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POETS READ AT ELGIN LIBRARY
 RON BRAND: "It is a reflection on a lifelong interest in peace and justice issues that I feel are vitally important at this time in our history." (Submitted photo). - TRISH YERGES - For Go ELGIN - The Elgin Library will host an hour-long poetry reading on Wednesday at 7 p.m. featuring published poets Thomas Madden of La Grande and Ron Brand of Elgin. Madden, who has published two books of poetry, "Graves in Wheat" (1998, Ice River Press) and "Lessons for Custer" (2006, Wordcraft), will read selections from his second book of poems. As a native of Montana, Madden became absorbed in the historical relationship between Native Americans and the early European settlers. This interest laid the foundation for his title poem, "Lessons for Custer." The series of four poems probes into the possible meditations of Custer on the day before and the day of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. "My goal in all four of these poems was to express and to interpret what Custer may have been thinking at those critical moments," Madden said. He added, "I asked myself whether Custer might have been driven by ideas and feelings other than his strong desires for personal glory and for the defeat, if not the complete destruction, of the Indian tribes." After an insightful exploration of Custer's personality, Madden highlights the distinction between the man and the warrior. "I see Custer as a man who had rigidly controlled or suppressed other aspects of his personality such as an interest in music and in the languages and cultures of different people," he said. Madden earned graduate degrees at the University of Montana, where he studied with the poet Richard Hugo, and at the University of Oregon. His early career involved working as a reporter for several newspapers, including the Oregonian. He then joined the faculty at EOU where he taught English, writing and journalism for 25 years before retiring in 2000. Poet Ron Brand will be reading from his first book of poetry titled "With Charon, Laughing to Beat the Band" (2006, Dry Side Press). "It is a reflection on a lifelong interest in peace and justice issues that I feel are vitally important at this time in our history," said Brand, a member of Currents of Justice for Peace. "The poems are about the unfortunate ironies of war and about the human effects of war," he added. Brand moved to Oregon from Chicago in 1993 to work as a ranch hand outside of Elgin. From 1994 to 1999, he worked as a reporter, editor and co-owner of the former Elgin Recorder. He also worked as an editor for The Tinker's Shop, a quarterly journal of the arts including contributed stories, essays and poetry from the local area as well as from Oregon, Idaho and Washington. "With other rash souls, I helped write and edit serial murder mystery stories for the Recorder and the La Grande Observer," said Brand. For a time, he also covered Union County news for the East Oregonian in Pendleton, but then returned to social service work with the Department of Human Services in La Grande and Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City. He currently works for the Center of Human Development. Brand may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it The Elgin Library will feature the work of Madden and Brand and invites the public to attend an evening of refreshments and thought-provoking poetry. |
