For Brigham Young University poet-in-residence Leslie Norris, a native of Wales who toiled in England and Washington before settling in Utah, the odyssey is far from over.
Norris, 76, was nicknamed "Merlin in the mountains" by a BYU English department colleague several years ago for his magic with the pen. But Norris is perhaps more akin to Odysseus, the epic hero whose classic journey was chronicled by Homer.Norris has yet to reach his Ithaca, though friends may have thought him dead when his "Collected Poems" and "Collected Stories" were published last year. "I'm quick to tell you that these are collected things, not complete things," said the affable Norris, whose collection of poetry was recently designated BYU General and Honors Education Book of the Semester. "I intend to write a lot more, and I'm writing all the time.
"I don't think there's any way a poet can stop writing because he has to write the poetry, the poetry demands to be written. . . . It would be a tragedy if a poet believed that he wouldn't write another poem."
Norris, whose first book of poetry was published 56 years ago, shows no signs of slowing. After nearly 15 years at BYU, where he now has a humanities professorship of creative writing, Norris continues to delight and enlighten students and faculty while strengthening his international reputation as one of the most talented poets alive.
"I think people respect him, admire him and love him," said BYU professor C. Jay Fox, chairman of the English Department. "He's not the kind of person who has enemies. He likes BYU and we like him."
The tale of Norris' journey from his birthplace of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales to Provo is as intriguing as one of his poems or short stories. In fact, Norris' travels are probably where fiction and reality come closest to meeting. Although he insists his literature isn't autobiographical, Norris admits that a writer necessarily works within the frame of reference to which his experiences have conditioned him.
For Norris, that means development of several themes in his writings: things in the natural world, leaving and returning home, and the art of creation.
In the award-winning story, "Three Shots for Charlie Betson," one of Norris' characters simply cannot survive once he moves from the town which reared him. In another story, "Away Away in China," the protagonist is devastated when, as an old man, he realizes he is lost because he spent his life away from his home.
For Norris, the modern-day Odysseus who has endured criticism from Welsh countrymen for spending his best years in England and the United States, leaving his island kingdom for adventures abroad doesn't mean his heart isn't still at home.
"I'm very much aware all the time that I am a Welshman, and being away from Wales sharpens that awareness," he said. "You are at once at home and a foreigner."
What is it that keeps Norris and his wife Kitty in the Beehive State when they could live and work anywhere they pleased? Simply put, Norris is spellbound by the sights, sounds and people of Utah. And it shows in his work.
Among the local objects which appear in recent poems are Provo Canyon's Bridal Veil Falls, the golden statue of Moroni atop the LDS Church's Salt Lake Temple, peaches from a Utah County orchard and seemingly common Christmas scenes from around the state.
As he writes about "the exotic," or those things unfamiliar to him, Norris makes the world around him his own. He'll even take in a game of American football (a "brutal" game he says is controlled too much by coaches, but one he nonetheless enjoys) at Cougar Stadium. Norris, ever the observer on the fringe of society, watches the fans in the seats as much as the players on the field.
Norris has long been a lover of sport. As a youth, he boxed and played soccer. His writings are filled with images of boxing and greyhound racing. But perhaps the most fertile ground for cultivating Norris' thinking and writing is the organic world.
Sometimes Utah's mountains and rivers remind him of Great Britain, but living in a new land also gives him the opportunity to learn about an entirely different set of animals, birds, plants and seasons. What thrills him is to realize that everything in the natural world is "controlled by one great, common pattern."
"I'm obsessed with the natural world, which I see as evidence and proof of the spiritual world," he said. "I think my greatest joy in life outside my family and friends is the mere experience of the natural world and to know that I am a part of that."
He isn't flamboyant and he doesn't advertise himself or his work; he doesn't think selling copies of his books is what's really important. Norris is a true craftsman whose craft happens to be the art of creating words.
"In the end, time will judge all the poetry," he said. "I'm concerned that my poetry will live as long as the language is relevant. Fame during one's lifetime is no guarantee of what kind of reputation the work will eventually have."
Norris religiously reads the work of such writers as Yeats, Wordsworth, Hardy, Thomas, Defoe and Hemingway. He knows hundreds of poems by heart, and his passion for them spills over into the classroom as he recites them with feeling and vigor.
There are few things in life better than immersing oneself in a great work of literature, he says. "I love the astonishment I get when I read something which is truly a miracle and then realize it has been written by a human being. I know that people, on such occasions, are not mortal."
Norris continues to pile up awards from around the globe for his writing. English department faculty remark that his almost singlehanded transformation of BYU's creative writing program is a tour de force.
Although he dedicates much of his time now to helping students, Norris doesn't stop his own work. Currently, he is composing a "long poem" about his life that will include pieces from the various stages of his writing career, which began in earnest at age 7.
"I'm just very glad to be able to continue," he said. "At the moment I think I'm not doing the job or affairs change so that my input is irrelevant, then I shall, of course, stop."
The end of Norris' odyssey seems a long time away, and perhaps it will never come.