Scary Verse: Poems on Living with What Frightens Us

Eric Paul Shaffer invites you to join him in celebrating the season of Hallowe’en with poems about the ideas and events that really scare us. He will read poems classic and contemporary on subjects natural and supernatural, familiar and far-fetched. The work will focus mostly on the elements of everyday life that leave us a little frightened, but with a little insight, too.

Eric Paul Shaffer is author of six books of poetry: A Million-Dollar Bill was published in August of this year, and his earlier volumes are Lāhaina Noon; Portable Planet; Living at the Monastery, Working in the Kitchen; RattleSnake Rider; and Kindling: Poems from Two Poets (with James Taylor III). Nearly 450 of his poems have been published in reviews, journal, and magazines throughout the United States and the world. He received Hawai‘i’s 2002 Elliot Cades Award for Literature, a 2006 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Book Award for Lāhaina Noon, and the 2009 James M. Vaughan Award for Poetry for his poem “The Whistle.” In March 2013, Shaffer was the keynote speaker at Hawai‘i Pacific University’s 16th Annual Ko‘olau Writing Workshops, and in June 2015, he was a visiting poetry faculty member at the 23rd Annual Jackson Hole Writers Conference in Wyoming. He teaches composition, literature, and creative writing at Honolulu Community College.

This one-hour program is recommended for ages 12 and older. Program schedule is subject to change. Contact the library's Language, Literature & History Section at 586-3499 10 days in advance to request a sign language interpreter or if other special accommodation is needed.