Coffee with the Poets and Writers in Hayesville, NC May 18

Few people in the rest of North Carolina know that in our far west region we have a writers' colony. Each month writers gather in Murphy, Hayesville, or in Blairsville, Georgia, for literary events. The first of the month we meet for Poetry Critique group and last week we had twelve seasoned poets at the table.

Deanna Klingel and Madonna Wise at Coffee with the Poets and Writers

Mary Ricketson reading at WNO

The second Friday evening of each month, we gather in Blairsville at the Union County Community building at the beautiful golf course for our Writers' Night Out. We can eat together and sit back and enjoy a professional writer for about twenty minutes and then the floor is open for anyone to come up and read a poem or a very short prose piece. This is a social time and we get to visit with our friends.

Next week, on Wednesday morning, May 18, we meet at Moss Library in Hayesville for Coffee with the Poets and Writers. We began this program back in 2007 and I am delighted that it has continued all these years.  We have had poets as old as 90 and we have had children read for us. 

Coffee with the Poets and Writers 

This is a friendly and welcoming time to munch on a cookie and have a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy listening to original poetry or stories.

If you are within driving distance, come and visit with us. You are invited to share your own work at our Open Mic.  

Friday and Saturday, full of fun for me

This weekend has been full and fun for me. Friday evening I had the great pleasure of being a featured reader at Writers’ Night Out, hostedby Karen Holmes, in Blairsville, GA. We had an enthusiastic crowd of people including some students from Young Harris College.

On the same program with me was Scott Owens, a favorite poetand teacher in our area. He has 12 or 13 books out now and all of them are big hits. His reading last night brought bursts of loud and long applause.

For my reading, I included a couple of poems at the beginning, one of which is in my poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, published by Finishing Line Press. Steve Harvey, essayist and memoirist, whom I admire, said he particularly like the poem about the tractor. In the book it is titled Clearing New Ground. I changed a few words for the reading, making the poem more powerful, I think.

The surprise of the evening was the short story I read. It is a humorous piece about a young man who came to work at the dairy barn early one morning hung over with a pounding headache. I have not submitted this story for publication, but many people suggested I should. I might send it out and see if it finds a home. The audience found it funny. I don’t think many people expect my writing to be humorous, but several of my short stories are funny.

This morning Scott taught poetry at Writers Studio. He gave us ideas of where we find poetry, how to find poetry and when to write. We had a few short writing exercises that were helpful. I think everyone who knows him loves Scott Owens. At least in my area they do. I hear nothing but compliments for him from those who attend his readings and his classes.

Scott told me he is trying to get his popular online journal, Wild Goose Poetry Review, running again, but he is extremely busy with Taste Full Beans Coffee Shop in Hickory and teaching three classes each day. I expect him and his wife to become even busier now that a post on Facebook about their generosity has been shared hundreds of times and the hits keep coming. We all want Wild Goose to continue to publish the great quality poetry it has in the past.

After the class today, I took a long nap to be ready for my night out with the girls. A dear writer friend treated me to dinner, and another friend joined us at the Copper Door, one of the finest restaurants anywhere. We three went over to the Peacock Playhouse later to see the Songwriters in Concert. I’ll save that for another post.

I could feel Fall in the air today although it was still humid. A crisp breeze swept over my deck and I wanted to sit outside and enjoy it. Sunny and Smokie  like the weather, running in and out.  They can make me smile every time I look at them.

I hope you had a good day wherever you are and thank you for reading this blog. If you aren’t a subscriber, please sign up on the sidebar. It is free, and you will receive in your Inbox each new post I write. I love reading  your comments, so please tell me what you think.

Where Did My Time Go?

Today I made a priority list

I have a busy schedule this month and this long weekend, I thought, would be great to "get my ducks in a row."

Today I would work on my lesson plans for my weekly classes. But first I had to clean up my kitchen. I had left it quite messy after cooking last evening. And I always feel better when my kitchen is clean and neat. 

After all that work, (I make such a mess when I cook). I had to sit down so I sat down to the computer and checked my email. That led me to Facebook. Two hours later I realized it was time for lunch. After lunch I watched a TV show I had recorded with Oprah and Dr. Wayne Dyer. (Gosh he was young then, but she looked even younger, and thin.)

By this time it was late afternoon and rain sounded loud in the trees. I walked outside and took a deep breath. The cool air and the falling rain called me to sit outside for awhile. I've not sat on my lovely deck all summer. I wrote in my journal, read the newspaper and thought about happy times I'd shared there with Barry. Before long, it was getting dark and time to come inside. 

I feel I am in a tree house when I am up on my deck. 

So, my day had slipped away from me and my lesson plans had not been done, my two readings for September had not been planned, and several phone calls I had planned to make did not happen. 

When others were going to bed, I sat down at my computer and completed a blog post for Writers Circle and now for Writing Life Stories. 

Smokie

But I will spend tomorrow printing handouts and outlining my class work. I read something I had written in my journal many years ago. I was wishing for more time in the day, just a few hours tacked on to the 24. Back then I had far more claiming my time than I do now, but I got it done. 

Sunny

This week I will babysit Sunny and Smokie, the cutest little dogs in the world. I will host Coffee with the Poets and Writers on Wednesday. I will host Scott Owens, poet and teacher, Friday night and Saturday morning when he teaches at my studio. I will read with him at Writers' Night Out on Friday evening. 

Saturday night I hope I am not too tired to go to the Songwriters' Concert here in Hayesville. I've been trying to make one of them all summer. 

Now that I think about all this, maybe I should go to bed right now and store up some rest. 

Poets and Poetry

We have a great time at Writers Night Out in Young Harris, GA on the second Friday of each month. Karen Holmes hosts this event and has been doing a great job of bringing excellent writers to our area for a number of years now.

If you live in the surrounding area - Cherokee, Clay, Towns, Union or Fannin Counties - be sure you drop in this Friday night to hear two poets from the Atlanta area.

Well, just click Here and read all about them.

Everyone is welcome. Come early and have dinner. Bring a poem or short prose piece to share. You will find a warm and friendly group. 

I am sharing a poem from my book, Now Might as Well be Then, published by Finishing Line Press. Hope you enjoy it. 

Listening for the Rain

The leaves lose their chlorophyll

slowly brown and curl,

then drift like flying birds

to nestle on the ground.

The grass that once was springy

underfoot, now crackles when I walk.

Blades break and lie in shattered shreds

on barren ground.

Last night brought rain.

I woke to hear it tapping

on parched leaves, gently at first,

then a steady pouring stream

rushing through the trees.

Too late for the corn, my father says

across the bridge of time.

Maybe it will save the pasture,

give us one more haying

before summer ends. 

Mary Mike at Writers Night Out

Tonight, January 14, I attended Writers Night Out where my good friend, Mary Mike Keller, was featured reader. She did an excellent job and looked beautiful. She is one of my favorite poets, but you aren't likely to see any books coming out with all of her work. She seldom submits her poems but enjoys writing and sharing them with her friends at readings and with her family.

I call her Mike, and although we are distant cousins from our Posey lineage, sometimes I feel she is more like a sister. Don't you enjoy having a special friend to whom you can talk openly and pour out your heart to her and know she will keep it to herself? Mike is the kind of friend who lets you cry when you hurt and doesn't act like it makes her uncomfortable. She doesn't try to change the subject because she doesn't know what to say.

Mike has felt sorrow herself and seen pain in others. She doesn't shun feelings. She embraces them.
I have learned over the years to let myself feel all the emotions welling up in me, hurt, pain, sorrow, and happiness and joy. I give myself to my feelings and let them out. I'm told that makes for a healthier person and I truly believe that. Keeping pain, fear, guilt or anger pushed down inside for too long causes physical and mental illness.

We all need friends like Mike who have such empathy. And we need to be the same kind of friends to others.

Writing Memoir at Young Harris College for ICL

My class at Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA has filled but today I gave permission to add one more student. I hope you have registered if you planned to attend. (see information on registration on sidebar)

Each class will only be two hours long. Therefore, to let all students have time to participate, I like no more than ten - twelve in my classes. Also, a small class lends to better bonding of the students. That is important. To tell our true stories with complete honesty for the first time often requires that we trust our audience.

As our writing community grows in Clay County and Cherokee County in NC and Towns and Union Counties in Georgia, it pleases me to see my students reading at Open Mic and widening their horizons trying different genres - poetry, journalism, and more.