Oxnard College felt the rhythm of sex and death with the poetry reading “Voyeur Hour” on Wednesday.
In celebration of National Poetry Month, Oxnard College presented “Voyeur Hour”, a poem by poet Elena Byrne, as part of the Literature, Arts and Lecture Series.
Byrne read poetry from three of her books: “The Flammable Bird,” “Masque,” and her forthcoming “This Fable Language.”
“I think it is always good to start with sex and death,” said Byrne. “It is the closest I get to being funny. The themes you often see in films are sex and death; psychologists say they are alike and visceral subjects.”
Byrne is an artist, teacher, editor, poetry consultant, and moderator for the L.A. Times Festival of Books, a former regional director of the Poetry Society of America and the Literary Programs Director for the Ruskin Art Club. She won the Pushcart Prize in 2008 for her works.
Shelley Savren, the organizer for the poetry reading, is also a poet and loved how Byrne presented her work.
“I loved it, I go to several poetry reads a month,” said Savren. “I liked her use of language, her persona, and her reference to other writers, Gerald Stern and Stanly Kunitz, who have obviously influenced her own poetry and my own.”
“She is well versed in literature and art.”
A few of the poems that Byrne read include “Palms,” “The Service of Life,” “Red” and “T.V.” She went into a deep explanation of the “Masque,” which is mostly persona poems, written in the voice of another, with a few poems that are abstract in design.
“I find that writing persona poems is very empowering,” said Byrne. “One has to research the object that opens a different view of the field. The natural music of the words form and so, I listen to the words.”
An Oxnard College student majoring in Philosophy, Jose Arredondo, 24, took note of Byrne’s poetry style.
“I enjoyed the read through the way she talks and explains how she is inspired to write poems,” said Arredondo. “She looks like she has a lot of patience for poetry.”
After the read, Bryrn autographed and sold copies of her books, “The Flammable Bird” and “Masque.”
