Tucson poet Gene Twaronite is always thinking about poetry. “Since a poem can come from anywhere, I’m ever alert to whatever prompts life sends me. It could be a painful memory, an intense feeling about a political event, a reaction to a piece of artwork or music, a quote from a book, or the soft tickety sound a candy wrapper makes as it blows down the street.”
He's been writing and publishing for over 50 years, starting out with stories in Highlights for Children and creating essays and columns for local newspapers (including 5enses years ago). Poetry, though, wasn’t on his radar until much later. “The few poems I read in high school and college seemed written in such esoteric language, as if meant only for some ivory-tower priesthood of readers and critics.” But that changed when he began reading modern and contemporary poets like Billy Collins, Ted Kooser, Kay Ryan, Elizabeth Bishop, and others. These poets opened up a creative door for him. “They have each influenced me differently: by the way they use humor, rhyme, or sound; how they address the times they live in; the various forms they employ, and the ways they tell the stories of their lives.” The examples of other poets have allowed him to try different styles and forms.
“There are so many ways to write poetry, and these poets taught me to not be afraid to experiment with forms, even the most challenging. I don’t think you can write good poetry without reading a wide variety of poems — poems that not only inspire you, but even ones that you can’t understand or don’t like.”
Over the last 20 years Gene has published several books of fiction and four books of poetry. “I’m drawn by poetry’s need for conciseness, using as few words as I can to convey an emotion or story. For me, writing a poem is like a puzzle I must solve that takes over my brain in a delightful way.” He loves the unexpected direction that poems can travel. “Sometimes a line will just pop into my head and I won’t rest until I see where it wishes to take me. I’m often surprised by where I end up, which is a good thing, for if I don’t surprise myself, I’ll never surprise my readers.”
Before his retirement Gene taught firewise landscaping and was a horticultural specialist with the ASU Arboretum. His continuing interest in nature appears in many of his poems. “I’m constantly alert to what I observe, be it on a desert, a mountain hike, or a walk downtown. While some of my poems celebrate the wonders found in nature, others deal with how I feel about the wholesale destruction of our precious planet due to our greed and willful ignorance.” The following poems from his latest collection, Shopping Cart Dreams, balance reflections on nature with social commentary. “Poets have a responsibility to address the times they live in.”
Sharing poems through readings and publishing is an important component of writing for Gene. “I feel strongly that poetry is meant to be shared, like music or any other kind of art.” He maintains a website devoted to his poetry, does many public readings, and creates videos of his poems on YouTube and Instagram. Recently, he was chosen to be a writer-in-residence for the Pima County Libraries. “I would like to reach as many people as I can with my poetry while I’m still here, and to write at least one poem that will live on after my subscription runs out.”
Gene is continually involved in the process of creating and publishing poetry. “I keep a file of ideas and first lines, and try to always have at least one poem under production, either writing the first draft or further revising and making last tweaks. It’s an intensely emotional experience. I get totally wrapped up in the act of creation. I feel like I’m giving birth to something that’s never existed before. When a literary journal or magazine decides to publish my poem, I feel that it’s finally found a good home.”
the horticulturist replied as
I pointed to the flowers
atop a crested
saguaro cactus
I had tried to save,
its life now oozing away
from necrosis within.
But tell that to a bee
who greets each flower
she meets as if
it were the first
or Mexican bats
who migrate
a thousand miles
to lap the sweet nectar
from agave
and saguaro blossoms
or the young woman
whose first flowing blood
marks the opening
of her new life
or the young country
where democracy
once bloomed.
First published in Tipton Poetry Journal.
The soft fresh tips
of an ocotillo
have not yet learned
how to be fierce
like the barbed hooks
of a cholla that
cling to your flesh
with singular desire.
The black coachwhip
slashes across the trail
like an underground
crack opening
beneath your feet.
The delphinium
blossoms against
the granite
stab your eyes
with hyper blue
needles.
The agave spine
pierces your skin
and burns as if
dipped in acid.
The mottled patches
of light and shadow
beneath the mesquite
suddenly become
a watching rattlesnake
tasting the wind
as you walk past it,
savoring all that
can hurt you in this
fierce bright land
where there’s
nothing to fear
but the failure
to see the pain
of all things.
First published in Sky Island Journal.
Dee Cohen is a Prescott poet and photographer. deecohen@cox.net.
