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Many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by tragic and unjust situations in the world, and don’t know where to begin. Poet Willa Schneberg can quickly rattle off a top four that are at the top of her list: The situation in Darfur; problems between the Israelis and the Palestinians; the wake of the genocide in Rwanda; and the aftermath of the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Schneberg and some of her globally conscious friends will read poems from Lost Horse Press’ recent anthology, I Go To The Ruined Place: Contemporary Poems in Defense of Global Human Rights at Broadway Books this Tuesday (4-20) night.
Brooklyn native Schneberg has made her home in Portland. Her second collection of poems, In the Margins of the World, won the 2002 Oregon Book Award for Poetry. She has twice won Oregon Literary Arts Fellowships in poetry, and her work has appeared in many major literary magazines. Her most recent book, Storytelling in Cambodia, received rave reviews.
Schneberg is now examining her family relationships. “I’m coming down the homestretch with a manuscript of linked poems about my parents and their only daughter,” she wrote in an email mini-interview. “The working title is Three-way Conversation.” Her current work also addresses human rights in regard to mental health advocacy and heathcare reform.
Other readers at the Broadway Books event include Francis Payne Adler, Patricia Bollin, Edith Mirante, John Paisley, Sandy Polishuk & Kirsten Rian. They will read poems from the anthology (written by other people) and perhaps some work of their own.
Still feeling too overwhelmed by global human rights trouble to contemplate attending the event? Schenberg recommends reading Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl Wudunn. “It has a list of small NGOs that you can volunteer for and/or give money to,” she said.
Image credit Lost Horse Press, Willa Schneberg.
