Carol Sokoloff had just attended a playwright workshop in Calgary led by a writer she greatly admired, when shortly afterward she ran into a handsome young poet carrying a stack of books with a familiar name.
B次元官网网址淲hy are you carrying so many Michael McClure books?B次元官网网址� she asked the young man outside a gallery in Banff.
That poet, Richard Olafson, would go on to run a successful book publisher, VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 and become SokoloffB次元官网网址檚 husband. The couple formed a life-long friendship with McClure after meeting him at the Jack Kerouac School.
Some three decades later, Sokoloff, a jazz pianist, will join McClure onstage for his second time in Victoria as he reads from his new collection of poetry, Persian Pony at The Roxy Theatre on Saturday (Oct. 21).
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 really all about the poetry,B次元官网网址� Sokoloff says of their performance, where theyB次元官网网址檒l be joined by Victoria trumpeter Patrick Boyle. B次元官网网址淢ichael being a beat poet, that tradition, they were very influenced by jazz players like Charlie Parker. They tried to bring that energy into their poetry.B次元官网网址�
The literary movement rooted in the principals of non-conformist ideologies, sexual liberation and exploration came to be known in the early 1950s as the beat generation. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs became central figures in the counterculture movement B次元官网网址� a response to a post-Second World War America B次元官网网址� that would lay the foundations for the hippie era of the 1960s.
McClure was born in Kansas, but made his way to San Francisco by the mid-1950s and at 22, was one of five young poets to perform at the now infamous Six Gallery reading, perhaps best known as the evening Allen Ginsberg first debuted .
B次元官网网址淗e made a deep impression on me,B次元官网网址� Sokoloff says of McClure, who has been widely credited with influencing the songwriting of Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and others. McClure was immortalized as the fictional Pat McLear in KerouacB次元官网网址檚 novel Big Sur.
B次元官网网址淢ichael has had a profound cultural influence,B次元官网网址� Olafson says. B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 think thereB次元官网网址檚 any other living author that has had such a pervasive influence on modern culture.B次元官网网址�
The scientist, journalist, actor, filmmaker, playwright, poet and novelist has published two novels, four collections of essays, 20 plays and musicals and now with Persian Pony B次元官网网址� published by Ekstasis B次元官网网址� 14 books of poetry. Much of McLureB次元官网网址檚 work imbues a relationship with nature, a commonality among beat writers, but with an emphasis on scientific disciplines, among them biology and ecology.
For Olafson and Sokoloff, the rare chance to engage artistically with a literary hero turned dear friend is poignant this fall. Oct. 7 marks the 62nd anniversary of that evening at Six Gallery, McClureB次元官网网址檚 first poetry reading; Ekstasis turns 35 this year and the day before Boyle, Sokoloff and McLure take the stage, the beat poet will celebrate his 85th birthday.
B次元官网网址淧oetry provides a frame for oneB次元官网网址檚 life,B次元官网网址� Olafson says.
Of McClure, truer words could not have been spoken.
starts at 7:30 p.m. at The Roxy Theatre. Tickets are available at or at the door.
