ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997              TAG: 9703260052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

EROTIC POEM COSTS PROFESSOR NEW JOB CHRISTIAN SCHOOL WITHDRAWS OFFER

Seattle Pacific University took issue with `Interval with Erato,' by Old Dominion's Scott Cairns.

A Christian university in Seattle has withdrawn its offer of a tenure-track position to an Old Dominion University English professor, saying a sexually suggestive poem he wrote three years ago would reflect badly on the school.

Scott Cairns was told in a March 11 letter from Seattle Pacific University President Philip Eaton that his appointment would ``compromise the moral and ethical foundation upon which our institution operates.''

Cairns, an associate professor of English and director of creative writing at ODU in Norfolk, was offered the $50,000-a-year professorship Feb. 10.

``On the basis of one poem, my entire output to this moment was undone as far as they were concerned,'' said Cairns, an active Presbyterian who was reared in a Baptist family in Tacoma.

``And frankly, the part that gripes me most is ... they decided on the basis of that poem to question my spiritual maturity, I presume.''

Eaton's letter also offered Cairns $5,000 for his trouble, provided that Cairns release Seattle Pacific from any possible claims against the institution.

Marj Johnson, Seattle Pacific's vice president of university relations, said she could not comment because it was a personnel issue.

Johnson also would not comment on the school's policies regarding publications by its faculty. An evangelical Christian university affiliated with the Free Methodist Church of North America, Seattle Pacific's general catalog emphasizes faith in Christ as the center of personal and academic development.

At question is ``Interval with Erato,'' a poem Cairns says is a humorous variation on an ancient poetic form that uses a conversation between the writer and his muse to criticize other poets.

In Cairns' work, the poet performs increasingly heated sexual acts with the muse of love lyrics while expounding on the state of American poetry such as the overuse of the second person ``you.''

``Presumably, Free Methodists still have sex, I guess,'' Cairns said. ``Something upset them, and I'm not quite clear what.''

``Interval with Erato'' was published in The Paris Review. Cairns is also the author of three books of poetry and is one of 15 writers featured in an anthology of contemporary Christian poetry, ``Upholding Mystery.''

Cairns had resigned from ODU but got his job back.

LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ASSOCIATED PRESS. ``Something upset them, and I'm not 
          quite clear what,'' said English professor Scott Cairns of Seattle 
          Pacific University officials.