Chris Olander

Chris Olander, poet, teacher and bio-educator with California Poets in the Schools (CPITS) since 1984, blends performance techniques with spoken word to create an Action Art Poetry: musical image phrasing to dramatize relative experiences--a poetry arising from oral and bardic traditions. "I am a sound poet exploring various meanings of words, phrasings and ideas arranged in sound and rhythm patterns." "More dynamic than listening to a recording or reading, I become the poem. I use contemporary events to bring forth and reveal mythic themes and archetypes that social and religious institutions repress within duty, shame and routine. Individual recognition of common archetypes within the poems re-establishes respect between humans and the others of nature and renews the integrity of all individual species within the community of a given place. We are all in this together---what we make of it is what we get!"