Vic Charlo to read his poetry at Washington, D.C. area events

By B.L. Azure

Vic Charlo

DIXON — Salish author and poet Vic Charlo says he plans to pack his apprehensions about flying in a tin can and bury them with the hope that he will forget where he buried them, then he can take to the air once again.

Charlo has been putting pen and pencil to paper for as long as he can recall. Before he was able to read and write he would scribble images on paper that were communicative in nature, evoking what Charlo couldn’t express in written English.

“I’ve been doing this most of my life,” Charlo said of his writing, adding that those early scribbles were nested away and eventually lost. “I would save what I had scribbled in tin cans and bury them with the intent of digging them up later but I don’t remember ever finding them after that. I forgot where I buried them.”

Hopefully Charlo will forget his flying apprehensions by next week because he has been invited to the Washington, D.C. area to read two of his poems at the premiere of a multimedia program about Glacier National Park, which will commemorate its 100th anniversary next year. However, this event is not related to the centennial.

Charlo and three other Montanans - musicians Rob Quist, Philip Aaberg and Jack Gladstone - will be flying to Washington, D.C. next week to participate in the Wolf Trap’s performing arts series. The Wolf Trap is known as America’s National Park for the Performing Arts. It was established in 1966 on 100 acres of donated farmland near Vienna, Virginia, a hop, skip and jump from the nation’s capital.

The Montana musicians will perform in the first half of the Aug. 19 program, Charlo will open the second half and he will be followed by the world premiere of Wolf Trap commissioned “The Sun Road,” a new ballet by Trey McIntyre. This piece will also include projections on giant screens of work filmed on location in Glacier National Park.

One of Charlo’s poems was specifically written about Glacier National Park and the other entitled “Polar Bear” is about a field trip Charlo took with bear expert Dr. Charles Jonkel of Missoula years back.

Charlo will also read his poetry at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian Thursday, Aug. 20. His daughter, April will accompany him and she will recite the poems in Salish then Vic will recite them in English.

Charlo, recovering stroke victim, says he is pumped and raring to go even though he has some apprehensions about flying.

“I’ve been really, really feeling good, healthy as heck,“ he said, adding that he works out every day at the St. Ignatius Health and Fitness Center. “But this is the first time that I will be flying since I had my stroke eight years ago, maybe nine now and I am a little apprehensive about flying again.”

However, he said it is written, it will be done.

“I am feeling really good about this opportunity to read my poetry at this event,” Charlo said. “I hope that this will lead to some more things like this in the future that presents the Indian side of the story and for more opportunities for me and others to be involved in those kind of things. That would make me really happy.”

The performances will take place Wednesday, August 19 at the Filene Center in the Wolf Trap compound.

According to its website, the Wolf Trap is America’s National Park for the Performing Arts that plays a valuable leadership role in both the local and national performing arts communities.

“Through a wide range of artistic and education programs, Wolf Trap enhances our nation’s cultural life and ensures that the arts remain accessible and affordable to the broadest possible audience,” the website purports. ”A typical season at Wolf Trap includes something for everyone with performances ranging from pop, country, folk, and blues to orchestra, dance, theater, and opera, as well as innovative performance art and multimedia presentations.”

Wolf Trap is run through a public/private partnership between the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. The Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, creates and selects programming; develops education programs; handles ticket sales, marketing, publicity, and public relations; and raises funds to support these programs while keeping ticket prices affordable. The National Park Service maintains the grounds and buildings of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and provides technical theater assistance for the Filene Center.

For more information, visit the Wolf Trap website at: http://www.wolftrap.org/Find_Performances_and_Events/
Performance/09Filene/0819show09.aspx.