ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512070008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
Call it the book that grew out of the poetry slam that grew out of the ``Literature of Rock-'n-Roll'' class that grew out of the nervous breakdown that grew out of Anne Cheney's midlife crisis.
That's the loose historyof ``Dead Snakes, Cats, and the IRS, Poetry of Rock and Rebellion,'' the new poetry book written and edited by Virginia Tech English professor Anne Cheney and 20 of her students.
Factor in a few Grateful Dead shows (funded by a 90-day note from the National Bank of Blacksburg), a take-home exam that ended in a concert featuring The Acoustic Kind band, and many impromptu late-night talks over beer, too-many cigarettes and poetry - and you've got the flavor of this professor's teaching methods.
``Sometimes I'll be in the middle of mopping my kitchen floor, and the students will just show up,'' the 51-year-old Cheney explains.
What's a Southern belle-turned rebel to do?
Pop open a few beers and start talking. And writing. And editing.
Her students say she is that rare combination of mother, teacher and peer. Perhaps that is why she has managed to pull poetry out of students majoring in such un-writerly subjects as chemistry, biology and marketing.
``The first poem I ever wrote for her, she returned it with the note, `You can do better,' '' recalls Bill Kilby, a Tech history major whose poem ``Saturday in Australia'' appears in the book.
``She seems to know what you're capable of doing - and then somehow she gets it out of you.''
But back to the book's unlikely history Cheney was in her mid-40s, a past-president of the swanky University Club and a recent divorcee when she had her nervous breakdown.
``I taught business writing and Southern literature, and I was not quite Laura Ashley - but almost,'' she recalls. ``I was essentially a corporate wife.''
During her recovery from the breakdown, she designed the rock 'n' roll/literature course, in which rock lyrics are analyzed as poetry, and records by R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs and The Grateful Dead serve as textbooks. Field trips included trips to Roanoke to watch Radar Rose and to Washington, D.C., to see the Grateful Dead.
And student poetry became the course's version of the dreaded term paper.
Cheney also started her own poetry slam at Maxwell's bar, where many of her students' poems were recited on-stage.
Those poems grew into the book proposal for ``Dead Snakes,'' which Cheney sold to the Lewiston, N.Y.-based Mellen Poetry Press.
Ask Cheney how she sold the book, and the daughter of an Alabama lime and cement dealer will tell you it was just a business transaction.
``It's like so many bags of lime and cement. Plus, I think the book is very relevant now with the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And there are almost 50 college courses in this country on the literature of rock.''
Ask her students how she sold Mellen on the book, and they tell you about the nature of the prof: ``She just keeps talking until she gets her way,'' says Shanna Francisco, whose poem ``Blues for Allah'' is a tribute to Jerry Garcia, written immediately after his death on Aug. 9. Cheney had the publisher literally stop the presses to include the Garcia poem.
``Anne is polite but aggressive - the perfect combination,'' adds Jeff Mann, also a Tech English teacher whose work appears in the book. Cheney's dedication to publishing her students' work has inspired other English-department teachers, Mann says. ``A lot of folks who have achieved position aren't all that concerned about young people trying to.''
The book - full of Blacksburg references, post-adolescent angst, following the Dead and doing drugs - is not your ordinary poetry collection.
``America seems to be pretty indiffferent to poetry today,'' Mann says. ``You sit down to read it because it's sort of a duty. But this book is a lot fresher than most, more accessible.''
Not as ``literary''?
Perhaps. But for 20-some Virginia Tech students, it's been a huge boost. Student writers at Tech ``don't get the recognition here that you might get as a film student at UCLA,'' Kilby says. ``My G.P.A. is under 2.0. I could spend hours telling you what I've done in the past two years,'' he says, referring to his nonscholarly pursuits. Meanwhile, my older sisters get all the praise at home.
``This has been really reassuring to my parents.''
Kilby plans to go to graduate school. He says he knows now that writing will always be a part of his life.
``[Cheney] can find talent where you don't think you have it,'' says recent graduate Chris Baugh.
``I mean, I wrote my poem on the back of a cigarette carton and now, many versions later, it's here in this book. I think it's magical.''
Select readings from the poetry compilation ``Dead Snakes, Cats, and the IRS, Poetry of Rock and Rebellion,'' will be held Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Maxwell's, 1204 N. Main St., Blacksburg.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. Students of Virginia Tech Englishby CNBprofessor Anne Cheney (center) are among the poets reading from
their works Wednesday evening at Maxwell's in Blacksburg. Poets
include (left to right) Shanna Francisco, Theresa Gillespie, Kirk
Dolson, Cheney, Kimberly Hansen, Billy Kilby, Tech professor Jeff
Mann and Tech graduate Chris Baugh. color.