Sandra Soli: Poetry Makes Perfect

Born in Birmingham, England, Sandra Soli graduated from College High School in Bartlesville and entered the Oklahoma College for Women in 1959. Her memories of OCW, nearing the end of the first incarnation, are idyllic.

"The Nellie Sparks dorm room that my roommate Judy and I shared had water pipes climbing one wall," Soli remembered, "so we painted them green and installed fake ivy to 'grow' up the wall of our room"

"Our dorm mother was not amused, but we thought it was a remarkable improvement. Instantly 'in trouble,' we also picked magnolias from the tree outside our dorm to add fragrance to our space. We weren't allowed to do that, but nobody had mentioned the rules yet so we considered ourselves innocent. Since we knew already that some Jane Addams occupants were sneaking out after hours to get french fries and snacks across the road at the little burger shack, we felt our criminal record was quite minor."

Soli was an ambitious student from the start. She recalled enrolling in 19 hours for her second semester at the college--a feat that, on top of choir practice and theater rehearsals, landed her in the infirmary where she was plied with lots of love and vitamins. She completed the semester by winning the president's award for the achieving the highest grade point average.

Much to the chagrin of her mentors, Soli left OCW just before her junior year to elope with her young beau. Only a few years would pass before she returned to her beloved magnolia trees but the time, she discovered, was unrecoverable.

"At OCW, scholarship was honored and young women were sheltered and cared about," Soli remembered. "Campus life offered enrichment that certainly could not be surpassed by the 'sister schools' of the northeast. The period 1959-1962 was, for me, a time of joyful learning."

When she returned in 1965, OCW had taken on a second life as the Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts. Despite the institution's continued focus on the liberal arts education model, Soli felt a palpable sense of loss at the changes she saw.

"Everything had suddenly become modern, just like every other college campus," Soli said. "In spite of earnest and devoted attention from administrators and faculty, the change was probably inevitable; it perhaps had not so much to do with the co-ed environment as with the transformation from a classical to a populist vision for the school's future."

Despite being inducted into Hypatia in recognition of her creative and academic successes, Soli struggled for a year trying to reconcile her aspirations as a student with her responsibilities as a wife. Ultimately, she withdrew from OCLA never to return as a student.

Life, however, continued as it does. Soli entered the field of broadcasting and enjoyed a successful career before the academic bug bit her again in the 1990s. She went on to complete her Bachelor of Arts--graduating magna cum laude--as well as her master's degree, both from the University of Central Oklahoma.

In the years since, Soli has become an active and celebrated poet. She has won more than a hundred awards for her writing and her poetry has been featured on National Public Radio. Her honors include the University of Central Oklahoma's Ars Poetica Award in 1998. As an undergraduate at the University of Central Oklahoma, she received the Marilyn Harris Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Creative Writing Award while in the theater department.

Soli also received a citation from Papier Mache Press for her dedication to mentorship and for life's work in empowering others. Her chapbook, Silvering the Flute, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry in 1995. Her chapbook, What the Trees Know, was the 2008 recipient of the award.

Soli is a regular contributor to Crosstimbers, USAO's interdisciplinary magazine. She is presently working on a full-length manuscript Child's Play, focusing on voices from the European theater during World War II. Two poems from that collection were featured in a special commemorative print issue of Burnt Bridge, issued for the anniversary of D-Day. A three-part historical poem from the manuscript is to be featured in War, Literature, and the Arts, a humanities journal produced by the U.S. Air Force Academy.

In more recent years, Soli has been able to reconnect with the sense of community that characterized her formative years at OCW.

"On my last visit to the campus," Soli remembered, "I was happy to see the magnolias still in bloom in spite of freshmen criminals half a century past--perhaps because of devoted tending and the sturdy root system established so long ago."

"I will say now and always that USAO is one of the hidden treasures of Oklahoma and that I will always be grateful for the time I spent there."