Monday, December 01, 2008

Familiar sights and sounds can be found in Modestan's first full book of poetry

By LISA MILLEGAN
lmillegan@modbee.com

last updated: March 02, 2008 06:45:12 AM

Life rarely works out as planned. For better or worse, most of us end up having experiences we never imagined.

That's the theme of "The Opposite of Clairvoyance" (Sixteen Rivers Press, $15), a book of poetry by Modesto prize-winning poet Gillian Wegener.

The slim volume features 52 poems, some inspired by the valley.

"The poems are based on real life," said Wegener, who teaches English at Oakdale Junior High School. "They're based on being at Latif's (restaurant) in Turlock, something funny my daughter says."

Wegener, 40, covers a lot of other topics, too, including highway signs, birds, divorce, the Kabul Zoo and, as one poem puts it, a strip joint that is open all week.

She is a two-time winner of the top poetry prize awarded by the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Foundation, winning $10,000 last year and $7,500 this year.

Her poems also have been published in numerous journals, including Runes, English Journal and In the Grove. In the Grove Press published her chapbook, "Lifting One Foot, Lifting the Other," in 2001.

But this is her first full book of poetry, a major milestone. Wegener's work was one of two out of 20 chosen for publication.

"It's very exciting," she said. "It feels kind of unreal."

Wegener learned about Sixteen Rivers Press at poetry workshops in the Bay Area.

Because the San Francisco company is a poetry collective, she must take a more active role in the business side. All published poets are required to work for the collective for three years.

Wegener attends business meetings once or twice a month and evaluates submitted poems.

"It's hard to get anything published," she said. "This is a good way for people to get their work in the world in a professional manner."

Raised in New York state until age 9, Wegener grew up all over the country, living in Eureka, Arizona and San Diego. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Humboldt State University and a master's in writing from the University of San Francisco. She is married to Davis High School English teacher Joe Orlando.

As a junior high teacher, one of her main goals is to get her students comfortable with poetry.

"I think poetry freaks people out," she said. "They think they're not going to get it or it will be too dark. Poetry is part of everyday life."

She used some of her prize money last year to buy poetry books for Oakdale school libraries and tried to pick a range of selections to suit a variety of tastes.

Many of the poems in Wegener's book are personal. One of her favorites is the last one, "Perspective," about how she learned to better appreciate the valley from learning about crops and farming.

"All of that knowledge helps to create a home," she said. "You begin to become a part of it."

She also especially likes "Reflections," inspired by her family members' experience commuting to Manhattan.

Though many of Wegener's poems draw on her own experiences, she thinks readers will relate to them.

"I hope the poems connect to their lives in some way," she said.

Bee arts writer Lisa Millegan can be reached at lmillegan@modbee.com or 578-2313.

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