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A Jason Appelman reading
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Jason Reuben Appelman, an alumnus of Boise State University, read poetry from his book “Make Loneliness” Friday, March 7. The reading was held in the auditorium at the Interactive Learning Center as part of this semester’s M.F.A. reading series.
Jason Appelman is a published poet, novelist and screenwriter. As a matter of fact, he is the first graduate from Boise State’s M.F.A. program in Creative Writing to publish a book.
He is currently working in the English Department as an adjunct faculty member.
His resume includes “Letters to Paris in Jail,” a novel in which the narrator is a crazed fan writing letters to Paris Hilton while she was incarcerated for three weeks.
He is also a produced screenwriter. Among the films he has worked on are “Cha-Cha-Cha!,” a narrative feature written in collaboration with director Michael Hoffman; the children’s adventure film “The Five,” which is currently in post production and the documentary “Playground” (www.playgroundproject.com) which is about the child sex trade in America, which is executive produced by George Clooney.
Also in production are “Person of Interest” (www.thislovelymachine.com/poi.html), currently being filmed in Idaho and “Sharing the Drive,” an HBO Project Greenlight semi-finalist script.
After a brief introduction, Appelman read from “Make Loneliness,” the book of poetry that resulted from his decision to change his thesis in his last year.
He described the book as something like a narrative of his life, only using poetry instead of prose.
A sketch of a flying saucer with two people on the ground reaching out to it was displayed on the screen behind Appleman.
Appelman said he drew the image while attending a class in graduate school. The class had been reading from T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland.”
Appleman felt like the poem was difficult, and it wasn’t supposed to be.
The first lines he read were “I wish you were lonely. You would call me if you were lonely” and continued on from there for about half an hour.
Afterward a question and answer session was held.
Students and teachers were able to learn more about some of Appelman’s past and his literary influences. The experience of having lived outside of Detroit, Mich., gave him a dingier view of the world, which is evident in the imagery of his writing. Despite having had such a hard time with “The Wasteland,” he now says that T.S. Eliot was a great influence and that he now comprehends the complexity of the poem.
His book “Make Lonelines,” published by Otis Books/Seismicity Edition, is currently on sale at the Boise State Bookstore and online at www.spdbooks.org for $12.95.
MATTHEW BLACKBURN
Culture Writer