writes Society in the preface to the book. “This ' poet’s realistic yet restrained voice expresses sober themes in precise language, illustrates erudite observations with There will be more your ears could hear our unconvinced tucked once more in bed silence began again Damn quiet little deaths and reasoned sleep You knew that two who'd been would be no more “ Consider, for example, the emotions felt by this eight-year-old in The Night The town recollections, and the last part of the book deals with a polygamous family and At ten o'clock You should have been asleep is titled “Morrisundville: 1863 - 97.” His work is filled “with eloquent and emotionally honest glimpses into human Dr. Howard said that any artistic work needs an audience for it to be complete, and he has a word of advice for those who read his poetry. “Enjoy.” I came to tuck the baby in, not you And if I had not seen glistening eyes 4 eee ee iitien se Me le lsat lila i a experiences,” randmother Howard shared a poem with her grandson in the —campus puts on centennial birthday suit Volunteers landscape two sections In a throwback to the early days of the current campus, Weber State faculty, staff, students and administrators put down their pencils, turned off their computers and spent two afternoons using rakes and shovels. . The event—what President Stephen D. Nadauld referred to as a “work day”— of Weber used the volunteer labor in an after-hours effort to beautify areas of the campus that had previously not been landscaped. “They tore through there like army ants,” Pres. Nadauld said. The college scheduled one work day in April and another in May to prepare for the centennial celebration. Nearly 300 people, including members of the WSC football team, showed up for the first day to prepare an area south of the Science Laboratory Building for grass. About that same amount volunteered for the second work day and weeded, leveled, planted shrubs and prepared the ground for State grass seed in an area just east of the Stewart Library. ; “This is great,” Pres. Nadauld said. “Volunteer labor is such a tradition here at the college, and that spirit is still alive.” Students, faculty and staff did much of the original landscaping when the college moved to the current . site. Business also helped. The stone name plate at the front of the campus was constructed by local Rotary clubs. “We appreciate so much all the extras that those who work here do for the college, and this is a wonderful example,” he said. A Football players braved the heat of the afternoon spring sun to help WSC faculty and staff level an area south of the Science Laboratory Building. The area was soon after seeded with grass and now is a vibrant green lawn. <q A Garth Welch, executive director of business affairs, left his suit and tie in the office and joined with about 300 others for a second work day last fall. Volunteers weeded the area north of the Swenson Gymnasium, shrubs and grass. and planted ‘Dr. Carl Marti, a professor of zoology, joined other - faculty, staff, students and administrators in the first of two work days last spring. “This is great,” Pres. Nadauld said. “Volunteer labor is such a tradition here at the college, and that spirit is still alive.” The college plans more volunteer work days for next summer.