What’s the word?

From carnival rides to Beatles tunes, Pacific University Professor Doyle Walls distills life into poetry

The Forest Grove News-Times, Oct 8, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Doyle Walls

courtesy photo

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Growing up in Texas, Doyle Walls says his days were filled with “years filled with sports and girls and not doing my homework or reading anything,”

In college, however, he discovered the power of the written word.

“I began to understand and appreciate the connections among language, works of the imagination, thought, freedom, maturity, and action,” he recalls. “The world, and a life I wanted to be an active part of, opened for me in art, philosophy, history, politics, and literature.

That discovery prodded Doyle into an education career that led him to Pacific University, where he now teaches writing.

Pudding House Publications recently published a collection of Walls’ poems, Doyle Wesley Walls: Greatest Hits, 1979-2008.

Last week, he answered some questions for us via e-mail. Here are excerpts from that exchange:

Q: Why do you think you were drawn to writing?

A: Writing is not an escape for me. When Richard Wright read Mencken as a boy, he learned that words were a weapon. One piece of writing attacks timidity and stupidity. Another attacks prejudice and laziness. Words take us to the heart of the problem, not away from it. Unfettered words (with the requisite freedom and courage) can take us to bloodless solutions.

Q: But what to write?

A: There are those who are kissed by a poem, novel, play, or essay - and they want to write an analysis of that experience. Others experience the ecstasy of such a literary kiss and want to kiss back; they write creative works. I feel both impulses.

Q: And poetry?

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