Poet Mary Ricketson to be February's Featured Reader at Mountain Wordsmiths

     February's gathering of Mountain Wordsmiths will feature noted poet Mary Ricketson as our guest reader on Thursday, February 26, at 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West.

     Ricketson, who lives in Murphy, NC, works as a mental health counselor and a blueberry farmer. Her published poetry collections are I Hear the River Call My Name, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian, Keeping in Place, Lira, Poems of a Woodland Woman, Precious the Mule, and STUTTERS, A Book of Hope.  Stutters is also available as an audiobook, in Mary’s voice, from Spotify, libro.fm, and other distributors. 

     Stutters was reviewed by North Carolina Literary Review: "So, as I read Ricketson’s poetic account of her lifelong struggle to understand and overcome stuttering, I vicariously experienced this struggle with her…. I think Ricketson has accomplished her goal in Stutters. It is a book of hope, a stirring and enlightening book of hope." --Julia Nunnally Duncan 

     Ricketson won first place in the 2011 Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest 75th anniversary national poetry contest. In 2024, she won a gold medal in poetry, 2024 Cherokee-Clay County, NC, Senior Games/Silver Arts, and the silver medal in the North Carolina statewide competition.  Inspired by nature and her role as a mental health counselor, her poems reflect the healing powers of nature, a path she follows from Appalachian tradition, with the surrounding mountains as midwife for her words.

     For 30 years she has written a monthly column, "Woman to Woman," for Murphy’s weekly newspaper, The Cherokee Scout.  She is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor in private practice in Murphy, NC. Additionally, she has a new poetry collection published by Redhawk Publications, Tall Flowers and Living Long, which is about her living on her land. 

     Ricketson has lived 44 years on nine acres of land, digs fingers into the soil, walks paths to weave her life with mules, dogs, and every living thing, to grow a life of essential love, happiness, and peace. 

     Mountain Wordsmiths’ gatherings always take place on Zoom on the fourth Thursday of each month. Attendees are welcome to bring a poem or short prose piece to read during Open Mic. Please limit the reading to 3-5 minutes. Mountain Wordsmiths is not a critique group.

     Those wishing to attend Mountain Wordsmiths may contact Carroll Taylor at vibiaperpetua@gmail.com or ncwngeorgiarep@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link. Our group is informal, and we welcome those who would simply like to listen to the beauty of wordsmithing. All who attend can enjoy their morning cup of coffee or tea as we share our thoughts about writing.