Carroll Taylor and Don Long featured at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Donald E. Long

Coffee with the Poets and Writers, (CWPW) will feature poet Donald E. Long and author Carroll S. Taylor on Wednesday, August 21, at 10:30 a.m. at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC

The event is free and open to the public. An open mic will follow the presentations. Bring a poem or a short prose piece to participate. CWPW is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-W) which also includes writers in Towns, Union, Fannin, and Rabun Counties in Georgia.

Born in Sebring, Florida, Don Long and his wife, Marti, feel at home in Cherokee County where they have a home and spend part of each year. Long has degrees in Psychology and Personnel Counseling and Human Development, and a commercial pilot license for airplanes and helicopters. 

After two years of college, he enlisted in the Army where he earned a commission and was trained to fly airplanes and helicopters. This led to two one-year tours in Vietnam flying helicopters.

After retirement from the military, Long worked for the federal government in the United States and Germany, with short forays into Bosnia, Croatia, and Macedonia. 

Starting in his teen years and throughout adulthood he has written poetry. His poems have been used in citizenship swearing-in ceremonies and Florida Flag Day ceremonies. One of his poems was featured at the 2013 Florida Convention for Vietnam Helicopter Pilots. His story about Vietnam has appeared in two different military anthologies and was featured in VHPA Aviator Magazine.

Carroll Taylor

Carroll S. Taylor grew up in rural West Central Georgia. A graduate of Tift College (Mercer University), she holds graduate degrees in French, English, and Educational Leadership. She retired after teaching for over forty years. She is the author of two young adult novels, Chinaberry Summer and Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side. Her books emphasize generational storytelling and her love for reptiles and amphibians, especially snakes. 

She and her husband retired to Hiawassee, Georgia where she has embraced the writing community and she volunteers to do publicity for Coffee with the Poets and Writers. She’s always looking for adventures, whether it’s standing on Prime Meridian, studying in Oxford, watching alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp, touring the Scottish Highlands, or taking pictures of flowers and critters.

She is a member of North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, and is serving as co-chair for A Day for Writers 2019, the writing conference August 24 in Sylva, NC.  She is also a member of the Georgia Poetry Society. Readers may find her journal blog at chinaberrysummer.com and follow her at facebook/chinaberrysummer.

For more information about this event, please contact Glenda Beall at: glendabeall@msn.com.

Local poet Donald E. Long to read at Coffee with the Poets and Writers at Moss Memorial Library, Hayesville, NC, at 10:30, on September 20, 2017

Coffee with the Poets and Writers meets monthly at the Moss Memorial Library, 26 Anderson Street, Hayesville, NC. On Wednesday, September 20, 2017, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Don Long of Cherokee County will be the featured North Carolina Writers' Network-West member who will read his poetry.

Donald E. Long, MS, ISASI, CSE, was born and raised in Sebring, Florida. After two years of college, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Private, earned his commission, and later served two one-year tours in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. He had numerous other flight assignments stateside and in Germany flying helicopters and multi-engine turbine airplanes. While in the Army he completed college to earn his Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree.

In 1980, after serving four years at the Army Safety Center in Ft. Rucker, Alabama, Long retired as a Lt. Colonel. He began a second career with the U.S. Federal Government as a Safety Professional, retiring a second time in 2000. During his two careers, he lived in, or visited, over 25 countries.
Starting in his teen years and all throughout his entire adult life Donald Long has written poems, mostly for his own enjoyment, but on request he sometimes wrote poems for special occasions. For a short while after retiring from the Army he had a business called “People Poems.” He wrote poems for others for a fee after they provided him pertinent information. The business was doing well, but he obtained a time-consuming position with the Government which necessitated closing the business.

Publication has not been his goal and he has made little effort to publish his poetry except in local newspapers. He writes poems for personal reasons and enjoys the challenge of using rhyme. One of his poems, “I’m Glad It’s Mine” has been used during citizenship swearing-in ceremonies in central Florida and for central Florida Flag Day ceremonies. Also, one of his combat stories was published in a compilation called “The Harsh and the Heart” and “Vietnam Helicopter Crew Member Stories, Volume 2”.

Don’s long and illustrious career includes earning a BA in Psychology, MS in Personnel Counseling and Human Development, and a Commercial Pilots license for airplanes and helicopters.

Recently, while in Washington, DC, his poem about Vietnam Veterans and the Flag was accepted for the Army Historical Archives. A veteran friend had told some at the Pentagon about the Vietnam Poem and the Pentagon asked for one. While at the Pentagon he also presented a copy of each to the Secretary of the Army.

Don Long has been married for 31 years to his wife Marti, and they have children and grandchildren spread out in Central Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and North Georgia.

Everyone is invited to hear this reading and to participate in the Open Microphone session that follows. Writers and readers and those who like to listen to poetry will enjoy this program. NCWN-West appreciates the Moss Library staff providing a room for us. Coffee with the Poets and Writers is sponsored by North Carolina Writers’ Network-West, is a program of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

For more information contact Glenda Council Beall, 828-389-4441