If We All Wrote and Read Poetry

In my ideal world, everyone would read poetry and everyone would write poetry, and as a result, we would all be more sensitive, thoughtful, considerate, appreciative, and whole.  ---Scott Owens

Scott Owens is one of my very favorite poets. I like this quote by Scott because I agree. Poets are sensitive to everything they encounter. They appreciate even the small things they see and the people who are often not seen. 

Scott says we should be observant and notice everything. He certainly does.

Tomato Man

 by Glenda Beall

Ruby tomatoes in small tan baskets

beg me to buy my lunch. Overalled

and raisin brown, he sits slumped

on the tailgate of a rusty red pickup,

his floppy hat a shade against the burning sun.

 

Will the two-dollar baskets buy

groceries to take home to the waiting

wife who helped him pick the plump fruit?

Or will he go by Bernie's Quik Stop

buy a six-pack or two, and cigarettes

that stain his teeth, tar his lungs?

 

He thanks me for my business, but his faded

eyes belie a mind that's somewhere else.

Today takes care of today. Tomorrow

he'll be here again, the tomatoes

redder, softer, a few fresh ones

sprinkled in, to appeal to people

who smile and speak,

but never see him.

This poem won first place in the Clay County Poetry Contest many years ago.

First Amendment: Then and Now by Roger Carlton

Roger Carlton lived in Robbinsville, NC, until he moved north. He is a man I admire and I believe he should have a voice here.   This article is appropriate for what is happening now.

  October 1, 2025 Column

First Amendment: Then and Now

Last week, Beth and I, our daughter, and our son-in-law attended a lecture by Lech Walesa. Those of us with some gray hair will remember that he was the Polish labor leader who led the Solidarity Movement that brought democracy to a former Soviet Union vassal state. He began with a small labor union at the Gdansk Shipyard. The union was outlawed, and he was arrested a number of times. When he was released, he continued his efforts to move Poland from a Socialist-Leninist economy to a free market economy. In 1989, an election was held, and Poland’s democratic government was launched. For his courageous achievements, Lech Walesa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

There were a number of statements made by Mr. Walesa that are apropos of our First Amendment conflict today. 

First, he said, “We started with a few folks meeting to form an illegal union banned by our government, and soon we were 10 million strong.” 

The second statement was “Trying to stifle free speech always ends badly for the person doing the stifling.” 

What an honor to attend a speech by someone who changed the world. He and his movement began the end of the Soviet Union's oppressive regime.

So, what does this have to do with our First Amendment? A little history might prove interesting. The Framers wanted 12 amendments, which were to become known as the Bill of Rights. This brilliant idea meant that the core Constitution would not be changed. As time went on, amendments could be added or deleted as a single subject to be voted on by Congress and the states. This flexibility led to the adoption and repeal of Prohibition. It also led to the rejection of the Equal Rights Amendment. The state legislatures rejected the first two Amendments, leaving the Third Amendment as the First Amendment we find so controversial today. Don’t let anyone tell you it was the primary amendment because the Framers found it to be the most important.

The main protections in the First Amendment are religious liberty and freedom of speech, press, assembly, and petition. Religious liberty allowed people to practice their religion of choice and prohibited the government from establishing a national religion. Freedom of speech and the press prohibited censorship. Assembly and petition were focused on the right to meet and petition the government for redress of the issues of the day.

The Framers never dreamed of television, the internet, or social media. They were thinking about newspapers and pamphlets. There were no influencers with millions of followers. The Framers did not make their living by electronically reaching millions of people. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson traveled by horse and stagecoach. They were gentleman farmers when not forming a new democracy shaped on some pretty incredible ideas about the rights of most people. It took a while and a Civil War for slaves and women to truly become equal.

Censorship is the pernicious violation of the First Amendment rights of all of us. We are all self-censors by choosing which media to watch or read. Censorship comes in many forms. Editing an important investigatory document to remove a reference to someone in power is censorship in the form of redacting or failure to release the damaging evidence. Threatening to use government power to retaliate economically or legally is a form of censorship known as weaponization. Billions of dollars can ride on governmental approval or denial of a corporate application. Using unproven data or plain quackery to justify a government action is a form of censorship of science-based proven facts.

Unbridled censorship may lead to attempts to control thought. This can be seen in book burnings or in the removal of symbols, such as statues of people no longer in favor. There is an old Soviet joke wherein a citizen attends a protest and holds up a blank sign. When he asks the authorities why he was arrested, the response is “You might not have said it, but we know what you were thinking.”

To be fair, sometimes censorship is necessary. Remember the old saying, “You can’t yell fire in a theater if there is no fire.” How about “loose lips sink ships.” The real issue regarding the First Amendment limits on censorship is one we have yet to solve. People can say anything they want, and it goes “viral.” Millions of people can believe a statement with no validity and take action at the polls as a result. We might have our own Lech Walesa someday in the near future. We should hope that person believes in democracy and not autocracy.

Roger Carlton

Lynn Cullen's book, When We were Brilliant

Today I met a writer, Lynn Cullen, at an event at the Roswell Library, A Fulton County Library near where I now live.

She was there as a guest of Friends of the Library and Atlanta Authors.

I expected her to read from her latest book, When We Were Brilliant,
an historical novel about Marilyn Monroe and her favorite photographer, Eve Arnold. But what I saw and heard was a fantastic summary of her book, told with photographs, the images explored audibly by Cullen. She showed the audience what Marilyn looked like when she was Norma Jean Baker, before she became a celebrity. 

It was amazing how Eve Arnold captured the beautiful yet simple woman, Norma Jean.  Eve liked showing the world through her lens something they had never seen before. In the photos she showed her audience, Lynn Cullen taught us how to tell Eve's photos from anyone else's.

I liked Marilyn Monroe's films most of the time. She always seemed to be playing a character far removed from herself. She could make me laugh, and she was beautiful, but when I read about her background, living in poverty, in an orphanage, I felt the glamorous girl on the screen was all make-believe. It was difficult to think of her as Norma Jean.

Lynn Cullen's book is historical fiction, but it is told from the perspective of Eve Arnold. 

Cullen tells us that the people in the book are real, but their words are the author's invention. This is a work of fiction, but she had to put in many, many hours of research to get the facts right. 

I am just now diving into this well-written and interesting book about real women and the bond that grew between them. I know I will write a review when I finish, and I will enjoy every word in this book.

"Your legacy is how many lives you touched."

Beth, Glenda, and Roger 

Years ago, I taught writing classes at Tri-County Community College in Murphy, NC. Roger Carlton was a student in my classes three times. His stories were interesting, and we all learned something from listening to him read his work in class. Roger has had an interesting life, and it showed in his writing.

Roger and I became friends. After taking my classes, Roger, who lived in Robbinsville, began writing columns for the local newspaper there. I began publishing his columns on a page on my blog. www.glendacouncilbeall.com 

Frequently, Roger, his wife Beth, and another friend, Kim, would invite me to lunch with them in Murphy. He invited me to come up to Robbinsville and spend a day with him and Beth. They are the nicest people, and I enjoyed them so very much. 

Years passed. The pandemic happened, my health became a problem, and we didn't see each other as often. I had begun planning to move to Roswell, GA where I have family. At our last lunch together (see the photo above), Roger and Beth told me they were selling their beautiful home on the lake and moving up north to be near a daughter. It seemed we were all experiencing health issues. 

In the following years, I had two surgeries, knee and shoulder, and when I heard from Roger again, it was to read about his long battle with surgery and a long, difficult recovery. 

But he was still writing! He continued to send articles to the newspaper in Robbinsville, NC, and they were published. 

Roger has always been complimentary of my classes, which he said started him writing.

This week, I was so impressed and proud when I opened a package and found a hardback book by Roger Carlton, signed to me. "You are my muse.  Your Creative Non-Fiction I - III got me going."

We never know what will come of it when we touch someone's life. Maya Angelou told Oprah, "Your legacy is not a building with your name on it. Your legacy is how many lives you touched." 

As an older person now, I don't touch as many lives as I once did with my teaching, my support for writers' endeavors, encouragement, and belief in them. But I am fulfilled when any of my students or my friends reach a goal or accomplish a dream they struggled for. 

Roger Carlton has touched many lives in his work as City Manager for several municipalities in the Miami area, and this book reveals his success in that role at Miami Beach. His reputation for dealing with the issues faced every day, and his ability to manage it all, led others in charge of their cities to seek his advice. 

Congratulations, my friend, Roger Carlton.

Who would have thought it?

This article is from an online magazine, Tangle, I subscribe to.  He writes about his hope for decency to return. Perhaps talking face-to-face will bring out the humanity we used to see in each other. Hope to heal the divide in our country. I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle If I had told you in 2020 that shopping malls would make a comeback, you probably would have laughed in my face. And rightly so. Online shopping has been growing for years as its convenience, ease, and value have become too hard to pass up. To a new generation of shoppers, the experience of going out to a brick-and-mortar store to try on clothing or test out a new vacuum seemed silly and archaic — why waste that kind of time at a mall when you could have someone show up at your door with your order and then just return it if you didn’t like it, often free of cost? COVID-19 only increased that value and accelerated the death of America’s malls. Yet, today, malls are making a comeback — and with the group you’d least suspect: 18- to 24-year-olds. That’s right, the Gen Z kids are so tired of interacting entirely in digital spaces that they’ve started to return to shopping malls, finding pleasure in the same exact thing older generations did: the social experience of hanging out with your friends outside of the house. This cohort made 62% of their general merchandise purchases in-person last year, 10% more than shoppers aged 25 and older. And overall foot traffic at malls was up 4.5% in the first two months of this year compared to last. I think the resurgence of U.S. malls is emblematic of the human experience. A little bit of anything can be fun, refreshing, cathartic, or even exhilarating. But a lot of something — say, eight hours of screen time a day — can start to feel pretty crappy.  The same is true in the political arena, where obscenity feels like it has become the norm. But this cycle of change suggests decency might make a comeback. When I say “decency,” I mean the quality of behaving in a polite, honest, and moral manner that is anchored by courteous behavior and treating others with respect.

I am happy to hear that young people like malls and enjoy hanging out there with their friends. In this country, we are much too quick to leave behind the familiar and jump to whatever is new or is proclaimed as new and better. Having lived a few decades past when folks hung out at the mall food court or spent an afternoon shopping with a friend there, I remember how much I enjoyed it. 

I remember the time when a business did not have to hang signs that said, "We do not accept disrespect toward our staff." "Please do not use offensive language here."

I remember the first time I heard the F word in public from a stranger. I was at a parade in Albany, GA, my hometown. A young man in the crowd was speaking loudly. You could not fail to hear him, and he was using that word over and over. Others in the crowd were looking at him as if he had come from another planet. I only saw that language written on restroom walls in elementary school.

Recently, I was told by a young relative, "You might as well accept it. That is the way people talk now."  

I liked it when we were civil and decent in our actions and our conversations. I believe that people who use vulgarities and cursing all the time are showing they have a very limited vocabulary, or perhaps they are just so angry with life that they only think in that language.

My sister, June, who was older than I, never used vulgarity or cursing, but she could put a person in their place and let them know her disapproval with just the right words, sending them off with their tail between their legs. She had a great vocabulary. I admired her ability to confront an offensive co-worker or an angry person without showing that she was upset. 

So, let's support our young people's returning to malls that have been struggling to stay open in our cities.  Perhaps decency and healing will flourish. 

You write to learn who you are and ...

Glenda signing books at a book party

Anne Lamott said: You write to learn who you are and what you make of it all.

I have always been a reader. When I was a child, in summer when the bookmobile came to our house on the farm, my little sister and I were as excited as if it were Christmas.

We checked out as many books as we could carry in our small arms, and then we spent the rest of our days reading. My favorite books were about horses like Walter Farley's Black Stallion and Black Stallion Returns, until I was a teenager. Then I read Little Women, The Yearling, Atlas Shrugged, and many more. My favorites were historical novels. I liked books about interesting characters and relationships. I still do. And I like history. 

I began writing when I was in elementary school. I found it to be fun to write out my fantasies, my dreams, and to express my thoughts and feelings about my own life. 

I am grateful that I found this passion to write. In many ways, writing was therapy in dark times, a joy in happy times, and because I write, I am never bored or feel I have nothing to do. 

Writing has opened doors for me more than once.

When I first moved to the mountains, I interviewed artists, both visual and literary, and submitted the articles to the Clay County Progress, the local newspaper. I made friends and found an audience for my writing.

As publicity chair for the NCWN-West writers, I interviewed members and wrote articles for publication in several local papers. I began two blogs, one for NCWN-West and one personal. I tried to write a post for those sites at least once a day. 

As life became too full to write a daily post on the blogs, I continued to do as much as I could.

I became a poet soon after settling in Hayesville, NC. I studied with some outstanding poets who taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School. I submitted my poems to literary magazines as well as slick magazines found on a rack in the drug store. I published in a magazine for those with health difficulties. 

Every poem I wrote gave me more insight into the person I had become. Yes, Anne Lamott, I have learned from writing poems that I am a unique and deeply thoughtful person. In my creative nonfiction writing, I learn more and more about my life and how I came to be who I am now. 

With age, we gain wisdom, and by writing, we realize our wisdom and our value to others and to this complicated world. 

A Lovely Discovery

Thanks to Steve Harvey, poet and essayist, posting this link on his site, I discovered the most wonderful photographs of birds by poet and photographer Kathryn Winograd.  https://kathrynwinograd.com/3474-2/

My husband, Barry, was a wonderful photographer, and I admired his work. I wished I could learn to find and make pictures of birds and wild animals, scenes, and objects that only I saw. I spend a good amount of time on my deck watching birds eating at my feeders, but I cannot get a good shot of any of them. 

Winograd lives in Colorado, a land created for visual artists. When I have been in that state, I drank in all the scenic beauty I could hold. I treasure my memories and the photos I have from our vacations there.

I will follow this photographer's blog and look forward to reading her poetry.

Do You Know it is International Women's Day March 8?

I often think about all the things my mother was told she couldn’t do. Then I look at my granddaughters and think about all the things they’re told they can do.  Maria Shriver

Although the U.N. recognized International Women’s Day across the globe in 1977, in 1994, the U.S. Congress failed to pass a law introduced by House Representative Maxine Waters to declare IWD a national holiday in 1994. That was the end of that in this country.

At Alpharetta Presbyterian church today, the entire service was run by women and no men. The Women's Ensemble provided music.  A female pastor spoke and the regular pastor, a man, sat in the congregation with his wife.  It was a terrific service. 

Women in our country had to fight for the right to vote. It was a long tough battle, both physically and mentally. Even in the fifties and sixties, many women did not vote, and if they did, their votes were often determined by their husbands' views. Sadly, today many women's votes are still dictated by their husband's choices. 

 In my lifetime I have seen women gain the right to open a bank account, or have their own credit cards. A wife had to have her husband's permission to use his card, and often had to prove she had it.

Professions for women were very limited. Nursing, teaching, or becoming a secretary were the choices most girls had. My mother managed the family funds and wrote checks to pay bills, but nothing was in her name. She signed my father's name on the checks. 

Today those situations seem archaic, but women rose up in the seventies and began pushing hard for equality. Many things have changed but those victories were not accidental. And the work is not finished.

Around the world, women are still fighting for rights to control their own bodies, for equal pay, access to education, protection from violence, representation in government, and healthcare systems that study and understand their bodies. In some countries, girls are still denied schooling simply because they are female. Girls are sold by their fathers because the family needs the money. 

Today is not only a day of gratitude. It is also a day of responsibility. It’s a day to pause and thank the women in your life. Tell them you see what they carry: the invisible labor, the emotional leadership, the strength that often goes unnamed.

But also ask yourself what policies you support, what leaders you elevate, and what systems you participate in that help women. Women are needed in the board rooms to help make decisions and form policies that are fair to women as well as men. Women can lead a business, a state and even a country. 

History shows that when women rise, communities grow stronger and societies grow more just.

Read more about International Women's Day at the link below.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/heres-what-to-know-about-international-womens-day-a-celebration-and-a-call-to-action#:~:text=International%20Women's%20Day%20is%20observed,still%20used%20the%20Julian%20calendar.

Poems From the Past

Lake Chatuge and the mountains beyond

A poem I wrote years ago when I first moved to the mountains of western North Carolina. I was enthralled with the beauty everywhere I looked. But surprised at the beauty beneath the obvious mountains and lake.

Beneath the Beauty 

Distant traffic on highway sixty-four

whispers of moving, fast-lane life, 

heading to the city. Up here on the ridge,

turning leaves blow, madly dance

in silhouette against the autumn sky. 

Wind-pushed clouds on distant peaks 

undulate like a snowy mountain river.

Honking geese interrupt my reverie. 

Over Lake Chatuge, the feathered V 

flies away from me and from the relic

rusting in the ravine, dismissed after

being pillaged for parts, lying like a 

corpse, flesh decayed, and left here 

to harbor field mice and to trellis

climbing vines with small blue flowers.

                ... Glenda C. Beall

I love blackberries and eat them often when I find them in the grocery store. Mother made the best blackberry jelly and a wonderful cobbler with the berries. But I did not like to pick them.

Blackberry Patch

by Glenda C. Beall

Mother's voice rises above my bawling.

"Stop pitching a fit and get your bucket."

I plant myself on the top step

bare feet refusing to move.

My dread lies coiled deep in the brambles.

He slithered out when I thrust my hand

in to grab a plump one.

Fear-prickled, I danced in terror,

then streaked home, screaming.

An ominous cloud shadows the sky.

Fat raindrops plop in the yard dust.

Reprieve. Blessed reprieve.

        published in Now Might as Well be Then, 2009