WE'RE CELEBRATING POETRY AT POETRY DAY, CATAWBA COLLEGE, SPONSORED BY NC POETRY COUNCIL

Scott Owens is Vice President of NC Poetry Council and he teaches
English and Creative Writing at Catawba Community College in Salisbury, NC.

Poetry Day is scheduled for Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 10:00 am.


Come one and all.

David Rigsbee, a native of Durham and resident of Raleigh, has been selected by the Poetry Council of North Carolina to receive the Oscar Arnold Young Award for the best N.C. book of poetry published in 2010 for his collection “The Red Tower: New and Selected Poems,” published by New South Books.

Other winners receiving awards in this year’s Poetry Book Contest are noted N.C. poets Nancy Simpson, Honorable Mention for “Living Above the Frost Line,” and Joseph Bathanti, Honorable Mention  for “Restoring Sacred Art.” 

Michael Beadle will receive first place in the Light Verse Contest for “Because I Could Not Stop My Car”; and Sara Claytor receives first place in the Gladys Owings Hughes Family Heritage Contest for her poem “Blood Sister.”

All winners will have their poems published in the Council’s annual awards anthology, Bay Leaves, which will debut at Poetry Day, on Oct. 1 in the Peeler Crystal Lounge on the campus of Catawba College in Salisbury. This year’s Bay Leaves is dedicated to poet Nancy Simpson, who is being recognized for her  dedication to poetry and for her service to the writing community.

All winners will also be given the opportunity to read their poems aloud as part of Poetry Day and a reception will be held in their honor. A complete list of winners and more information on the Council and Poetry Day are available on the Council’s website at www.poetrycouncilofnc.wordpress.com.

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE - A POET FOR CHANGE, NANCY SIMPSON

I was invited to participate today in a world wide poetry project - 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE. The North Carolina Poets are especially out in number today. I was invited by Joseph Bathanti and Kathryn Kirkpatrick to stuff the e mail boxes of NC Legislators with "political poems. " I did not think I had any political poems, but I learned almost any poet could see their poems change into political poems by simply sending them to a politician.

All of the poems I sent are included in my newest poetry collection  LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE New and Selected Poems published at Carolina Wren Press. If you have my book, you might take a look. Here is what I sent:

Kay Hagan - US Senate under the heading of TRANSPORTATION, "Map."

Richard Burr US Senator from NC sent under the heading of DEFENSE, "Recovery."

Governor Bev Pardue under the heading of ROADS IN APPALACHIA, "Living Above the Frost line."

Heath Schuler, Congressman for NC 11th District under the heading of TRASPORTATION,
"Living Above the Frost Line."

Jim Davis, NC Senator, under the heading of TRANSPORTATION, "Living Above the Frost Line."

James Forrester, NC Senator, under the heading of ENVIRONMENT, "What She Saw and What She Heard."

Don East, NC Senator, under the heading of  HEALTH CARE, "My Father Told Me."

I also sent President Obama a poem about "the transfiguration of evil to good" from my poem
"Skin Diver's Memory."  I believe "everything changes" and evil can change to good. A U-Boat can become a "living reef where creatures of the deep make a home," although that may take decades.

The Skin Diver’s Memory

Beneath the Killing sea

that holds a wealth of secrets,

off the shore of Morehead City,

a German 352 U-boat

with its own rich secrets

is an island of plenty.

The German U-boat

is a living reef,

a plentiful island, submersed.

I’ve been there.  I’ve seen it,

a living reef where creatures

of the deep make a home.

I’ve been there. I’ve seen it,

a torpedo, its mouth crusted,

make a home of the deep

on this deserted battlefield.

I look into the crusted mouth

of a torpedo forgotten

on a deserted battlefield

known as a Torpedo Alley.

A torpedo, forgotten,

is the Heaven for Angelfish.

In Torpedo Alley one day

an angel swam out through the mouth,

out of the Heaven for Angelfish.

It brushed my cheek with its fin.

A fish swam out of a torpedo

and I understood then underwater

the chemistry of a U-boat, the slow

transfiguration from evil to good

off the shore of Morehead City

beneath the killing sea.

by Nancy Simpson

form LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE

NEW AND SELECTED POEMS

FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN SEPT. 23, 2011 IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

Here on Cherry Mountain,
it's the first day of Autumn.
There is a slight hint of color
and a bit of evidence showing
the changing of leaves has begun.

You're Reading My Mail - (if you want to know about SIBA Conference

Letter to Nancy Simpson from NCWN:

September 22, 2011


Dear Member,
Thank you for giving the North Carolina Writers’ Network the opportunity to promote your book at last weekend’s 2011 Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance conference in Charleston, SC. I staffed the Network’s table in the exhibit hall throughout the conference, where eleven books written by our members—fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in a variety of genres—were displayed.

Rumor had it that conference attendance was up from last year, and traffic was steady at the Network’s table throughout the show. Every title drew interest, from booksellers, publishers, and featured authors, as well as exhibitors such as Baker & Taylor, Ingram, and many, many more.

One publisher, seeking humor writing, was overjoyed to be handed a copy of Helen Aitken’s It Only Happens to Me…Can You Dial 9-1-1? The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines gushed over Sandra Ervin Adams’ Through a Weymouth Window and Diana Renfro‘s Spanish Doors; Margaret A. Harrell’s Keep This Quiet: My Relationship with Hunter S. Thompson and Stephanie Schmitz’ The Dead Girl generated a lot of buzz with their striking publicity materials; and word of mouth among booksellers was extremely positive for Angela Davis-Gardner’s enchanting novel Butterfly’s Child (not to mention how many people raved about the cover art….)

Booksellers from Florida to western North Carolina took copies of J. Logan Nicholson’s memoir Song of the Enotah – Maker of Music and were impressed with his collage of essays and poems; romantic-minded industry insiders and booksellers gobbled up copies of Crossroads at the Wilderness by Martina Vanderley; Maureen Wartski’s 2011 Next Gen Indie Book Awards Finalist Yuri’s Brush with Magic couldn’t have been displayed at a better time, what with interest in YA novels at an all-time high;

and folks were thrilled to get their hands on a copy of SIBA Finalist Nancy Simpson’s poetry collection Living Above the Frost Line. Most knew her name, but those that didn’t were utterly taken in by its enticing title….

Eighty-percent of the books from the display table were eventually handed out; the rest were donated to the non-profit organization Books for Heroes, a 501(c)(3) charity founded by George Scott of Peerless Book Store in Alpharetta, GA. Books for Heroes supplies quality books to American soldiers overseas.

Again, thanks for giving us the chance to promote your work. The quality of your books made my job easy—your books pretty much leapt off the table all weekend. Off the table, and into the hands of hundreds of avid readers.

Best regards,
Charles Fiore
Communications Coordinator
North Carolina Writers’ Network
Charles@ncwriters.org


Copyright 2011

LAST DAY OF SUMMER HERE ABOVE THE FROST LINE

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24,2011 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE

Hello Fellow Poets, I will participate in 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE, following the directions of Joseph Bathanti and Kathryn Kirkpatrick. They asked NC poets to flood the email boxes of elected NC elected representatives. (Directions below) To see what other poets are doing on September 24, throughout the world, click below.

WATAUGA COUNTY

BOONE
100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE, NC STATEWIDE ACTIONS
When: September 24
Where: Appalachian State Universitywww.bigbridge.org/100thousandpoetsforchange

Joseph Bathanti (Land of Amnesia, Press 53) and Kathryn Kirkpatrick (Unaccountable Weather, Press 53–-out in Sept.) are co-organizing a program we’d like to encourage everyone to participate in. On Sept. 24 we will be encouraging all NC poets and poetry lovers to e-mail poems to NC’s elected representatives. We are going to try to flood the email boxes with poetry. This is an activity everyone can participate in locally, and it only takes a few minutes. No haranguing, no pontificating, just e-mail a poem. Or two or ten. Putting poetry into the inboxes of politicians, hopefully in such numbers they can’t ignore it.

TWO GEORGIA POETS WILL READ THEIR POEMS - DO NOT MISS THIS CHANCE TO HEAR ROBERT KIMSEY AND ROBERT S. KING

GEORGIA POETRY SOCIETY

with thanks to the Blue Ridge 
Mountains Arts Association

presents

Poetry Readings &

Workshop on Publishing

plus open mic, book raffle, 

book sales and signing

Where: Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association, 420 West Main St., 
Blue Ridge GA 30513

When: Friday, September 16, 2011, 6:30 pm 


• No Admission Fees, 


Free Refreshments 


Please join us for a two‐hour poetry festival featuring:A workshop 
focusing on publishing in the electronic age. Learn the latest ways to 
publish your work.

Readings by Robert W. Kimsey and Robert S. King.  Two widely 
published poets read from their books and new poems as well.

A raffle. Your chance to win poetry books.

An open mic. Bring one or two of your own poems 
to share with the audience. Please limit poems to a maximum of 
35 lines each.

Book sales and signing. If you have published 

a book or books of poetry, please bring copies to 

sell at this event. No fees involved.

About the Featured Poets


Robert W. Kimsey is a retired Technical Writer 
Illustrator and lives in McCaysville, GA. 
His poems  have been published in various poetry 
and web columns including Kudzu, Pegasus 
the Southern Ocean Review, NewSoutherner 
and various anthologies.

Robert S. King lives near McCaysville, GA. 

He has published poems in hundreds of magazines 

and anthologies including The Kenyon Review,  

Southern Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Midwest 

Quarterly, CaliforniaQuarterly, Chariton Review, 

Negative Capability, Slant, Sow's Ear, and many 

others.  He has also published three chapbooks 

(When Stars Fall Down asSnow, Garland  Press, 

1976; Dream of the Electric Eel, Wolfsong Publications, 

1982; and Traveller ’s Tale, Whistle Press, 1998) 

and two full‐length poetry  books 

(The Gravedigger’s Roots and The Hunted River, 

both from Shared  Roads Press, 2009).

Robert serves as President of the Georgia Poetry 

Society and is also Director  of FutureCycle Press.

NC Writers Network Fall Conference - COMING SOON TO ASHEVILLE

Poetry Writing Class will be taught  by Nancy Simpson Poetry Writing Here and Now WRITTEN BY ADMINISTRATOR    MONDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 2011 00:00 by Nancy Simpson Nancy Simpson I was shy and didn’t speak much in my young life because I feared whatever I said would come out of my mouth sounding quirky. I did not know then I was using figurative language. I only saw puzzlement on my mother’s face and almost stopped talking. Life changed for the better when someone in Raleigh sent three poets to read their poems at my local library. I heard free verse for the first time, and I recognized on the spot it was similar to what I had been hearing in my head most my life. At age forty, the state of North Carolina certified me to teach. At the same time, I began writing my thoughts and published poems right away in literary magazines. I entered the first writing class offered in the Warren Wilson College MFA Writing program. After graduation, I kept taking poems apart, hoping to see how they were made, especially wanting to understand the writing process. More advanced poets warned me, “Be careful, Nancy. Poetry is meant to be mysterious. If you learn how it works, you might stop being able to make it happen.” Nothing could stop me. Writing poetry changed me, smoothed my tongue, and greatly enriched my life. I kept practicing poetry, publishing poems, and passing on what I had learned to others. AsGary Snyder said, “You get it right, and then you pass it on.” My upcoming workshop "Poetry Writing Here and Now," scheduled for the 2011 Fall Conference, will focus on Contemporary Free Verse Poetry. I’m not one who believes “Free Verse” is a free-for-all, without rules nor responsibility. We will consider a list of specific guidelines aimed to guide you beyond the use of ordinary language. Where to break the line and how to make your poems sing with sound will be discussed. We’ll talk about specific forms of free verse and see what drives each kind. I’ll share my definition of the lyric poem, and we’ll write some poems. NANCY SIMPSON is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student, and most recently, Living Above the Frost Line: New and Selected Poems, published in 2010 by Carolina Wren Press. She is also the editor of the recently published anthology Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. Her poems have appeared in the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, and other literary magazines, as well as in several anthologies. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College, and is  a recipient of an NC Arts Council fellowship. She is one of the co-founders of North Carolina Writers’ Network – West, the Network chapter for writers in the westernmost counties of the state. She lives in Hayesville. Registration for the 2011 Fall Conference is now open.

On 9-11's Tenth Anniversary - Three Poems by Poet Nancy Simpson

FIRST RESPONDER

I was the first to arrive

though bystanders stood

immobile. My legs wouldn’t move

but my training stepped forth.

My arms reached out.

My hands dug thorugh rubble

that smoke filled day.

I raised bodies. In the night

my lungs gave out. Now

you want all I know.

I can’t recall one name, not even

the face of a brother who worked at my side,

his arm and my arm pulling forth a woman, alive.

I remember her scream and thought

touched by terror what happened to her

will keep happening for the rest of her life.

That’s not enough. You want more?

Will you think me shallow minded if I tell you

that day, until my last breath, I heard

the sound of cell phones ringing.

That Day

It was a clear day across the vista,

mountain ridges tufted with red oaks

and sugar maples turning a bittersweet orange, 

joy in my heart a moment exploding

before I learned ships sank in lower Manhattan, 

the fleet of two. On their decks passengers 

from different nations traveling together, 

screamed for their lives. Some tried to fly

through portholes.  That day,

I learned the meaning of the word

machination: a secret scheme of artful design

intended to cause evil, that September day,

joy in my heart gone gray as ash.

Years Later - Still the Old Dream

Blue gown, a mask, blue feather in my hair,

I dressed for what I thought was a party.

Friends left in vans with no room for me.

I didn’t know if I was left behind for a reason

or if they waited asking, “What happpened to her?”

A stranger said she would help me get a flight

at the airport, but she left without pointing the way

to the terminal, then reappeared around a building.

I followed, but she vanished again through a storefront

with broken windows. I walked, lost. Past midnight

I found myself in lower Manhattan.

Men and women hurried past. They were not

the friends I was looking for, but I knew them

in that place lit like day. 
A dragon-toothed machine ate rubble.

I began to gather scattered papers from the ground.


(small extra line edit for this narrow space only)

BIO Nancy Simpson

Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student and most recently Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems published 2010 at Carolina Wren Press. She also edited Echoes Across the Blue Ridge (anthology 2010). She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a B.S. in Education from Western Carolina University. She received a N.C. Arts Fellowship and co founded NC Writers Network West,  a non profit, professional writing organization serving writers living in the remote mountains west of Asheville and the North Georgia Mountains.  For more than thirty years she has been know as “beloved teacher” to thousands of young writers.  

Simpson’s  poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review,  New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and in other literary magazines.  Her poem, “Night Student” was reprinted in the anthology Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of N.C. Poetry and in Literary Trails of N.C. (2008) Seven of her poems poems are featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press.  The Southern Poetry Review, Armstrong College in Savannah, Georgia included one of her poems in their 50th Anniversary issue, Don't Leave Hungry.  Her poem “Carolina Bluebirds” was included in  The Poets Guide to Birds ( Anhinga 2009) an anthology edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser.

            Nancy Simpson lives in Hayesville, NC. Through 2010 she served as Resident Writer at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  Presently she teaches Poetry Writing at the Institute For Continued Learning at Young Harris College.

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE NEW AND SELECTED POEMS BY NANCY SIMPSON

 
Publisher: Carolina Wren Press

BUY FROM THE PRESS THAT PUBLISHED LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE

• Thank you for buying my book --Nancy Simpson
•   http://carolinawrenpress.org/books-and-merchandise/poetry/living-above-the-frost-line

      or order from Amazon.com

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE REVIEWED BY JAIMEE HILLS IN INDY NEWS- THIS BOOK A FINALIST

and other reviews and info about Southern and Appalachian writers

  www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com

• 
  

THE FEATURED STAR FOR SEPTEMBER IS POETRY ITSELF

For readers who follow regularly and support the “Poet of the Month”, I sing  a special “thank you” to you. Your interest is what keeps "Poet of the Month" up in lights. If you’re wondering who is the “Poet of the Month” for September, the featured star for this month shall be Poetry itself. Here above the frost line, we’re in a mood to cheer not one specific poet but instead to celebrate Poetry and Poets One and All. I realize it’s only five months since National Poetry Month, yet each day of September feels much like National Poetry Month all over again. Perhaps it’s even more than that - it’s a Global Poetry Month with 100 Thousand Poets For Change celebrating on a special day which is scheduled for September 24th worldwide, thus far in 95 different countries, in 450 cities, with 600 specific scheduled events and more being announced daily. 

www.bigbridge.org/100thousandpoetsforchange

Here are some events scheduled within the state of North Carolina:

NORTH CAROLINA  STATE-WIDE ACTIONS!

In North Carolina we’re using the Subtitle, Writers for Education. Our state just cut 13,000 teacher positions because the Republican-dominated legislature didn’t want to extend a 3/4 of 1 percent sales tax. The UNC School of the Arts barely escaped closure due to the mandated 15% cut to the university system. The NC Arts Council has had to reduce programming and staff. To show our support for the arts in general, and writing in particular, we are offering a series of workshops and readings throughout the state.

RALEIGH- Renowned poet Betty Adcock (Slantwise, LSU Press) will be sitting on the sidewalk outside Quail Ridge Books from 11 – 1 offering free feedback on any poems people wish to bring by.She will be joined by Richard Krawiec (She Hands me the Razor, Press 53) and Tim McBride (The Manageable Cold, Triquarterly Books). Richard Krawiec will be teaching a free workshop – Where are you? Where are you going? – to the Raleigh Divorced Women’s Support Group, led by Caroline Huerta. Dorianne Laux (The Book of Men, W.W. Morrow) is going to involve her students in emailing poems to NC politicians who voted to cut spending for the arts.
 

3 Events 12 HOURS OF POETRY IN GREENSBORO

10am-12noon Poetry “Write In for Change”
Central Library 219 N Church St Greensboro, NC 27401 336-373-3617

Members of the New Garden Friends Poetry Group will guide writers of all levels in writing and reviewing poems in the Booklovers Coffee Shop.

A public reading will begin about 11:30am.

Poet and fiction writer Valerie Nieman, who publishes with Press 53, will teach a workshop for children. It takes place from 1-4 at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery, and is called Peeking Behind the Mask -Each day we go about our routine lives, but inside we are superheroes or explorers, pirates or rock stars, hiding our secret identities behind a mask of an unassuming face and daily clothes. With the backdrop of Weatherspoon’s current exhibition, “Persona: A Body in Parts,” we’ll explore our own secret identities and “peek behind the mask” of famous folks (real or fictional) to imagine their thoughts and lives. One way to enter this secret world is to write a persona poem – persona meaning mask – in which we give a voice to that alternate identity.

Rhythms of Words
Social Awareness

Tate Street Coffee House
6 to 10 PM Free!

Poets/Spoken Word Artist: Choose an issue you feel strongly about and speak on it
Musicians /Singers:( no band with larger than 3 members) let your music speak for change
Storytellers: Create images through story for change
Comedians: Add to your gift of to bring laughter as a healing median for change

Open Mic element intertwined throughout program

Press 53, in WINSTON-SALEM, is going to ‘stock’ the tables at Wolfie’s on 4th Street with poems. So all the customers will have an assortment of poems to pursue as they down their Wolfie’s frozen custard and Krankie’s coffee

COLUMBIA- Here’s a bit of an unmapped activity. Gail Peck, a Charlotte poet, is driving to the beach on the 24th and plans to stop at one of her favorite restaurants, Tuscan Bio in Columbia, NC, along the way and see if she can read a poem to the kitchen staff. Then, at the beach, she’s going to read a poem to the marshland.

In CARRBORO- Maura High, a member of the Black Sox poetry group, will be gathering other guerilla poets, taking to the streets, stores, and cafes to give away poetry books, and also leave poems, homemade and dada, on unattended chairs throughout the city.

Beth Browne lives in rural CLAYTON, surrounded by farmland. She writes, “I’m thinking I’ll do something radical like put The Red Wheelbarrow on yard signs and post them along my road like the old shaving cream ads.”

CULLOWEHEE- In keeping with the North Carolina ‘theme’ of getting as much poetry out into the community as possible, former NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer (Southern Fictions, Jacar Press, Coming to Rest, Black Shawl, Catching Light – all from LSU Press) will be be passing out poems to the hundreds of attendees at the Mt. Heritage day at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer, who publishes with LSU (and whose limited edition handmade book of sonnets (complete with a Confederate battle flag pulped into the cover paper), Southern Fictions, Jacar Press released, is going to organize an event in SYLVA.

Michael Beadle will be strolling Main St., WAYNESVILLE reading poems!

In the TRIANGLE AREA of North Carolina, Alice Osborn (Unfinished Projects) will be leading a flash mob that intends to visit as many coffee shops in the area as they can hit.

CHARLOTTE- Barbara Conrad has organized an open poetry reading and music at Atherton Farmers Market Saturday 9:30-11:30. Thanks Larry Sorkin. Tanja Bechtler, Richard Taylor and all poets!

In CHAPEL HILL- Paul Jones (ibiblio.org) is going to organize a program to tweet 100,000 poems (hopefully) on Sept. 24. Everyone can join in on that.

Grey Brown (What it Takes), and Stephanie Levin (Smoke of Her Body, Jacar Press) will be at Flyleaf Books from 11 – 1, sitting on the sidewalk to offer free feedback to all poets, children or adults, who wish to bring a poem by.

From Appalachian State University in BOONE- Joseph Bathanti (Land of Amnesia, Press 53) and Kathryn Kirkpatrick (Unaccountable Weather, Press 53 – out in Sept.) are co-organizing a program we’d like to encourage everyone to participate in. On Sept. 24 we will be encouraging all NC poets and poetry lovers to email poems to NC’s elected representatives. We are going to try to flood the email boxes with poetry. This is an activity everyone can participate in locally, and it only takes a few minutes. No haranguing, no pontificating, just email a poem. Or two or ten. Putting poetry into the inboxes of politicians, hopefully in such numbers they can’t ignore it.

DURHAM event is at The Regulator, Ninth Street, Durham. Get feedback on your poems, and have a poem written for you.
On Saturday Sept 24 from 11 – 1. Al Maginnes(Ghost Alphabet, White Pines Press) and Florence Nash (Crossing Water, Fish Music) will be available to offer feedback on their poems for all aspiring poets and poetry lovers – children or adults. Chris Vitiello (Irresponsibility, Ahsahta Press) will be dressed as the Poetry Fox, sitting at a card table with his typewriter to make custom poems on the spot for anyone.

ALSO, Fleur de Lisa, the award-winning (Best Original Song, Harmony Sweeps, D.C. 2009) women’s vocal group who write all original music using poetry as lyrics, will be doing a mini-flash mob on Sept. 24 as part of the 100,000 Poets for Change event. They will be showing up at various locations in the DURHAM area, including shelters for people and animals.

In HICKORY- poet Scott Owens will have a dozen or more poets “reading in the round” at Minetta Lane Center for Arts and Peace in downtown Hickory from 2:00 to 4:00. Participants include Bill Griffin, Tim Peeler, Rand Brandes, Tony Ricciardelli, Bud Caywood, and many more. Anyone who is interested should contact Scott at asowens1@yahoo.com or 828-234-4266.

Steve Roberts (Another Word for Home), Addy McCulllough, and others will take to the streets of WILMINGTON and write poems on the sidewalks in chalk.

Hillsborough Health Center, HILLSBOROUGH, on Sept. 24 at 3pm Debra Kaufman (The Next Moment, Jacar Press) will lead a free workshop on Write to Health.

ASHEVILLE- Laura Hope-Gill
of the Wordfest Festival will hold an event, details TBA.

Hayesville - Poet Nancy Simpson, on the northside of Cherry Mountain, will post daily in September on one of NC’s most relentless sites promoting poetry and celebrating practicing poets.  Check in daily during September. Don't miss September 11th, the 10th anniversary of 9-11. 


Also NC Writers Network West, twenty years old now, has traditionally been celebrated with a regional picnic on the second Sunday in September. Sorry, that is not going to happen this year. Still, On the second Sunday in September ( 9-11 this year) Nancy Simpson will be celebrating Netwest alone with a special post on the Netwest site. She will also post a 9-11 poem on Facebook.  If you have a 9-11 poem you want to share, send it by e mail and it will be published or reprinted on LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE.


www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com


Nancy Simpson is the author of three poetry collections: Across Water, Night Student and most recently Living Above the Frost Line, New and Selected Poems published 2010 at Carolina Wren Press. She also edited Echoes Across the Blue Ridge (anthology 2010). She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a B.S. in Education from Western Carolina University. She received a N.C. Arts Fellowship and co founded NC Writers Network West,  a non profit, professional writing organization serving writers living in the remote mountains west of Asheville and the North Georgia Mountains.  For more than thirty years she has been know as “beloved teacher” to thousands of young writers.  

Simpson’s  poems have been published in The Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review, Seneca Review,  New Virginia Review, Prairie Schooner and in other literary magazines.  Her poem, “Night Student” was reprinted in the anthology Word and Wisdom, 100 Years of N.C. Poetry and in Literary Trails of N.C. (2008) Seven of her poems poems are featured in Southern Appalachian Poetry, a textbook anthology published at McFarland Press.  The Southern Poetry Review, Armstrong College in Savannah, Georgia included one of her poems in their 50th Anniversary issue, Don't Leave Hungry.  Her poem “Carolina Bluebirds” was included in  The Poets Guide to Birds ( Anhinga 2009) an anthology edited by Judith Kitchen and Ted Kooser.

On September 24th Nancy Simpson will fill the e mail in boxes of NC elected representatives who have power to (if they choose to) make positive  changes. She will also post a poem for change, in keeping with 100 Thousand Poets for Change on open blog sites and one on Facebook. 
www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com