University of South Carolina Libraries
Parkse waits ii " , I r Tom Parks entertained a capai beer drinking surroundings acc humorous accounts of his own i USC stud< |juuii9iiea literary w By HENRY GREEN Staff Writer Dwaine Sharpe, a sophomore majoring in English at USC, has recently published a book of poetry, "The Blues Bank Bard." Tall, with shoulder-length brown hair, deep brown eyes and a rather scruffy beard, Sharpe really looks the part of a bard. He explains the title of his book by saying he is a lover of blues music, and he also wanted to play on the name of his home town of Red Rank, in l>cxington County. RED RANI) has exercised a great influence on Sharpe's poetry. Sharpe, who began writing poetry at the age of 13, calls this mill town an oasis. A large number of young people have moved in to occupy the old mill village houses. Thev first concerned themselves with partying, but soon began dabbling in the arts, not with the intention of becoming professional artists but just as a sideline. Sharpe pays tribute to Red Bank when he writes of, "a place of rest beyond the forks of a river a place no exposed eye of beauty could resist . . I.IKE THE nniPP AMTIBTfi at Red Bank, Sharpe began to dabble in the arts (poetry, that is) himself. He says he did not take his ability as a poet seriously at first, but was more interested in the visual arts rtU..s?(..vWv .v ; mtertain n the win m \ wg mm bL $$ WT'K? i city crowd in the Golden Spur Monday nig ompanied his humor quite well, as he < days in college. snt m > own 9 rork 8 (naintinc) Affpr hp ? SfiHi leave school for a while, he came to USC in 1972 and dropped out, disillusioned by the system of mass, impersonal education. After three semesters, he began to experiment with his writing. Kjegsla This is why his book is subtitled r5 "Exercises in Apprenticeship," . Sharpe is an apprentice poet, and "The Blues Bank Bard" is the MHr product of the three years he spent Sharpe is quite philosophic in his concept of poetry. He simply wrote what he felt, finding it worthwhile, us ne siresseu me sponienauy oi iraSHaayg his writing. "I almost never rggraM rewrite," he comments, adding his jlSggl poetry is written straight off the Jest^ cuff. He characterizes his book as a aSSap "raw, surging, animal." He then adds modestly, "I'm just a beginner." "Tl HE LIKES to think of himself as ... part of a new romanticism, with W hi links to such poets as John Keats on "*8 and Percy Shelley of the nineteenth century, and Allen Ginsberg and wants tc the beat poets of the 1950s. he does i These links are part of what he by writi calls a strong "connection with the "The past" in his poetry. Sharpe wants divided to return to the oral tradition, to "Conga the idea that a poem is to be heard Rank" a an<4 nnt conn In fvo rnaH ntmirl iiw? ?vv.., IW MV I V?U UIUUVI dCVVIUIli rather than silently, to be more the Conj pleasing to the ear than to the eye. the intri Sharpe, who returned to school "Columl last spring, says he is aware of the but it d< small market for poetry today. He it tosses sSpurc tie for (i WB II By TOM "ED"CLYI)E Gamecock Staff Writer .A ,f-< ' The Golden Spur was p night and the air was ticipation. The st{ apologized for the heat "nobody's fault." He ] troduce the comediar mVinCOr^H H\J (ho Cr\n*n %<vt vllV V-VIIlt Committee. "I saw this guy last vention," the announcer thought he was real welcome Tom Parks." If the crowd reaction ' Tom Parks' comic abiliti< r""" "real funny." For a minutes Tom had the nntlirpH nilHionna lotiii ? ??U5 cheering wildly as he r college life, the sexu adolescence, the drug see mother's cooking. According to Parks, h that food isn't done until and that when she cooks, 1 most of the time turning Kelly smoke detector. H picnic and ate half a bag o he realized that he wasn' TOM REGAN his show old college days at th Florida. Everything s< around the football play have their own dorm. Hall," as the football pla h);Th? with anything but mono offered onjy polysyballic vocabulary were "scl "coed." The audience Wm&Wm? : j *'' ';Tw^l **; fii< '^'i vr -1I ~^;^~y-- /-/I;T~\ -'_,i + ^ ;'j^KiMfflBc3^f||fl^^SEB^^WH|KBKy^ff-> V^??iMffiv;ieaB le Blues Rank Rarb" is a book of | ?n by a student at USC. It is his refl home town, in his own poetic styl< > be a producing poet, but to side not intend to make a living under st ng poems. Blues Bank Bard" is ANYO into three sections: muggy, ree Dreams," "Blues night in nd "New Banks." The first "sticky i which contains a tribute to Columbi; ;aree River, also contains when he guing line, Columbi; bia sleeps overgrov A73 iiui nirtfiii, never gc from side city wa . ?bV 1.1 rowd; JH 1^ exactly what Tom was saying. Tom Parks has built his act around his experiences in college and, therefore, aw 1 * w.i iTiuuuay piays mostly college dates. In a postthick with an- performance interview Tom said he enjoys ige announcer college crowds and will probably continue , saying it was working colleges for at least two or three aroceeded to in- years. i, Tom Parks, Right now he is in a very comfortable mporary Sounds position, being just about the only reasonably low-priced stand-up comic year at a con- around today who is consistently funny, declared, "and I lunny. riease HIS HUMOR seems to be directed toward the middle-of-the-road college vas indicative of student; the boisterous type who just js, he was indeed wants to come out and laugh. His show is a pproximately 50 clean show, the type that offends pra^relatively good- tically nobody. In fact, after a recent gig hing and often Tom was approached by an elderly woman elated stories of who told him "If you had told that 'day glo al struggles of condom1 joke any other way I would have ne and finally his been offended." His sexual jokes seem to be parodies of is mom believes sexual jokes rather than direct, often it's burnt black, repulsive 'dirty' material. lis family spends Tom Parks sees himself as being in no ! off the Captain hurry to try to make it big; he wants to e once went to a work more and more with the colleges, f charcoal before learning and Dolishine his art writino nmi/ _ , w ? " - O "v ** t eating biscuits. material, in general becoming more experienced before he takes any big steps, telling about his Tom wants to discipline himself to the e University of point where he can produce new material emed to center upon his own demand, not upon in- ! ^rs; in fact they spiration. It's called "Yon HIS GOAL is to write "prolific," lasting yers had trouble material which will leave an impact on the syballic words. audience. Woody Allen seems to be quite terms in their adept at this as was Mark Tu/ain cave lolarship" and Tom. ' . seemed to know See IWKKS, page 15 & it {^^pM^^mBpjm^^^M| mm#-# >oetry cover of his book depicts his mood throughout ection the book, full of simple yet deep meanings. p. The , imagination. i icky sheets." Sharpe provides some rich imagery as he speaks of stealing j MP UIIO lioc n.mr ~ " " ' * ' ' " - ? ap^iu ct me sweet juices ana iiesny insweat-bathed summer nards" and "bursting suntanned Columbia can understand scuppernongs." He often makes sheets," but why doesn't point-blank statements, such as t i dream? Sharpe explains "NttC and EXXON are trying to , wrote the poem he hated run my life," and adds a little , i. To him it was an alliteration, "lean leaping limbs." m farm town and it would anywhere ? maybe the In doing all of this, Sharpe writes s lacking a little in some highly readable poetry.