NCETA STUDENT LAUREATES: MIDDLE SCHOOL

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

First Place

C. J. Murphy

West Lincoln Middle School

Where I Come From

I come from the smell of
Fresh cut grass on an old dirt road, off
a two-lane black top.
Old lawn mowers shade the yard.
A squirrel dashes up an oak tree
in a stream of smoke and lead.
Grandma with a basket full of eggs,
Grandpa and Dad working,
Sharing a spit cup, working
In the old tin building,
Uncle Mike tuning his Camero,
Cousin Hannah, drinking a Nehi,
watching the chickens picking the ground.

My cousin Johnnie and me in the tree stand
in the old pasture by the creek,
watching the field like a hawk
through the scope of an ought-two-seventy.
(But when Mom yells “Supper’s ready!” we
Hop in the pickup with chicken and
blackberry pies on our minds.)
I walk in with mud on my boots
And Mom says, “What? Were you raised in a barn?”
(But after lunch, dressed up and armed
With Bibles, we hop in the truck
And head for evening service.)

Second Place

Falecia Metcalf

North Buncombe Middle School

The Rain

It starts out quietly,
slow and steady
each beat round and perfect.
Then ever so quickly
it becomes harsh and cold,
hitting faster and harder each time.
In the midst of it all
a shrill cry can be heard.
Where did it come from?
No one knows.
It haunts the night
and threatens to disappear,
although it never does.
I love the rain.
It brings out a dark side in me.
It makes me love scary stories
and ghosts.
It brings me peace, though,
in the worst of my nights.
It slowly sings me to sleep
with its majestic lullaby.
It doesn’t bring me anger or fear—
it soothes me.
There is something about it,
I would never guess,
That draws me to it
without ever uttering a word.
It carries me off to ride in the dark,
A person without a care,
yet it haunts me;
it loves me still.


Honorable Mention

Allie Sekulich

Neuse Charter Middle School

On the Ice

Deep lungfuls of the icy cold air
Step on to glowing white ice
On gleaming metal blades
Gliding like a swan
Cold wind brushes my face
Like soft satin feathers
Lilting to the music
I spin like a top
Never wanting to stop
Watching the world whirl
Jumping like a dolphin
Into the air for joy
Floating, as if I could stay up forever
Hit the ice, steady my blades
Dancing from one end to another
Turning, twisting, prancing
Power and Grace
My energy is endless, endless in joy and love
Never wanting to leave
This is my true passion
Fiercer, more alive than anything
It burns like a blazing fire
My second home is the rink
On two metal blades and the beautiful ice
Here I will be
Forevermore skating
I am a Figure Skater.

(Sasha Cohen's skates. Sasha is Allie's favorite figure skater.)

STUDENT POETRY CONTEST--GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOKFAIR

STUDENT POETRY CONTEST AT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOK FAIR

Students who love to write poetry have a chance to win prizes and recognition in a contest sponsored by the 5th Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair. The contest is open to students in grades 1-12 in Jackson, Haywood, Macon and Swain counties, including home-schooled students and students on the Qualla Boundary.

The poetry contest was an idea proposed by Kay Byer, North Carolina Poet Laureate and one of the planners for the Book Fair, which is sponsored by City Lights Bookstore, the Friends of the Jackson County Main Library, and the Jackson County Public Library. “The love of books and reading begins early, and the earlier the better,” Byer said. “Poetry is a great way to nurture that love, beginning in kindergarten and all the way through to high school. Our student poetry contest will encourage our children to develop a love of language that will enrich their lives.”

“We are urging teachers and parents to encourage their students to submit a poem as a way of drawing attention to the Book Fair, which is a promotional event to raise money for the new Jackson County Public Library Complex,” said June Smith, president of the Friends of Jackson County Main Library. “Students who write poems now will one day soon have a new library in Jackson County filled with books and poems.”

First and second prizes will be awarded in three categories: Elementary—Grades 1-5, Middle School—Grades 6-8, and High School—Grades 9-12. Students may submit only one poem, not longer than 40 lines. Each submission must include the student’s name, parents' names, grade level, school attended (if home-schooled, please specify), address and telephone number. Include email address, if available. Poems must be received by October 31.

First prizewinners in each category will receive $50, and the second prizewinners will receive $25. Judges for the contest are Jeannette Cabinis-Brewin, Dr. Mary Adams, and Dr. Newton Smith.

Allan Wolf, author, poet, performer and educator will read the winning poems at the Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair. The Fair will be held November 14 at the United Methodist Church in downtown Sylva. Wolf’s books include Immersed In Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent & Totally Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet’s Life, The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems About Our Parts, and New Found Land: Lewis and Clark’s Voyage of Discovery.
Prizewinning poems and honorable mentions will be published in the Smoky Mountain News. The winning poems will be published in the Poet Laureate’s blog, http://ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com.

Students can submit by email to more@citylightsnc.com (Student Poetry Contest in subject line) or by mail to Student Poetry Contest, City Lights Bookstore, 3 E Jackson St., Sylva, NC 28779-5668. Deadline is Oct. 31, 2009. For more information contact either Kathryn Byer at nclaureate@aol.com or 293-5695 or City Lights Books at 586-9499 or more@citylightsnc.com.

ASPIRING WRITERS: GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOK FAIR

Aspiring writers can find advice at November’s benefit book fair
(from The Sylva Herald)

Writers who are as yet unpublished can obtain some expert advice next month, and they won’t have to leave the area to do so.

As part of the Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair, which will be in Sylva on Saturday, Nov. 14, Edmund Schubert will offer a free writers’ workshop devoted to how to get published in any genre.

The program will be held at Sylva First United Methodist Church from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. While there is no charge to attend, pre-registration is required. Please call City Lights Bookstore at 586-9499 by Tuesday, Nov. 10, to reserve a place at the workshop.

The book fair appearance will mark Schubert’s return to Sylva to offer this program for a second time. He came to City Lights in February and had a full-capacity crowd for the workshop, which covers everything from the difference between a query letter and a cover letter to selling novels, non-fiction books and articles, and short stories.

Schubert is the author of a novel, titled “Dreaming Creek,” and is also the fiction editor of Orson Scott Card’s (author of “Ender’s Game”) online science-fiction magazine, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show. An anthology from the magazine was recently published as a book, with Schubert as editor.

To register for Schubert’s free workshop, or for more information, call City Lights at 586-9499.

The Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair is a fund-raiser for the new Jackson County Library. In addition to Schubert’s writing workshop, it will include entertainment and book appraisal opportunities.

The all-day event draws some 50 regional authors to Sylva Methodist to sell and autograph their books, with 20 percent of sales going to the new library.

For complete book fair information, visit online at www.gsmbookfair.org

YOU GOTTA LOVE 'EM

Book Review of YOU GOTTA LOVE ‘EM

Davis, Tom. YOU GOTTA LOVE ‘EM. Fayetteville, NC: Old Mountain Press, Inc., 2009. 87 pages, trade paperback. $14.00. http://www.oldmountainpress.com/.

YOU GOTTA LOVE ‘EM, compiled by Old Mountain Press, includes poetry and prose by 65 writers. Members of North Carolina Writers’ Network-West published in this book include: Linda Smith, Dorothea Spiegel, and Brenda Kay Ledford. This anthology describes the children who try our patience and make life so worth living.

Pollyanna Dunn photographed the cover and Tom Davis designed it. A darling picture of Lewis “The Frogman” Dunn, the publisher’s (AKA Pa Pa Trouble) grandson on his first birthday graces the book and begs you to read it.

This beautiful toddler gains knowledge of his cupcake through his senses. During the sensorimotor period, from 1 to 3 years of age, children spend much of their time playing and experimenting with various actions and movements. For instance, Al Manning describes his grandson, Alex, exploring the world through movement: jumping, leaping, crawling, creeping, bounding, bouncing…

Another major development during toddlerhood involves learning language. Marian Kaplun Shapiro writes about her granddaughter collecting new words, staples for her cupboard. She acquires meaning for the new word: “Hat!”

At this age, children also enjoy listening to simple songs, nursery rhymes, and stories. Shelby Stephenson alludes to “Blue Boy” and “the bear licks gold porridge” in his poem, “The Orchard Boy.” Additionally, Dorothea Spiegel writes about a little girl wanting to hear “A Child’s Story.”

During early childhood, children learn there are certain standards of behavior. Joseph J. Youngblood’s poem, “You Gotta Love Them,” describes this time of discovery, learning the Golden Rule, and how it’s not easy to be a young kid.

Tom Davis, publisher of this anthology, also tells about a boy learning standards of behavior in, “Demon Rum.” It’s a humorous story at Vienna’s First Baptist Church. During the revival, Rip, exposes where his daddy hides the rum bottle.

Additionally, Barbara Ledford Wright addresses her son learning patriotism at an early age. In “God Bless America,” John enjoyed playing with his toy soldiers. He could recite the Pledge of Allegiance at age 3 and sang, “God Bless America,” with only one mispronounced word.

Besides patriotism, the theme of “school” was covered by authors. Ruth Moose pens a magnificent story about a colorful principal who tap, tap, tappity, tap, taps, down the hall, and with her pointed red nail, motions children out of the classroom to discipline them. You’ll also read “School, the Early Years,” by Ehelena Jackson Brown. Blanche L. Ledford’s poem stresses the “ABC’s” and Brenda Kay Ledford recalls “The Lunchroom” at Hayesville Elementary School in her funny vignette.

This anthology includes work by 10-year-old Dylan Fox Atkins. His poem, “When Wind Never Fell,” won first place in a contest at Harnett Middle School.

Finally, YOU GOTTA LOVE ‘EM, introduces us to the wonderful, wooshing, warking, wewing, wantastic, world of children. (My spell check went wild when I typed these nonsense words on the computer). This anthology is one of the best books Old Mountain Press has ever published . It could even be incorporated into the Early Childhood curriculum at universities. For information about upcoming anthologies by OMP, or to order books, go to: http://www.oldmountainpress.com/.

Book reviewed by: Brenda Kay Ledford. Ms. Ledford holds a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education from Western Carolina University. She’s a North Carolina certified teacher and retired elementary school teacher.

Visit her blog at: http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com/ and website: www.brendakayledford.com.

COPIES OF FIRST LIGHT AVAILABLE FOR TEACHERS

If any English/writing teachers in the public schools in our area want copies of FIRST LIGHT: NC Student Laureate Awards, please let me know at nclaureate@aol.com. You can use them in the classroom or just have them as a reminder to submit your best student work in next spring's contest. Thanks! And check ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com, where I will be posting all the winning work. The post on the NC English Teachers Association Conference went up today, with photos and commentary. Check it out!

CATHY SMITH BOWERS READS AT CITY LIGHTS IN SYLVA

Photo credit: Jeff Davis. This photo of Cathy was snapped at the studios of WPVM when she appeared earlier this year on WordPlay, the station's program by, about, etc., "writers, their craft and ideas."
Cathy Smith Bowers will be reading at City Lights Bookstore, http://www.citylightsnc.com/, this Friday night (Oct. 16) at 7:00 p.m. Please plan to attend this reading, signing, and reception in Sylva, NC.

Anyone who has read Cathy Smith Bowers knows what I'm about to say, that she is one of the finest poets writing today, that her work fuses narrative with exquisite lyricism, as well as wit and vulnerability. Her new book, The Candle I Hold Up to See You, is just out from Iris Press.

ISBN-10: 1604542020ISBN-13: 9781604542028 Published: Iris Press, 05/01/2009 Pages: 96

Cathy Smith Bowers is a native of South Carolina. She was a winner of the 1990 General Electric Award for Younger Writers and a South Carolina Poetry Fellowship. Her poems have appeared widely in publications such as The Altantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, Poetry, Shenandoah, The Southern Poetry Review, The Southern Review, Kenyon Review, and many others.
Cathy’s first book, The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas, was published in 1992 as the first winner of the Texas Tech University Press First-book Competition in their Poetry Award Series, subsequently named for Walt McDonald. Iris Press republished The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas in 1997. Iris Press published Cathy’s second book, Traveling in Time of Danger, in 1999. Iris Press published Cathy’s third book, A Book of Minutes, in 2004. Cathy teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing at Queens University of Charlotte.


To view a portfolio of Cathy's work over her past several books, please go to http://www.irisbooks.com/bowers/bowers_port.htm.

Here are two poems from her new collection.




Cool Radio

When she calls and asks
f I will drive her to the mall,
our city’s newest labyrinth

of glittering stuff, I know my sister
has come back to me, back
from November’s shock of blood,

the exams, the x-rays, the surgeon’s
winnowing blade. She is one week
out of the hospital, chemo bag

draped casually across her shoulder,
spilling its slow promise
into her veins. Odd how stylish

in the mall’s fluorescent lights,
a Gucci or von Furstenburg,
its pale blue plastic shiny

as the toy shoes and purses
we used to play grownup in.
I loop my left arm through her

frail right, her tired gait lanky,
almost chic, steady her against
the teenage throng, tattooed

and pierced and spiked, past
racks of skirts and dresses, tier
upon tier of stiletto heels

like the ones our dead mother
in her younger years
suffered in so beautifully.

At the base of the escalator,
beyond The Limited and The Gap,
a girl too young for fashion’s

fleeting realm spies the apparatus
around my sister’s neck. “Cool
radio,” she whispers to no one

as we all step on together.


Solace




Each morning in my mailbox
or tucked into a quiet cove
of my front porch, another
burden of solace
reminding me again
my husband is dead.

Last week, an oval cardboard box
decoupaged in stars, inside, its nested
offering—a cache of still-warm eggs
gleaned from my neighbor’s henhouse.

Yesterday, a Peruvian prayer shawl,
the warp and weft of its holy weave
climbing, like girders of a bridge,
its sturdy warmth.

And today this handmade flute,
turned and hollowed and carved
by Laughing Crow, enigmatic
shaman of some distant plain.

See its little row of holes
lined up like perfect planets,
as if having not yet learned
the universe had collapsed.

See my lips pressed to the tiny
breathless gape of its own mouth.
As if my lungs could conjure anything.
As if it were the one needing to be saved.

LEDFORD RECEIVES PAUL GREEN AWARD

Brenda Kay Ledford received the 2009 Paul Green Multimedia Award for her poetry book, SACRED FIRE, from North Carolina Society of Historians at the History Place in Morehead City, NC, during their award’s ceremony in October.

This is the fourth time Ledford has received the prestigious Paul Green Award. She got the 2005 award for her poetry book, PATCHWORK MEMORIES; the 2006 award for collecting oral history on Velma Beam Moore; and in 2007, for SHEW BIRD MOUNTAIN.

A native of Clay County, NC, Ledford was an honor graduate of Hayesville High School. She earned her Master of Arts in Education from Western Carolina University and studied Journalism at the University of Tennessee. She’s former Creative Writing Editor of “Tri-County Communicator,” at Tri-County Community College.

Ledford is a member of North Carolina Writers’ Network, North Carolina Poetry Society, Georgia Poetry Society, Byron Herbert Reece Society, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, and listed with “A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers.” She’s appeared on “A Common Cup,” over Windstream Communication channel 4 television and read her poetry.

Her work has appeared in “Our State,” “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” “A Journal of Kentucky Studies,” “Appalachian Heritage,” and many other journals. Finishing Line Press published her poetry books, SHEW BIRD MOUNTAIN and SACRED FIRE.

For details about the Paul Green Award, go to: http://www.ncsocietyofhistorians.org/; http://www.brendakayledford.com/; http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com.

FASHIONS FROM THE PAST TO THE PRESENT

Recently I acquired a copy of Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham's new anthology, Clothes Lines, a book filled with stories and poems about, what else, clothes.


Among the writers I know in this book are Nancy Sales Cash, author of three novels and she is working on number four. Nancy is a native of Murphy, NC and spends much time in the Cherokee and Clay county areas. We met at the Daily Grind and Curiosity Shop Bookstore, had a cup of coffee and discussed readings of Clothes Lines and my poetry book Now Might As Well Be Then.



Some of the writers in the far southwest area of North Carolina and north Georgia who have work in Clothes Lines are Kathryn Stripling Byer, Joyce Foster, Nancy Sales Cash, Karen Paul Holmes, Carole R. Thompson, Glenda Barrett, Jo Carolyn Beebe, Janice Townley Moore, Blanche Ledford and Brenda Kay Ledford, and Peg Russell.

A number of our Netwest members throughout the region also appear in this interesting book by 75 western North Carolina Women.

Celia and Nancy published Christmas Presence last year through Catawba Press and used the same press for Clothes Lines. The book is made more interesting by the use of a few black and white pictures all done by Mary Alice Ramsey.
Be on the lookout for readings from this anthology in your town.

A Reflection on the Summer of 1968 - Remember?

Recently Lana Hendershott submitted the following to her hometown newspaper when the editor asked for glimpses of life in the summer of 1968. Many of us remember that summer. Where were you and what were you doing then?


A Girl's Take on Summer of '68
by Lana Hendershott

I was in love with a boy I dated during my freshman year at Northwestern, and I was not excited about returning to Enid, Oklahoma. Going home meant trading an active social life for monastic mores and gainful employment.

The employment angle didn’t pan out. Boys harvested wheat, mowed grass or had paper routes. Their jobs paid well and left time for swimming at Champlin’s pool. My choices were babysitting, waitressing, or car hopping in miniskirts and roller skates at the A&W.

Babysitting paid fifty cents an hour and entailed caring for a neighbor’s three children all under the age of seven. I’m talking ten hours a day, Monday through Friday, with laundry service and ironing thrown in as freebies for Mrs. T. I actually slaved away at that job the previous summer and decided surrogate motherhood was not my gig.

I was eager to carhop or wait tables. Those jobs offered shorter hours and paid three times better than babysitting even if customers didn’t tip. I began fantasizing about my soon-to-be-earned wealth. Managers, however, expected experience, and I had zero. They questioned whether a ninety-eight pound novice, regardless of enthusiasm and robust health, was a good fit for transporting weighty platters of food and drinks. My mother ended my job search by declaring, “She’s worth more than $1.50 an hour to me.” I suspect she didn’t like the miniskirt idea.

Plan B was attending summer school at Phillips University and helping Mom with errands, meals, and housework. I enrolled in General Psychology taught by Dr. Jordan, Biblical Religion with Dr. Simpson, and U.S. Government, a requirement. I don’t remember anything about government—not the teacher, not classmates, not one discussion. I had no interest in politics. Dr. King was murdered in Memphis, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in California, and the evening news was all about Viet Nam. The violence appalled me, but the broadcasts were like watching movies or events happening in a parallel universe leaving me uninvolved.

Psychology class started at seven o’clock A.M. Sipping coffee, I watched the sky lighten as I drove east on Broadway with the windows rolled down. I listened to Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild” on WKY and looked forward to watching Dark Shadows in the afternoon.

An earlier version was printed in the Enid News and Eagle on Sunday, July 13th, 2008.

Lana Hendershott represents NCWN West in Henderson County. Anyone who lives there can contact her for information about Netwest and writing events in that area.

CLOTHES LINES IS HERE!

No, not my clotheslines, which right now have damp garments hanging because I forgot to bring them inside last night. No, I mean the anthology edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. These clothes lines don't have anything soggy about them. Take a look at the cover. It looks like a shawl to be thrown over the shoulders when you are heading out to make the scene! The poem on the back cover (below) by Nancy Dillingham is worth wearing! (I've always wanted to wear a poem.)

More about this book tomorrow.

Finding Our Line

Every day
we shape our clay
from the inside out
giving it cachet.

But sometimes
it’s the clothes we wear
that give us away
that give us sway

Curves, straight lines
diagonals, in-your-face style
au courant, de rigueur
faux, retro

Similarly
we define ourselves as writers
shape our style

The curve of the plot
the turn of the phrase
the tone of the prose--
it’s the pattern of patter that matters

We preen, we pose
give color to character
and landscape
decorate and align

weaving a provocative story
stitching a tall tale
spinning a yarn
threading a theme

piecing a poem
with precision and panache
punctuating with élan
finding our line

Nancy Dillingham

CLOTHESLINES
Edited by Celia H. Miles and Nancy Dillingham ISBN 978-1-59712-355-690000

THE CLEANSING, NEW NOVEL BY BEN ELLER

Congratulations are in order for Ben Eller, Netwest member and author. His second novel, The Cleansing was runner-up in Fireside Publishing 2008 mystery/thriller novel contest. It is always good to see our writers succeeding in this business of publishing and winning awards. The Cleansing can be found in local bookstores in western North Carolina.

Coffee with the Poets features Maren O. Mitchell, poet

Maren Mitchell, Netwest writer, will be featured October 14 at Coffee with the Poets. The reading is held at 10:30 a.m on the second Wednesday of each month at Phillips and Lloyd Book Store on the square in Hayesville, NC.

Maren's poetry has appeared in the Red Clay Reader, The Arts Journal, Applachian Journal, and Journal of Kentucky Studies. One of her poems is forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review.  She has worked as a proof reader, was a house manager of a group home in Brevard NC, taught poetry at Blue Ridge Community College, Flat Rock, NC and catalogued at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historical Site. She teaches origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. A North Carolina native, she has lived in France and Germany and throughout the southeastern part of the United States. Presently, she lives with her husband and her two cats in Young Harris, GA.

Coffee with the Poets was begun in 2007 as a networking and reading event sponsored by North Carolina Writers Network West (Netwest) to promote poetry and poets in the mountain area. Anyone who writes poetry is invited to come and share their work at open mic. A delicious array of desserts is available from Crumpets Dessertery, along with numerous flavors of tea and a pot full of coffee.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOKFAIR

It's that time of year again, when the season begins to turn toward hot cups of tea and a good book to go with them. Not to mention Christmas gifts!
The Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair is ready to meet your needs, and then some. Go to http://www.gsmbookfair.org/ to find out what to expect--authors, presentations, animals--yes, we will have some, maybe a hound dog or two--and lots of folks wandering around looking at books. I'll be writing poems on demand; there will be a bookmaking table, ongoing story-telling, good music, and, we hope, fine fall weather.
I'll have more about all this a little later. VISIT OUR WEBSITE!

Netwest member, Pat Workman writes a beautiful blog

Click on this link to read an original poem by Hayesville Poet, Pat Workman. She has been out of the Netwest group for some years but she is back with a lovely blog and some of her original work.You will love the photos.

Cup Of Comfort is excellent place to submit essays

Share Your Story in Cup of Comfort!


Calling all Love Birds and Golf Lovers! The submission windows for A Cup of Comfort for Couples and A Cup of Comfort for Golfers are still wide open. We're most interested in well-crafted narrative essays that convey a universal truth in a personal and creative way. Stories can be humorous or serious, but always uplifting or inspiring.

You'll find complete details in the online Call for Submissions and in the Writers Guidelines.



Submit your stories now!

Poetry Workshop and Critique Session

The Poetry Workshop with Critique Session sponsored by NCWN West will meet the first Thursday of each month from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at Tri-County Community College, McSwain Building, Murphy NC. Contact Janice Moore, 828 389-6394 for more information. The meeting is open to all NCWN members within driving range. Observers are welcome. Check in library or call Janice for room number.

fresh is new literary magazine

It looks like a new literary magazine will be hitting the newstands in western North Carolina very soon. The editors have begun with a bang with some big names among the authors represented.



fresh…stories, ideas, poetry

What is fresh?

It is a new quarterly literary magazine distributed in selected locations in five counties of Western North Carolina and soon to be available on the internet. Thanks to our advertisers and generous sponsors such as John Buckley and Dr. Darryl Nabors the first issue is free.

Our mission is to present fine writing through stories, ideas and poems from excellent writers across the nation and our region. Contributing writers in the first issue include Robert Morgan, prize winning author of Gap Creek, Boone and others; Keith Flynn, publisher of The Asheville Review, and prolific author of poetry; Kathryn Magendie, author of Tender Graces; and Eric S. Brown, author of World War of the Dead, plus hundreds of short stories. We believe it is important to offer a publication for fiction, essays and humor which reflect contemporary ideas and opinions.

fresh will be available in locations where people gather…restaurants, bookstores, coffee shops, libraries.

Comments and recommendations from readers are welcome. Future issues will have space for a readers’ forum. If you wish to participate, please e-mail your thoughts to: jcwalkup@bellsouth.net.

SOUTHWESTERN TRIBES CULTURAL ARTS CELEBRATION

SOUTHEASTERN TRIBES CULTURAL ARTS CELEBRATION WILL TAKE PLACE RAIN OR SHINE!! September 18-19.

SCHEDULE AT http://www.cherokeemuseum.org/events-set.html

CATHERINE CARTER: NETWEST ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING CONTEST

Catherine Carter, who lives in Cullowhee, is one of the most interesting poets writing today. Also one of the best. Her poems about the environment go beyond cliche into the biological realities of the world around us without missing a lyrical beat. "Swarm" pulls us into the universe of a honeybee swarm with language that connects us with the real living "other" around us. When you read her first book, The MEMORY OF GILLS, that won the Roanoke-Chowan award from the NC Literary and Historical Association, your learn a lot about the natural world. I hope we have more poems of this caliber submitted to Netwest's Environmental contest. This is a contest we mustn't let die.

CATHERINE CARTER

(Third Place Winner)

SWARM

Twenty-five years back, at home,
the summer hour was late when the afternoon
light began to hum, and a thousand
specks came arrowing out of the west,
the air waxed thick with honeybees up in swarm.
They crept and crawled on our closed
screens, stormed and boomed around the old
maple: one of the things you remember
forever, a sign you can’t read, alien,
and yet down in your bones you know
you want this. Want to open the screen and go
out there, breathe the wind of gauze
wings, pet striped velvet, feel
the sisters’ feet prick your skin.
I didn’t know then that swarming
bees don’t sting, and working bees hardly
sting, and bumblebees let you stroke
their black satin as they drink the blooms.
I didn’t know how little harm
most things mean, how even the dangerous
snake tries to slide away, how safe
we were. But I think of it now, stirring
the soft bees barehanded, shaking
down this week’s thrumming swarm,
hoping they’ll come home. The summer
hour is late, but not too late.

JOHN EHLE READING IN ASHEVILLE

 John Ehle Reading in Asheville, NC

       Internationally acclaimed author and Asheville native, John Ehle, will read and sign books on October 10 at 2 pm. The event, sponsored by The Writers' Workshop, will be held at the West Asheville Public Library at 942 Haywood Street. It is free and open to the public. A reception follows, hosted by Friends of West Asheville Library. Books will be available for purchase at the book-signing.

 Mr. Ehle is the authorof seventeen books, including Winter People; The Journey Of August King; and Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. He will read from his novel, Last One Home, first published in 1984 and recently re-issued. It is the last in a seven-book series about the settling of the Appalachian Mountains in Western North Carolina.

 Ehle is a member of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame, and has received the North Carolina Award for Literature, the Thomas Wolfe Prize and the Lillian Smith Award for Southern Fiction. He is a five-time winner of the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, and has  received the Mayflower Award; the Governor's Award for Meritorious Service; and the John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities. Mr. Ehle holds honorary doctorates from UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Asheville, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and Berea College.

He also serves on the Advisory Board of The Writers' Workshop, a non-profit organization founded in 1985. A luncheon for Mr. Ehle will be held at noon, prior to the reading. For more information about the reading or luncheon, please email writersw@gmail.com, or call 828-254-8111.