Netwest Poetry Group

Tonight I returned to the Netwest Poetry Critique group after a long absence. It was good to be back home in the conference room at Tri-County Community College in Cherokee County, NC. Janice Moore is the facilitator for this group and has been our leader for many years. Janice is also one of the Netwest Representatives for Clay County. 

We discussed the history of this group that goes back about twenty years. Nancy Simpson, Netwest co-founder, told me that Dr. Gene Hirsch started this monthly group when he lived in Murphy two decades ago. After he moved away, Nancy took over the group which included prose and poetry writers. They eventually divided into two groups that meet monthly. Today we have a prose group, which includes all writing that is not poetry, and it is led by Bob Groves. The prose group meets on the second Thursday of the month. 

How fortunate we are in this mountain region to have dedicated members who continue our events through the years. I felt warm and fuzzy sitting down to share my poetry with old friends, writers I've known for years, writers whose families I know, and I am sure I will continue to go to these meetings in months to come. 

Without the eyes of other writers who see what I don't see in my own work, I would likely not have published anything. First drafts are not usually our best work so we need to have others read and give us feedback so we can tighten, cut, or do whatever is needed to make our final product the best it can be.

Thank you, Janice Moore, and all the poets at the meeting tonight. It was good to go home again. 

Poetry, alive and well in Cherokee County NC, May 7

Dr. Gene Hirsch and his John C. Campbell Folk School poetry class visited the Netwest Poetry critique group on Thursday evening, May 7.
Linda Smith, far end on right, is reading a poem she brought for critique.

Poets Glenda Barrett, author of When the Sap Rises, and Joyce Foster, author of Painted Leaves, a book Kathryn S. Byer called one of the most beautiful poetry books she has ever seen, follow the words of a poem read by Linda Smith. Joyce attended Gene Hirsch's class and lists him in her book as her mentor. Beyond Joyce in the photo is Clarence Newton, Gene Hirsch, Karen Holmes, Barbara Groce, and Maren Mitchell.