UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology Fall and Winter 2022 - Flipbook - Page 20
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
EMBRACINGWITH
THE
WILD
PAUL ZARZYSKI
W
hile reading a poem on the page,
greater meaning is given if the
poet focuses on the strength the
right-hand margin gives, if the poet creates
line breaks that provide each line individual
meaning. But...Poetry is meant to be read
aloud, the musicality of the language and
syntax something that is felt rather than
simply heard. When a poet is able to fully
embody both, the poems sing, regardless of
how they are experienced, by reader or readto.
but because the poems stride one after
the other, are steps taken in a journey,
each divining the next, each leap or stutter
imperative to the next set.
The poems are steadfastly human, ranging
from jubilant to anguished, the musicality
shifting from lover’s slow dance to solo
duende to rock’n’roll power anthem, his
1971 “viper red” Monte Carlo transporting
us. In the trees of Hurley, Wisconsin, his
Polish father imparted a love for storytelling
and for knowing the names and sounds
of wildlife (“Words Growing Wild in the
Woods”). His father would keep fishing
flies in the band of his fedora, and Zarzyski
rediscovered the hat recently, sparking
the memory of his father making puns
and jokes with language, doing what his
mentor, Richard Hugo, would later impart
as a practice imperative for poets: to have
fun with the sound of words. Other poems
explore “200-proof youth” love and loss on
the rodeo circuit (“All This Way for the Short
Ride” and “Bucking Horse Moon”). On a
Montana two-lane, we drive with him, knees
steering as we together rip open a letter
from a friend that cannot wait until he gets
home (“Monte Carlo Express—Post Office
Box 258, 15.3 Miles Home”).
Paul Zarzyski is one of few poets who
has made a living from his poetry. The
musicality of his poems on the page is
amplified in his delivery, and he has given
readings at venues including the Library
of Congress and the Kennedy Center, and,
for 30+ years, as an essential fixture at the
National Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada.
While he is often termed a “cowboy poet,”
and while it is true that he rode bareback
broncs from his early 20s into his 40s, it
would discredit both Zarzyski and poetry to
pigeonhole him. From his 1981 chapbook,
Call Me Lucky, and his first full collection
in 1984, The Make-up of Ice, to his newly
released Going It Alone, there isn’t a single
book that could be called a “departure,”
not for lack of depth or change of scope,
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