Newton Poet's Words To Be Transformed Through Dance In Upcoming Performance

NEWTON, MA — A resident’s poetry will be taking center stage for a unique arts show in Cambridge next month, however here history in the literary field goes back more than 70 years.

Pamela Annas wrote her first poem in 1957 when she was 11 years old. She would not take an interest in the art form again until she was in college.

“I gravitated to Silvia Plath, writing what began as my dissertation and was later published as the book A Disturbance in Mirrors,” Annas told Patch. “But at that time my goal was more to understand the words of others than to pen poems myself. It wasn’t until I settled in the Boston area, fresh faced as a teacher at UMass Boston, that I realized my words might be worth listening to.”

While she does feel she has some natural talent for writing poetry, Annas believes her practice methods and dedication to improving and learning are the main contributing factors that have gotten her to this point.

“I sometimes go through the dictionary and, eyes closed, put my finger down on word after word, to get eight verbs, eight adverbs, eight nouns randomly. And then I force myself to write something with five of each,” Annas told Patch. It’s wonderful how writing blocks dissolve before such pressure. What we are predisposed with is desire. It’s with practice that we can become original.”

Annas first came to Newton in 1981 when she moved into a large home with multiple female friends. She said her decision to settle down in the city permanently came a decade later.

“I remember fondly the winding staircase to the tippy top of the house, where I lived among the trees and watched birds through my attic window,” Annas said about her first home in Newton.

“Two Theatrical Choreopoems: Light Reading & Origami Night” will be premiering at the Arrow Street Arts at 2 Arrow St. in Cambridge on Thursday, March 5 and have at least one show per day through Sunday, March 8. The performances will combine Annas’ written works with interpretive dance. Tickets can be acquired online now. Annas said this will be the first time her poems have ever been spoken by someone other than her. Director of The Dance Complex in Cambridge Peter DiMuro and his ensemble, Public Displays of Motion, will also be a part of the performance with his piece Light Reading.

Annas' featured poem, Origami Night, is about her life that saw her go from a working-class navy brat to radical feminist, and eventually a mother. According to Annas, it explores issues of aging, love, loneliness, and growing up queer in the 1950's.

“I have big visual ideas when writing these poems, but I can never know how much they’ve translated into the minds of readers,” Annas told Patch.

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