{"id":896,"date":"2009-08-13T19:27:54","date_gmt":"2009-08-13T19:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=896"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:50:39","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:50:39","slug":"7243","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/08\/13\/7243\/","title":{"rendered":"Writer Shocked to Hear Poem Read by Garrison Keillor"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA BARBARA, CA (August 13, 2009) \u2013 Paul Willis had just returned home from walking the family dog and was in a hurry to get to a meeting at Montecito Covenant Church<\/a>, where he attends. His wife, Sharon, suggested he might want to slow down.
\n
\n\u201cI think you\u2019d like to listen to The Writer\u2019s Almanac<\/em> today,\u2019\u201d said Sharon, who already had tuned in earlier. Sharon listens to the program online every day. Paul, an English professor at Westmont University, listens frequently but had not heard that day\u2019s episode.<\/p>\n

\"Willis\"The five-minute program that also is aired on many public radio stations features Garrison Keillor sharing information about authors and other artists born on that day, and then he reads a poem or two. To make Sharon happy, Paul stopped to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was impatiently listening to all the writers\u2019 birthdays,\u201d Paul says. Then he was shocked by what he heard – Keillor read one of Paul\u2019s poems, \u201cCommon Ground.\u201d Click here<\/a> to listen to Keillor\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n

The Willises had listened to Keillor, who also hosts A Prairie Home Companion<\/em>, every week for 30 years. This was the first time he had read one of Paul\u2019s works.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommon Ground<\/a>,\u201d which Paul composed 15 years ago, was included in Visiting Home<\/em>, a book of his poetry released last year. The publisher had sent the book to Keillor.<\/p>\n

Paul says the radio personality has had a major influence on him. \u201cI\u2019ve had Garrison Keillor\u2019s voice in the back of my head when I write,\u201d Willis says. \u201cI probably had his voice there when I wrote the poem 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Keillor\u2019s interpretation of \u201cCommon Ground,\u201d Paul says, \u201cHe read it very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like \u201cCommon Ground\u201d, much of Paul\u2019s work is rooted in a specific location. He told an interviewer last year that, \u201cA poem, then, can become a way of connecting myself to a specific place, a way of naming that connection – and specific places can be a means of sacramental connection to God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple will be moving into a new place in November. The university-owned home the couple lived in was destroyed by the Tea Fire that raged through Santa Barbara County last November. Their new home should be completed this November.<\/p>\n

Paul holds to Sharon\u2019s perspective, who has encouraged him, \u201cLet\u2019s just think of it as a very extensive remodeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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