Mapping the Artist: Dalton Perry

(L to R) Dalton Perry with Kathabela and Rick Wilson.

An interview with fine poet and musician Dalton Perry. He is a subtle, patient, and humorous poetic observer of human life.

By Kathabela Wilson

A telescope on the poet

Dalton Perry reading his poetry at Bolton Hall Village.

Looking back at the landscape of your past, where did you come from?

I was born in San Bernadino, but grew up in West Covina where I could hop our back fence and wander for miles and hours in the oak-dotted sandstone hills behind our house. We built tree houses, had forts, collected trilobites, sharks teeth, and crystal. My father was a nationally recognized fly fisherman who lead the way in restoring our local mountain river habitats and establishing catch and release areas for angling. We did a lot of camping as a family and went to the Colorado River a lot. Our only squabbles were over who got to use the boat in the morning, the water skiers or the fisherman. He always won.
When I could drive I became a surfer, then later a competitive sailor. I and three friends were the first to sail completely around the Salton Sea. The first attempt left two of our boats destroyed in 25 foot swells and 50 mile an hour winds. Though I was a novice, my catamaran sustained no damage. In Junior high I established the Hollencrest Ecology Club, having read Rachal Carson’s SILENT SPRING and other environmental books, not to mention everything on John Muir or anything on mountain. You would think I would be writing about nature! But mostly I focus on human nature.

A microscope on the poet

Dalton Perry at an outdoor reading in Dabney Gardens, Caltech.

How did Poetry begin for you?

I began writing poetry in grade school. Mostly fantasy sorts of things. Inspiration came from Tom Swift and other Sci-Fi books, or whatever I was reading. Writing is still a private thing, like a secret internal dialog, it helps me to work out things which I may not have grasped at the moment. It’s a struggle, an emotional dialog, a game of scrabble. It’s just something I enjoy doing, playing around the edges. I’ve recently begun to read my poems in public, rather like going to Toastmasters, and have been fortunate with the few I’ve submitted for publication.

Pulse of the poet

Dalton Perry playing harmonica at Moonday, Flintridge Bookstore.

You’ve talked about the intimate side of poetry, how does it reach out into the world?

I hope that my poems elicit the feelings I mean them too, or better, if the words take the reader someplace of their own. Humor, sarcasm, innuendo and emotions are my basic stew, but as a blues harmonica player in a local band, I do tend to slide towards blues and bent notes.

Since stepping back into poetry I’ve met many wonderful, intelligent people. Kind, insightful, generous, loving people I call friends. There was a 27 year period of matrimony where I barely wrote poems or anything but sailing articles and newsletters, then a few year back I stepped into the Red Door Cafe poetry group at the campus where I work. I’ve been productive enough ever since.

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Learn more about Dalton and read his poetry on his blog.