[New-Poetry] Poet Gregory Orr to speak and teach at Atheneum

[jforjames at aol.com]

http://www.nantucketindependent.com/news/2008/0827/the_arts/029.html

Poet Gregory Orr to speak and teach at Atheneum 
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER 

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Gregory Orr has had to endure three major tragedies in his life. Instead of letting those events destroy him, he allowed his emotions to be a driving force behind his creativity. 


Orr, an acclaimed poet who is considered a master of short verse, will host a poetry writing workshop at the Atheneum on August 30 and present a poetry reading there on August 31. 

Orr was born in Albany, N.Y. and was raised in the Hudson Valley. When he was 12 he went deer hunting with his father, older brother and two younger brothers. After they shot a deer they all gathered around it. Orr thought his rifle was empty, but it went off and killed one of his younger siblings who was standing next to him. 


"Poetry is a challenge to meaning. I think poetry is using language and imagination to restabilize the self. As such, it has an incredible survival value. It helps people to live," said Orr, who began writing after the accident. "It was an extreme example of meaning. There was violence, there was loss, and there was trauma through the whole family. At the age of 12, I explained this huge vacuum of meaning. The day my brother died, someone said to me, 'Your brother is alive in heaven with Jesus.' I had a conventional meaning system before that, but that [event] just destroyed it." 


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