SILVER CITY, Nev. — Poet David Lee was a visiting artist at the Resident Artist Program in Silver City in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and will be back again this winter. His repeated stays in the historic Comstock town inspired his latest book of poems, Mine Tailings. It is dedicated to the people of Silver City. The book was released by 5 Sisters Press this Fall, and will be the focus of Lee’s reading at the Silver City Schoolhouse (community center) on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.
Lee is Utah’s first and longest serving Poet Laureate and author of more than 20 books of poetry. Named one of Utah’s top twelve writers of all time by the Utah Endowment for the Humanities, he was also the 2001 finalist for Poet Laureate of the United States. Two of his books have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Lee’s first reading from his book Bluebonnets, Firewheels, and Brown-Eyed Susans, a book later nominated for both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, was to a rapt audience at the Silver City School House in December 2016. During an interview with KNVC radio he said, “[Silver City] became almost instantly home. I’ve never quite been anywhere where I felt so comfortable.”
Eleanor Wilner, 2019 recipient of the Frost Medal for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry writes,“whether pouring librations of lyrical language on the altars of nature or the streets of Silver City…,or delivering hilarious satirical takedowns of creatures political and nocturnal-- [the book Mine Tailings] is vintage David Lee, a rich sampler of his vocal range.”
Lee’s varied life may explain how he can so perfectly capture dialect and local culture in his poems. He has a Ph.D. with a concentration in the poetry of John Milton and taught at Southern Utah University for three decades, but he has also been a boxer, pig farmer, seminary student, cotton mill worker, and semi-pro baseball player.
About the Resident Artist Program: Three miles from Virginia City and less than thirty miles from Lake Tahoe, Silver City is a small, creative community on the Comstock located within one of the nation's federally designated historic landmarks. The Resident Artist Program provides a way for those from other parts of the U.S. and the world to engage with the people of northern Nevada through the arts.
Those creating in the performing, visual, or literary arts reside for up to three months at McCormick House, a geodesic dome designed in the 1970s by Nevada artist Jim McCormick. In exchange, they offer exhibitions, readings, workshops, etc. in Silver City and other communities in the region. The Program is privately funded and directed. Contact program director Quest Lakes at quest@theodata.com for more information.
