ST. GEORGE – The landscape of any life is filled with secrets and pain, private joys and sweeping inner vistas. Small insignificant realities fill a moment and then pass into memory. Few of us can articulate this inner world in a way that is meaningful to others as each of us is on a journey to an undetermined destination.
Candy Lish Fowler, the Utah State Poetry Society 2015 Poet of the Year takes us to her inner landscape in her award-winning collection “On A Road That Knows Me.”
Fowler will take to the stage of the Eccles Fine Arts Concert Hall at Dixie State University Thursday to share her moving work in a formal book concert.
“The whole point of the concert is to be intriguing enough and involve the audience enough that they will want to read more and that they will understand that poetry doesn’t always have to be the same, about the same things,” Fowler said. “It will hopefully, invite people in to poetry.”
Fowler is more than a woman of letters. She began her artistic life as a dancer, majoring in dance at the University of Utah and minoring in English.
“My journey into wanting to be a writer began from the time I was a child,” she said. “I always wrote but my main avenue of expression was through dance. I was a dancer. I performed.”
After teaching dance and running a successful dance studio in St. George for many years, the time came when she could no longer teach and that part of her life had to be set aside.
She had routinely written dance plays for her troupe to perform. When she could no longer use that creative avenue, she sought the company of Southern Utah’s poets.
“I had always written poetry but then, to have that much time to focus on it, that started the whole new journey for me,” she said.
The journey has led her, somewhat ironically, back to the stage.
The first year of the St. George Book Festival, Fowler and her dance troupe performed an interpretation of Byrd Baylor’s book, “I’m in Charge of Celebrations.” Baylor was the festival keynote speaker that year and when the successful children’s author heard Fowler’s company was performing her work, asked if she could participate. Baylor chose to sit downstage during the performance and narrate the piece.
“This was totally the process that happened in the moment,” Fowler said.
Baylor also had another request.
“She asked, if I feel inclined, do you mind if I get up and dance with the children?” Fowler recalls.
To the delight of everyone, Baylor did.
This week’s book concert will represent a rare moment. Fowler will return to a place she left behind and discover she never really left.
“Honestly, poetry is choreography to me,” she said. “Poetry and words become a choreography to me on a page.”
Event details
- What: “On A Road That Knows Me” Book Concert, Candy Lish Fowler, Utah State Poetry Society, 2015 Poet of the Year
- When: Thursday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m.
- Where: Eccles Fine Arts Concert Hall, Dixie State University, 225 S. 700 East, St, George
- Box Office: 435-652-7800
Email: [email protected]
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