Poet and Photographer Carol DeCanio Finds Companionship in Her Craft
Melinda Palacio and Carol DeCanio -- September 29, 2009
Carol DeCanio says if she were stranded on a desert island, she would still write poetry- it being her natural response to our world. Her first memory of writing poetry was when she was 9 years old and showing a many stanza poem to her interested, if not concerned, father that included the words, "finding love in the bushes of sin". It's a leap like that, she says, that is possible, when something springs out in your writing that is very distant from what you are aware of.
Carol DeCanio signing her
latest broadside, published by
Poor Souls Press
Her first published poem was in the Hillel newspaper at Harvard University while she was in the Social Relations Department, organizing graduate and undergraduate classes. And her poetry has been published since in journals, newspapers, anthologies, and as broadsides. She also has a letterpress edition (from Lettre Sauvage press) of an accordion book, Giants, about the Giants baseball team in the 1950's.
DeCanio's poems first take form with paper and pen. She says she's "addicted to pages" and likes the flow of idea, feeling traveling down her arm, into the act of drawing called writing. And she uses her laptop to refine the poem and its architecture.
A featured poet in many local readings, she has lived in Santa Barbara for 31 years and has made a name for herself as a poet and photographer. Three years ago, she received an Individual Artist Award in Poetry from the Santa Barbara Arts Fund. She has had art exhibits of her poetry paired with her photography at the UCSB Faculty Club and the Sojourner Cafe. Last April, as part of First Thursday, she had an exhibit and poetry reading at CASA Magazine. Her photographs are also available in lettercard form.
DeCanio has over forty years experience of publishing her poems, but has yet to collect her work into book form. She dislikes the general submission process and prefers for publishers to come to her with requests for her poems. She would rather be writing. "I'm not into the hierarchy of poetry," says Decanio.
DeCanio supports numerous local literary outlets and is extremely generous with her time. If it weren't for her community support, readers might have a difficult time finding this talented poet. She does not, as yet, have a website, but is highly visible as an important member of the literary community in Santa Barbara. She writes a monthly Poetry column for Casa Magazine, is the founder and organizer of the Santa Barbara Summer Poetry Workshop- next August 6-8 will be its 10th year, and runs the Santa Barbara Poetry Series at the Contemporary Arts Forum. The next readings on October 3 features poets Carol V. Davis, Polly Bee, and Ron Alexander.
Carol DeCanio pairs this photograph with her poem Shelter.
SHELTER
by Carol DeCanio
When my youngest son phones
And says there's a bit of bad news
He's being sent to Iraq
I still talk normal
But after
It's all wild
And the question
Who can help me?
I flee
I get in that car
And flee
Until I reach
The only shelter I can bear
In the canyons
In the waiting of the trees
And the fragrance
I cannot get enough of
Everything is different here
And I have no expertise
Yet I feel not excluded
For whatever I see, it is enough
Enough for the sage
In among the others
And for the insect on its way
To the depths of crevice
No lack in the mountain range
Or whatever passes above
No lack in variety
Nothing I can think of
Even for this human
On this trail
No lack