SALT LAKE CITY — What is it about Utah that so many people become hooked by it? Is it the people? The alkaline desert, the high granite peaks, the arresting red rock expanses? It is impossible to know. For decades, though, two transplanted Utah poets tried to reconcile Utah and their love of the place with their art: Ken Brewer and Leslie Norris. Both Brewer and Norris died last year, within a month of each other; Brewer succumbed March 15 to pancreatic cancer, Norris died April 6 in his adopted home, Provo. The works of both poets will be the subject of the May 6 Madeleine Festival lecture "Departures" at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 E. South Temple, at 8 p.m. Utah State University Associate Professor Micahel Sowder will offer a presentation titled "A Poetry of Generosity and Community: Ken Brewer’s Legacy." Speaking on Norris, Professor Lance Larsen of Brigham Young University will present "For the eye altering alters all: the Sympathetic Imagination of Leslie Norris." "The phrase comes from Blake," said Larsen in an interview with the Intermountain Catholic. "William Blake was a radically visionary romantic poet. I’m interested in how Leslie Norris participates in that tradition, and how by looking at quotidian surroundings he finds a way to transform it through his poetic insights. Most poets do that, but he does it to an extraordinary degree. "It’s important to see what’s right in front of you," he added. Norris was born May 21, 1921, in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, he began working as a teacher, eventually rising to college lecturer. In 1983, he was invited to teach for six months at Brigham Young University, where he settled with his wife Catherine Morgan. "In Norris, listen for his imagery, which is a distillation of observations. For voice, his poems have a quiet elegance to them, but always infused with the human. Listen for elegant cadences of language, more so in his poetry than that of other contemporary writers. His poems are always well-made. "There is an anecdotal distinction between American and British poetry: British poetry sings while American poetry speaks. Norris sings," said Professor Larsen. "He’s always written about Wales. Sometimes critics make too much of a distinction between the Welsh poems or the American poems in his work. He talks about the poems as a larger whole." Norris received the Madeleine Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts and Humanities May 9, 1999. In an interview with the Intermountain Catholic April 16, 1999, he said "Very often, I am unaware of what’s happened along the journey of a poem. I don’t know what I’ve done with it until I see it on the page. "I spend a long time composing it in my head before I write anything down. Writing poetry is, to me, a lot of five-finger exercises. I wait for the poem, and I try to be completely skilled for it before I begin to write." "He’s a terrific mentor," said Larsen. "As a student I took classes with him in creative writing. He was the ideal mix of generosity and rigor. Most students will decide for themselves that they’re poets and create a space where they as students feel comfortable to explore questions. I felt his guidance was always gentle but rigorous. He wouldn’t let us get away with nonsense; instead, he worked to raise our vision. He was remarkably entertaining and a great storyteller. He could turn the morning’s journey to the bakery into an epic." Speaking about his reception of the Madeleine Award, Norris said, "I have read in many Anglican cathedrals in Europe, but the Cathedral of the Madeleine is distinct because of its colors and its relationship to Utah." A decade after his first reading at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Norris’ voice is still heard in the church of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. "I hope people leave the lecture with a desire to find his books and read him; if they already own his books, to revisit his poems and stories and realize what a remarkable treasure he is to Utah and to the larger poetry word," Professor Larsen said. "I see myself as a cheerleader for the poetry. He doesn’t need an explicator."
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