WKU Faculty Member's Poem To Be Read By Garrison Keillor
Friday, October 17, 2008 3:55 PM CDT
“The Dental Hygienist,” a poem by Western Kentucky University faculty member Tom C. Hunley will be featured on the Oct. 25 segment of “The Writer’s Almanac” with Garrison Keillor.
Hunley, an assistant professor of English, is excited that Keillor selected one of his poems for the segment. “Garrison Keillor has a great voice so it will be interesting to hear how he reads it,” especially the word “mmpllff,” Hunley said.
“ ‘The Writer’s Almanac’ is the closest thing poets have to Oprah’s Book Club,” he said.
In the daily radio program, Keillor presents a list of cultural events and anniversaries, many associated with literary figures, then ends with a poetry reading.
WKU Public Radio airs “The Writer’s Almanac” each weekday, but plans to air the Saturday segment with Hunley’s poem during the Oct. 25 broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor,” which starts at 5 p.m. CDT, according to station manager Peter Bryant.
WKU’s Public Radio is WKYU-FM (88.9) in Bowling Green/Glasgow, WDCL-FM (89.7) in Somerset, WKPB-FM (89.5) in Henderson/Owensboro and WKUE-FM (90.9) in Elizabethtown or online at http://www.wkyufm.org/. The poem and program also will be available online at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/.
Hunley’s publishing house, Steel Toe Books, has had its authors featured seven times on Keillor’s program. “I kept wondering if he was ever going to do one of mine,” Hunley said.
He was notified earlier this month that “The Dental Hygienist” had been selected.
“The Dental Hygienist” is one of the poems in Hunley’s new book “Octopus,” published by Logan House Publishing in Nebraska.
Hunley began thinking about the poem while sitting in a dental chair one day and trying to communicate with the hygienist. “I started thinking about some of the dates I’d had and how men and women try to communicate,” he said.
The Dental Hygienist
By Tom C. Hunley
She said “open up,”
so I showed her my teeth,
a chipped-white fence
that keeps my tongue penned in.
She rinsed my mouth.
She suctioned my cheek.
She said “How do you like this town?”
so I said “Mmpllff,”
though I meant “More every day,”
and she said “Gorgeous weather!”
so I said “Mmpllff”
though I meant “In my mouth?”
and she didn’t say anything,
so I said “Mmpllff” and “Mmpllff”
though I’m not sure what I meant,
and she took me to mean
“Would you like to go out tonight?”
and “to an expensive restaurant?”
When I arrived with a bouquet of roses,
she stuffed them in my mouth.
She told me all about her feelings:
how she feels about fillings,
how she feels about failures.
She said “open up.”
She said “It’s like pulling teeth
trying to get men to talk about their feelings.”
So I said “ Mmpllff,”
though I meant “You smell prettier than the flowers in my mouth,”
and I said “Mmpllff,”
though I meant “I’m afraid of dying alone.”
She said I was a good conversationalist
and showed me her perfect teeth.
I felt an ache in my jaw.
I felt drool crawling down my chin.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Tom Hunley at (270) 745-5769.
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