Byer, Duncan, and Woloch at Malaprop's Bookstore this Sunday

Two reading/signing events are scheduled for this weekend, both featuring Cecilia Woloch and Kathryn Stripling Byer. On Saturday Night, Byer, Woloch, and Mary Adams will read from their new books at Cith Lights Bookstore at 7:00. Mary Adams chapbook Commandment was recently published in the Spring Street Editions Chapbook Series.

On Sunday, December 6, 2009, Malaprop's Bookstore/Café (55 HaywoodStreet in downtown Asheville, NC) will host poets Kathryn StriplingByer reading from ARETHA'S HAT: INAUGURATION DAY, 2009; Julia NunnallyDuncan with AN ENDLESS TAPESTRY and new, unpublished poems; andCecilia Woloch, author of CARPATHIA.

Kathryn Stripling Byer, poet laureate of North Carolina from 2005through June 30, 2009, was born in Southwest Georgia but moved to NorthCarolina in 1968 and has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains ever since.She is the author of five poetry books, including COMING TO REST(2006), and most recently (in collaboration with Penelope ScamblySchott) of the chapbook ARETHA'S HAT: INAUGURATION DAY, 2009. Writingon the topic "Why We Love North Carolina" for the February 2009 issueof Our State magazine, Kathryn Stripling Byer noted these particularhighlights of her term as Poet Laureate: the "generous community of[North Carolina] writers . . . who continue to amaze me with theirtalent and energy" and most of all, "the students I've met in ourschools . . . these young faces looking back at me, ready to say whothey are. May we all listen well to them." As poet laureate, KathrynStripling Byer's primary goal was to "help make poetry accessible in asmany ways as I could," through frequent visits to schools and withwriting groups; appearances at bookstores, literary events, and avariety of public celebrations; a regularly updated poetry page on theNorth Carolina Arts Council web site; and her own generous laureateblog -- as well as by continuing to write and give public readings of herown poetry. In the process, she has demonstrated the perseverance andconstant delicate balance of energies required to lead a very publiclife as a dedicated writer. Asked why she writes poetry, she recentlyreplied, "It's the best way I know to sing with the world" (Writer'sDigest interview with Robert Lee Brewer, July 2009). We are very happyto welcome Kathryn Stripling Byer back to "sing" her poetry at Malaprop's.

Julia Nunnally Duncan writes both poetry and fiction. She haspreviously published two collections of stories and a novel, and hersecond novel, WHEN DAY IS DONE, is just out from March Street Press.Her Appalachian poems have appeared in scores of literary journals,and her first published collection of poetry, AN ENDLESS TAPESTRY(2007), was named a finalist for the 2008 Roanoke-Chowan Award forPoetry. She recently completed the manuscript for a second collectionof poems, AT DUSK. Rob Neufeld, book columnist for The AshevilleCitizen-Times, wrote of Julia Nunnally Duncan that she is one of fourWestern North Carolina "poets to watch." He remarked that her poems"make the greatest possible use of line breaks, so that individualphrases glow like haiku observations. Metaphors develop naturally and emotionally." In a recent article in North Carolina Literary Review, Jeffrey Franklin observed of AN ENDLESS TAPESTRY, "Duncan always makes the place solid, the people real, the situation, in all its emotional complexity and perilousness, rendered with a deceptive simplicity that quietly resonates. . . .[Her] people are as recognizably human as any in Shakespeare[.]" Like our other readers for December 6, Julia Nunnally Duncan is at once a dedicated writer and an experienced teacher; she has served as a full-time English instructor at McDowell Community College for nearly two and a half decades. At Malaprop's, she will read selections from AN ENDLESS TAPESTRY and from her manuscript, AT DUSK.

CARPATHIA is Cecilia Woloch's fifth poetry collection. Published in2009, it went into a second printing about two months after itsofficial publication date. Natasha Trethewey, Pulitzer Prize-winningpoet, has written of CARPATHIA, "The poems . . . are guided by anexquisite lyricism and heartbreaking emotional honesty. . . . This isa gorgeous book by a poet who is passionately alive in the world."Cecilia Woloch has traveled widely and taught just as widely, offeringpoetry workshops for children and adults across the United States andin several locations abroad. She serves as a lecturer in creativewriting at the University of Southern California and is foundingdirector of the Paris Poetry Workshop. The recipient of numerousawards for her writing, teaching and theatre work, in 2009 alone,Cecilia Woloch has been recognized as a finalist in the CaliforniaBook Awards of The Commonwealth Club of California for her 2008chapbook, NARCISSUS; as a finalist for the Pablo Neruda Prize inPoetry at Nimrod; as the first prize winner of the New Ohio ReviewPrize in Poetry; and as a Fellow at the Center for InternationalTheatre Development/US Artists Initiative in Poland.

Please join us in welcoming three distinguished poets on December 6,and begin your holiday season with poetry!Poetrio: Kathryn Stripling Byer, Julia Nunnally Duncan, Celia WolochSunday, December 6, 2009, 3:00 p.m.Malaprop's Bookstore/Café55 Haywood StreetAsheville, NC 28801(828) 254-6734www.malaprops.com

Fathers and Daughters, PATERNITY By Scott Owens

Tonight I ordered from Main Street Rag, a poetry book by Scott Owens.

The cover and the title, PATERNITY, intrigue me. I always get a bit misty when I see a loving father with his daughter. Scott will be in Hayesville and Murphy in May and will be reading and signing this book at Coffee with the Poets at Phillips and Lloyd books.

Poems of aching tenderness. PATERNITY explores with a discerning, clear-eyed sensitivity the daily small delights, frustrations, and purely unexpected miracles that, taken together, make up the building blocks of one father's personal salvation.
--Joanna Catherine Scott, author of Night Huntress and Fainting at the Uffizi

In Scott Owens' lovely book of poems, PATERNITY, we have a remarkable account of how his very special relationship with his young daughter, Sawyer, has saved him from the darkness of his own childhood. The poems are engaging in the deepest sense--funny, touching, and full of the kind of wisdom we all need as parents and family members to sustain the balance of daily life. How can anyone resist a girl who makes up the word, "effluctress," to describe what only a four-year old can see.
                                           --Anthony S. Abbott, author of The Man Who.

APPALACHIAN HERITAGE: CHEROKEE ISSUE

The new issue of APPLACHIAN HERITAGE has arrived. A special issue devoted to Cherokee culture and literature, it features Robert Conley, now Sequoyah Professor of Cherokee Studies at WCU, Debora Kinsland Foerst, MariJo Moore, and the striking paintings of Sean Ross.

Go to my www.ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com to read more about this issue.

CLOTHES LINE BOOK SIGNING

Celia H. Miles, Joan Medlicott, and Barbara Ledford Wright, attended a CLOTHES LINES book signing at the Fire Side Books in Shelby, NC on Saturday, November 21st.

These three women contributed stories to CLOTHES LINE. This anthology includes work by 75 western North Carolina women. The volume covers a gamut of women's fashion.

Joan Medlicott also signed copies of her new Covington Holiday novel, A BLUE AND GRAY CHRISTMAS, at the Fire Side Books.

Take a look at Wrightsville Beach. Were you there this weekend?

Thanksgiving is approaching this week. The feverish shopping frenzy will begin on Friday, and I hope all the shoppers in the Murphy, Hayesville, Robbinsville, and surrounding area will stop in at Curiosity Shop Books at the Shoppes of Murphy for my book signing of NOW MIGHT AS WELL BE THEN, poetry by Glenda Council Beall.
Some comments about the book from Scott Owens:
Beall begins the collection with a love poem that celebrates the timelessness of a relationship. The speaker in the title poems says, “You brought me spring in winter // youth when I was old, / you found my childhood self.” If not for the dedication of the poem which announces who is intended by the indefinite second person pronoun, one could easily read this as a celebration of many things--god, nature, the mountains of North Carolina—and interestingly, any of these meanings would fit for the poems that follow as these poems celebrate the presence and influence of all of these elements.

     We would love to have you come in and vist a few minutes with me and Linda Ray, owner of the bookstore. 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. If you have a favorite poem in the book, I'll be most happy to discuss it and read it for you. Pick up a few books for Christmas gifts.
Scott Owens in his review that will be posted online in mid-February likes the poem, Roosevelt, and this Roosevelt is not a president. I'd like to know your favorite.

FRESH: A new literary magazine flies its colors

Fresh magazine's first issue features Robert Morgan with three poems, a story by Kathryn Magendie, and, among many other pieces, a poem by Keith Flynn, Editor of The Asheville Poetry Review, just off the presses. The deadline for the next issue is Dec. 1st, so consider submitting some Winter related work right away. The address is fresh, LLC, P.O. Box 107, Canton, NC 28716.



Why a new literary magazine? Publisher JC Walkup explains below. Please click on the image for better reading.



Fresh offers a literary contest for fiction and non-fiction. Not much time left to enter it, so brush off your manuscripts!

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOKFAIR STUDENT POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

FOR YOUR READING ENJOYMENT, PLEASE GO TO "MY LAUREATE'S LASSO" TO READ THE POEMS BY STUDENTS FROM MACON, SWAIN, HAYWOOD, AND JACKSON COUNTY. THEY ARE A DELIGHT. THANK YOU TO THE TEACHERS AND PARENTS WHO ENCOURAGED THESE YOUNG POETS TO SUBMIT THEIR WORK.

Susan Snowden's Guidelines for Critique Groups

Guidelines for Writers’ Critique Groups

Susan Snowden has participated in writing critique groups since 1994. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poems have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Susan offers these tips for Netwest members interested in forming a critique group.

Participants - It’s important to limit the group to people who have a similar amount of writing experience. It’s also beneficial if they have the same goals. In my group, we all want to improve our writing and to submit our work for publication.

Size of group - No more than six or seven is best, so that everyone can get feedback. Usually someone is on vacation, sick, at a doctor’s appointment, etc., but when just four or five show up, you will still have plenty to do.

Focus on one genre - Don’t try to mix poetry and prose, unless every member writes both. I belong to a poetry critique group and a separate prose group (fiction, creative nonfiction, personal essays).

Where to meet - If you meet in a public place, such as a library or book store, you may be required to open the group to the public, which rarely works. Writers need to feel safe when they receive critique, and someone wandering in from the street may not be “diplomatic” in delivering criticism. Fire departments in some small towns have community rooms you can sign up for. Janisse Ray, prize-winning author and sought-after speaker, met for years with several like-minded writers in the back room of a hardware store! Avoid restaurants. They’re messy, noisy, and don’t feel safe. My group meets in our homes. We rotate and provide tea, coffee, etc., and sometimes a plate of cookies to munch while critiquing. (If you have six members and meet monthly, you will have to host only twice a year.)

How often to meet - If everyone is retired and has plenty of time to write, twice monthly may work. Most groups meet once a month, which allows members plenty of time between meetings to write.

Length of sessions - One hour is not long enough for everyone to get feedback. Two hours seems just right for many groups.

Format - For poets, a couple of short poems each is about all you can cover. For prose writers, limit your piece to no more than 2500 words (10 pages, 250 words per page, double-spaced copy). At least 24 hours in advance, e-mail your work to all members. They print out and read the piece and make notes on the pages. In this way, you’re ready to discuss the work at the meeting. It takes far too long to read the work out loud at the meeting; it’s also hard for people to deliver thoughtful critique on a piece they’ve just heard.

– Go around the circle. Members should make comments one at a time. Tell the writer what you liked about the piece (praise first!). Then tell her/him if there was something you weren’t clear on, if a character didn’t seem believable, if dialog sounded stilted, etc. Be honest but kind; this is valuable feedback for the writer. (If someone has joined the group just to receive praise, he/she will drop out quickly.)

– Don’t use valuable time telling the person about misspellings or punctuation errors. Simply mark those corrections on the copy and give the person the pages at the end of the session.

– Set aside a time at the beginning or end of the session to share leads about places to publish, or about journals or magazines that are hard to deal with. Recently one of our members heard about an editor who was calling for stories for an anthology. Six of us submitted and four had their work accepted and published in the book. (This information sharing is very helpful.)

– If you have not written something to be critiqued, don’t skip the meeting. Attend in order to give others the benefit of your input. (In my group, if someone can’t come, she e-mails her comments to the others on their work for that month.)

Spirit of the group - The group should provide a “safe container” in which to share your work, learn from others, grow as a writer. Competition should not be a factor. Don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t put yourself down. Celebrate each other’s successes. Offer praise when you really like a piece; don’t praise it simply to stroke someone’s ego. It’s not helpful to them; writing is a craft that takes practice. In my group members listen openly to comments; we revise our work in response to suggestions that resonate with us. We almost always acknowledge that the final product (sometimes revised numerous times) is better—more powerful, clearer, funnier, whatever!

Comments, suggestions, criticism should be offered in a kind, gentle manner. Harsh, mean-spirited criticism should not be tolerated. When you receive critique, don’t argue or defend your work. Receive the criticism with an open mind. You don’t have to accept suggestions. On the other hand, if no one in the group “gets” what you were trying to convey, you may want to go back to the drawing board!

Susan Snowden
Snowden Editorial Services
©2009

Susan Snowden’s work has appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals, including New Orleans Review, Pisgah Review, Now and Then, Emrys Journal, Aries, and moonShine review. She has received awards from Writer’s Digest magazine, Appalachian Writers’ Association, the NC Writers’ Network, and others. Susan is a book editor based in Hendersonville, NC. (SnowdenEditorial.com)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOKFAIR

(City Lights Bookstore, along with The Friends of the Jackson County Library and numerous other volunteers, helped make the Bookfair a reality.)

This year's Great Smoky Mountains Bookfair was a smash hit! We had more people come to visit than ever before, and our authors on display were busier than I've ever seen them. I can vouch for that! I hardly had time to look at the book displays or to visit with friends like Kerry Madden, Pam Duncan, Vicki Lane, Allan Wolf, Fred Chappell--well, the list could go on. The event was held once again at the First United Methodist Church in Sylva, an ideal facility that feels both welcoming and capacious enough for a bunch of writers and readers to hang out for a day, indulging their love of books. We appreciate the church for opening its lovely downstairs rooms to us.

Alas, I forgot to bring new batteries for my camera, so I don't have photos of my own to share, but I do have one, taken in my kitchen, of the beautiful wall sconce, with an ear of corn on it (of course!), by my dear friend Gayle Woody, the one who created the gorgeous corn batik that I featured a few weeks back. Gayle teaches art at Smoky Mountain High School now, and her energy and spirit always makes me feel more alive.

>

(Sconce hand-made by artist and friend Gayle Woody)

I wrote a lot of poems for both children and adults, including a couple for babies named Eason and Sean Adam. I had a lot of fun writing one for a woman who rescues St. Bernard's, the breed of dog I've always wanted! With four "mutts" living with me these days, I'm glad I don't have the dog of my dreams, though a keg of brandy around his neck would be welcome on cold nights.
The highlight of my day was Allan Wolf's Poetry Alive performance and the readings by our student poetry contest winners. More about that tomorrow. They were fabulous. What poise they all had! I could never had stood up to read my own poem when I was in the second grade. Or the twelfth!

(Photo from Allan's website, http://www.allanwolf.com. )

And yes, I bought books, so many that my friends Harold and Jane Schiffman had to help me carry them out to the car!

Then we joined Fred and Susan Chappell for a glass of wine at Mill and Main, http://www.historicdowntownsylva.com/rest.html, basking in the afternoon light on the restaurant deck.

All in all, a great day for writers, readers, and our region.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOKFAIR

ARCHITECT'S RENDERINGS OF THE NEW JACKSON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY:



TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY, SO PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR! I'M HOPING NETWEST MEMBERS WILL COME OVER TO SYLVA TO ENJOY THE LITERARY FELLOWSHIP AND BUY BOOKS. (WWW.gsmbookfair.org) THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS ALMOST HERE, SO THINK ABOUT YOUR GIFT LISTS AND REMEMBER THAT BOOKS MAKE THE BEST GIFTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE PURCHASED FROM INDIE BOOKSTORES LIKE CITY LIGHTS. AND IF YOU BUY BOOKS AT THE BOOKFAIR, A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TOWARD BUILDING THE NEW LIBRARY IN SYLVA, A FACILITY THAT WILL SERVE NOT ONLY JACKSON COUNTY BUT THE REGION, AS WELL. IT'S GOING TO BE BEAUTIFUL, SET ATOP COURTHOUSE HILL.

CLICK ON THE POST LINK TO GO TO SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS'S FEATURE THIS WEEK ON THE FAIR.

CLOTHES LINES - BOOK SIGNING AT HIGHLAND BOOKS

From left: Betsy Craig; Peggy Bresnahan; Janet Sloane Benway; Nancy Purcell, Transylvania Rep for Netwest;Alexandra Burroughs;

Celia Miles, editor, seated.

 
These writers signed the anthology, Clothes Lines, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham, at Highlands Books. From Birkenstocks to bras, red shoes to pink pants suits, prom dresses to funeral gown, our garments, our mother's closet, 75 women writers from western NC reflect in poetry, memoir, story, and essay on their fascination and feeling for the clothes they wear, remember, revere, or reject.

MEOW POETRY

Brenda Kay Ledford's poem, "Sonja," appeared in the anthology, MEOW POETRY. She is a member of North Carolina Writers' Network-West. http://www.brendakayledford.com/; http://blueridgepoet.blogspot.com/.

Winkle, Jeffrey. MEOW POETRY. Denver, CO: Outskirts Press, Inc., 2009. 74 pages, trade paperback. $11.95. http://www.outskirtspress.com/.

MEOW POETRY is a collection of fun, fabulous, feline verse by 51 poets. Some of the poems are written by established poets such as Larry Thomas, the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate; Lana Hechtman Ayers, poetry editor of Crab Creek Review; Judith Kerman, publisher of Mayapple Press; and Dr. John Achorn, associate professor of English at New England College. Other contributors are regular folk, who have published for the first time. There is authenticity throughout the book.

In this excellent anthology, you’ll be entertained and gain insight into cats. They are a mysterious lot. Fur-covered enigmas. They are quirky. The delightful, mercurial nature of cats makes them difficult to describe—a challenge for poets.

You’ll find all kinds of cats in this collection: cunning cats, curious cats, cuddly cats, cute cats, clean cats, confrontational cats, companionable cats, courageous cats, and country cats. A patchwork of cats cross your path in this book: Persian, Abyssinian, Himalayan, Tabby, Siamese, Calico; all kinds with magical glowing eyes; fluffy and short tails Pur-r-r-r-r for affection.

Finally, MEOW POETRY is the perfect, present for every member on your Christmas list who loves felines. This anthology also would make a great gift for your veterinarian. To order: ww.outskirtspress.com; http://www.amazon.com/.

Book reviewed by: Brenda Kay Ledford, author of, Sacred Fire, 2009 Paul Green Award recipient.

SALE OF FABRIC ART BENEFITS SCHOLARSHIP FUND

About the Candy Maier Scholarship Fund for Women Writers

The Candy Maier Scholarship Fund for Women Writers supports participation in shared writing experiences. It provides scholarship assistance to women living in Western North Carolina for workshops, classes, program and retreats located in Western North Carolina or in nearby areas of contiguous states.

Writing friends of Candy Maier established The Candy Fund (TCF) in 2006, after her unexpected death in November of 2005, to honor her life and the kind of writing experiences she found fun and meaningful.

In TCF’s first three award years, more than fifty women received scholarships. These women are already giving back to the community of writers. Awards are made each month, year-round, as funds permit.

Sales of the fabric art will be important in our current funding, and we invite you to consider a purchase of one of these beautiful pieces. Please contact Cheryl Dietrich, 828-277-1757, cheryldietrich@bellsouth.net, for further information or to see the any of the fabric art.

About the Fabric Art
The one-of-a-kind pieces marry traditional quilting techniques with layers of landscape, figures and words. The varied and vibrant colors originate from hand preparation/dying of the fabrics.

“Park Scene II”

From a drawing by Kimberly at the Morikami Japanese museum.

13” x 15”

$ 80

“Plentissa—Kitchen Goddess”

24 ½” x 25 ½”

$ 350

“Sweet Abundance”

Candy and sweets (and soft photos of Kimberly as a child)

50” x 69”

$ 900

“Homage to Monet”

Water lilies

52” x 70”

$ 900

Words, Words, Words

Inspired by, and containing words

51” x 51”

$ 750



About the Artist, Kimberly Childs



Kimberly Childs is nationally known for her quilted fabric art and garments. Her themes range from personal serendipity to Florida (“Park Scene II”) and the Southwest. After many years as a fabric artist, health challenges now prevent her from executing further pieces. She now uses her writing and watercolor painting to express herself.

Kimberly lives in Asheville where she is an active member of the community of women writers. Her donation of fabric art for the support of the scholarship program has been greatly appreciated by The Candy Fund Board.

For more information on Kimberly, please see her web site: http://www.kimberlychilds.net/

CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTEST

THE ROSE POST CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTEST

DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 18, 2009

The Rose Post Creative Nonfiction Competition encourages the creation of lasting nonfiction work that is outside the realm of conventional journalism. Subjects may include traditional categories such as reviews, travel articles, profiles or interviews, place/history pieces, or culture criticism.

The first-, second- and third-place winners will receive $300, $200 and $100, respectively. Additionally, Southern Cultures magazine will consider the winner for publication. The final judge is Pushcart Prize-winner Virginia Holman, author of Rescuing Patty Hearst.

Questions may be directed to Virginia Freedman at mail@ncwriters.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

                           Eligibility and Guidelines

The competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North Carolina or a member of NCWN.

Submit two copies of an original and previously unpublished manuscript of no more than 2,000 words, typed (12-point font) and double-spaced.

• The author's name should not appear on the manuscript.
• Multiple submissions accepted, one manuscript per entry fee:
•  $10/NCWN members,
• $15/nonmembers. (You may pay member entry fee if you join NCWN with your submission.)

• Entries will not be returned.
• Include a SASE for a list of winners.
• Send submissions, indicating name of competition, to:

Ed Southern, Executive Director
PO Box 21591
Winston Salem, NC 27120-1591

Moss Library and NCWN West hold holiday readings

Photos made in December 2006. Carole Thompson, has a story in the anthology edited by Celia Miles, Clothes Lines. (Center)Nancy Gadsby, facilitor of Writing for Children group. Estelle Rice has published numerous short stories, essays and poems. She also has a poetry chapbook published.

Estelle Rice

Dorothea Spiegel

Carole Thompson, Georgia Representative for Netwest

This year, Thursday evening, December 17, at 7:00 p.m. our readers will be Glenda Barrett, Estelle Rice, and Carole Thompson. All stories must have a holiday theme. Open mic is held after the readings and refreshments are served.

THE SOUL TREE: POEMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS

Published and printed in Asheville, North Carolina by Grateful Steps Publishing.

The poet and photographer will be at the Great Smoky Mountains Book fair. The Soul Tree would make a perfect Christmas Gift. Or several.

To say that Laura Hope-Gill and John Fletcher, Jr. have put together one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen would be an understatement. Here is a collaboration that expands the definition of that word. It's a seamlessly interwoven collection of words and images that invite and inspire, in the the original meaning of that over-used term. Laura's poems show the depths of her poetic "inseeing, " Rilke calls it, and Fletcher's photographs open up the landscape that Laura sings into being with her words. The Soul Tree speaks to the landscapes of internal and exterior reality. In this collection those two landscapes have found harmony through two artists working together in celebration of what they love.


Laura Hope-Gill is in the process of being certified as a Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator by the National Federation for Poetry Therapy, working under the mentorship of poet and psychotherapist Perie Longo. The Director of Asheville Wordfest, a free poetry festival which presents poetry as Citizen Journalism, she consciously pursues ways of revealing poetry’s relevance to every-day life and not merely an “art form” whose only use is to beautiful. The Soul Tree: Poems and Photographs of the Southern Appalachians (Grateful Steps, Asheville) is a collaboration with local photographer John Fletcher, Jr. and is an application of her vision of poetry as a conversation between inner and outer worlds.



Renowned photographer John Fletcher has this to say about the beginnings of their collaboration.

"After visiting my landscapes website in the spring of 2008, Laura replied with an email containing an attachment titled, 'The Soul Tree.' I was stunned after reading the poem, then I noticed that there were 35 more pages to the document. My jaw dropped a little lower each time I scrolled to the next poem…36 in all. I was speechless.Not only was her writing beautiful and poignant, but her poetry brought new life to the photographs. I was also quite overwhelmed by her choice of photos…not the pretty sunset pictures that most people like. She was inspired by the photos that were my favorites…the mysterious and more abstract images that I feel personify my experience and observations.



Today I continue this pursuit by working as a staff
photographer for the Asheville Citizen-Times, shooting
weddings, and freelancing for regional and national
clients including, USA Today, The Associated Press,
MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and
the Asheville Chamber of Commerce."

Images and poems from The Soul Tree may be found at http://www.thsoultree.com/, along with ordering information and more about the two artists who have brought this lovely book into existence.

Here are two pages from the book.

COLLOQUY IN BLACK AND WHITE by NANCY DILLINGHAM

Nancy Dillingham has a new book of poetry out from Catawba Publishers (www.catawbapublishing.com) titled Colloquy in Black and White. The poems are sometimes stark, always accessible. Nancy is a 6th generation Dillinghamm from Big Ivy in western North Carolina. She has published several books of poetry, as well as essays and articles. She lives in Asheville with her cat named Serendipity.

Nancy has been growing by leaps and bounds as a poet, and this new collection shows ample evidence of her growth. She is becoming a fearless poet, taking on subjects that might daunt others. She's a mountain woman who knows her landscape and its dark places well.

She can confront them, all the while singing the light and the love of place. She reads widely, she listens, she challenges herself, without losing the moorings that keep her steady as a poet and an inhabitant of these mountains. She will be at the Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair, and I hope that other festivals and reading series across the state will begin to take notice of her work.

Suite on Love

Sitting here
fifty years later
as you whisper me
happy birthday
and our younguns
sing around us
grown
with children of their own

I want to say
it is you
not the candles
on the cake
that takes my breath away

Too late coming to love
I made the usual blunders

A blush away from a baby
it was a tom-fool thing
for me to do
bringing you
country ham
cured sweet as honey
biscuits and gravy
stack cake

How could
I lie
with you
after you left me
for a roll
in the hay
with the first hussy
that gave you the eye?

Spitfire
you called me later
bleeding
like a stuck pig
where I struck
you with a piece
of stove wood
and you slapped me

Sitting here
as I think of all the pain
yours is the only music I hear
and I want to tell you
everything still seems the same
like the first time
clear as a bell

right as rain

Legacy

My aunt sat on her front porch
in a chair bottomed with strips of tires
slinging her crossed leg, dipping snuff

Your great-grandmother ruled
with an iron hand
and Grandpa was a rounder, she said

Double Dillinghams they were
cousins marrying cousins
Elbert and Mary

Owned land as far as the eye could see
all the way up to the Coleman Boundary

They say he courted her by bringing armfuls of flowers
picked by the roadside or out of other people's yards
traded his mule for a chestnut mare

Carried her around in a hand basket after they married
all the while making time with the hired help

The house stood right over there on the hill
where the graveyard is today--they gave the land

A smile threatened the corners of my aunt's wrinkled mouth
and a small rivulet of snuff ran down one side

After he died
Grandma didn't take to widow's weeds
said they didn't become her

She'd sit on the porch cooling Sunday afternoons in the summer
after cooking cut-off corn and baking soft butter biscuits
She'd throw back her head and cackle

I ought to have taken me a young lover
just to bedevil Elbert, she'd say

But he'd have dragged chains up and down the stairs at night
and, after my laying out, danced on my grave for spite

My aunt's face softened
A long time passed before she spoke again

We grandchildren would play on the porch
run the length of it back and forth
like fighting fire

or stand under the arbor eating pink grapes
clear as glass and sweet as honey
bees buzzing a halo over our heads

Sometimes when I look really hard
I can just see Grandma
coming over the ridge

her bright apron glowing
waving like a flag
calling me home

Signs

“Whenever you go looking for what’s lost, everything is a sign.”
Eudora Welty


I have not bled
this month, Mother
and I am afraid

Just yesterday
a bird flew into the living room
losing its way

I didn’t sleep a wink last night
A dog howled outside my window
and the clock didn’t strike

Must have been midnight
I saw Will’s first wife plain as day
standing over my bed

glistening with sweat
crying with no sound
holding her dead baby

all the while
Will sleeping quietly
beside me

I felt the same fear
I saw in her face
this time last year

You remember, don’t you, Mother?
You asked me to help with the birthing
It was my first time

You cut cotton strips
and bound her wrists
to the bedposts

I placed the small, round stick
you handed me
into her mouth

bathed her face
as you commanded her
to bear down

I remember most the silence
as I watched you wrap the baby—stillborn
in the same soft cloth

And I can never forget the look
in Will’s eyes at the funeral
when he finally raised them

and gazed at me
as if seeing me
for the first time

Tiny shivers
ran up and down my spine
and my whole body shook

as he took a sprig of white lilac
from his wife’s casket
and handed it to me

He’s out there now
on the front porch
drinking his coffee

staring over the valley
looking at rows and rows
of newly-planted fields

seeing the cattle
grazing on the hill
below the graveyard

the headstone visible still
in its rising up
and shining in the light



Daddy’s Girl


With a wink and a leer
her daddy holds
the cold open can of beer
tantalizingly near

tickling her nose
Through bow-like lips
eager as a baby bird
she sates her thirst

with a single sip
laughs a giggly
hiccupping laugh
then burps

Putting up one perfect hand
she catches a trickle of froth
as it bursts like broth
from her soft pink mouth

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BOOK FAIR SPECIAL EVENT

Come Meet Minnesota Prose Poet Louis Jenkins

Minnesota Poet To Bring His Wit and Words to Greenville

Prose poet Louis Jenkins will tell you right up front, "A lot of poetry is boring, and stupid—self-indulgent." If he could do one thing to help improve poetry’s image and reputation, it would be to help both “audiences and poets to know the difference between good poetry and bad.” Because good poetry, poetry that enlightens, surprises, clarifies, empathizes, or delights—five elements Jenkins lists as essential characteristics—is pure pleasure. And “if it's not pleasure, it's not worth reading," declares this Minnesota man of words who looks a bit like Santa Claus and whose work has been described as "where scripture meets K-mart."

Louis Jenkins, favorite literary son of Duluth, Minnesota, will be bringing his poetic insights, wit, and wisdom to upstate South Carolina in a couple of weeks, courtesy of the Greenville County Library System and a grant from the Southern Arts Federation. A free reading on Friday night, November 6th, will be open to the general public, and a limited number of spaces are available in a workshop on Saturday, November 7th, to those who preregister. Jenkins will also be doing workshops with high school students at Greenville's public fine arts high school and with adult students at the Greenville Literacy Association while he’s in town.

Like more than a few before him, Jenkins admits that when he first became interested in writing in high school, he envisioned fame and wealth and lots of women. “It never happened,” he says. “There’s no money in [poetry], no fame, no beautiful women.” And as if poetry weren’t already the redheaded stepchild of literary genres, Jenkins' preference for writing prose poetry set him even further away from the mainstream. But apparently, there are a lot of us drawn to those outer edges of poetic tastes; reviewers use words such as “luminous,” “delightful,” “teasing,” and “like candy” to describe this man’s poetic paragraphs, which typically focus on everyday life and familiar events. And Jenkins can’t really claim he’s earned no fame: his books (number thirteen will be released any day now) are consistent award-winners, he is readily identified and revered as the current master of the prose poem form, and there’s even an off-Broadway play in the works for next year, based on his book, Nice Fish.

A favorite of Garrison Keillor, who has featured Jenkins' work more than thirty times on his public radio program, "The Writers Almanac," Jenkins has been telling stories in “brief, rectangular paragraphs” for more than thirty years. "Form isn't that important to me," he explains, adding that there really are no rules about what defines a prose poem. Though he also writes "line poetry," as he calls it, he is drawn to the prose poetry format because "it's handy and user friendly. The main thing about prose is its flexibility; it allows me to use the language I would use in everyday conversation. Or not."

Prose poetry has been around since the 1800s; some would argue since Biblical days. It fell out of favor, enjoyed a resurgence in the 1950s, and interest seems to be increasing once again. Jenkins, who finds even free verse somewhat restrictive, is unfazed. "If you know nothing about poetry and you want to know the difference between poetry, prose poetry, and prose, then you should do some reading,” he suggests. “If after much reading you still cannot tell the difference, then it isn’t important.”

What is important for poetry is that it be compelling enough to be read. “There’s a lot going on linguistically,” in a poem, Jenkins concedes, but you “don’t want that to be obvious. I want the language to sound as though someone were telling a story. All poetry, I think, comes down to storytelling. But to make it readable, the poem has to enlist the reader, so that the reader actually participates and shares in the emotion.” Passion makes poetry interesting, as does atmosphere, recognition of familiar experiences and, most importantly, brevity. “Writing loses some of its punch if it goes on too long,” Jenkins cautions.

Jenkins asserts that, regardless of how fads and forms come and go, poetry will always be with us. “It satisfies, momentarily, some longing in us that cannot be satisfied elsewhere, and I believe people will always read and write poetry.”

To that end, the Greenville County Library invites you to come meet Jenkins and enjoy his wit and wisdom on November 6th and 7th. In case you aren't familiar with the work of this acclaimed poet, here's a classic example:

THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY

There might be some change on top of the dresser at the back, and we should check the washer and the dryer. Checkunder the floor mats of the car. The couch cushions. I have some books and CDs I could sell, and there are a couple bigbags of aluminum cans in the basement, only trouble is thatthere isn’t enough gas in the car to get around the block. I’mexpecting a check sometime next week, which, if we are careful,will get us through to payday. In the meantime with your one—dollar rebate check and a few coins we have enough to walk to the store and buy a quart of milk and a newspaper. On secondthought, forget the newspaper.

From Sea Smoke (Holy Cow! Press)

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Netwest member Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is the author of four books

and host of the website www.YourDailyPoem.com.