Kathryn Kirkpatrick - STILL CELEBRATING HER LIFE AND HER POETRY

Nancy Simpson says, "Trust me. You must own, hold and read Kathryn Kirkpatrick's  new book
OUR HELD ANIMAL BREATH. Take a peek."

One Poem From

Our Held Animal Breath 

(WordTech Editions, forthcoming 2012)

First published in The Southern Review

Our Held Animal Breath

Here at the conference hotel

I keep one foot in another world.

Forget what city I’m in—

each room is a piece of unripe fruit

shipped from a factory farm.

We school in fluorescent twilight

try to be wise without windows,

open ourselves in the unopened air.

Smitten with sameness, we’re lost together,

collecting sore throats and coughs

so outside when we gather on concrete

across from the parking garage

we gasp when the rabbit appears

alone on the exit ramp

and wait to see how on earth

it lives here, between wheels and exhaust,

as if watching whatever is left

of our warm and vulnerable selves.

A leap at the last moment

into the managed green

of a flowerbed, all uniform,

unopened bulbs and we cheer

because, for the moment, escape,

survival in the common release

of our held animal breath.

Kathleen Kirkpatrick currently holds a dual appointment at Appalachian State University as a Professor in the English Department and the Sustainable Development Program. She has a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Emory University, where she received an Academy of American Poets poetry prize.  Her poetry collections include The Body’s Horizon (1996), which was selected by Alicia Ostriker for the Brockman-Campbell award; Beyond Reason (2004), which was awarded the Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Prize by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association; Out of the Garden (2007), which was a finalist for the Southern Independent Booksellers Association poetry award; Unaccountable Weather (2011) recently published by Press53, and Our Held Animal Breath (forthcoming in 2012).  She has held writing residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Ireland and at Norton Island off the coast of Maine.  As a literary scholar in Irish studies and the environmental humanities, she has published essays on class trauma, ecofeminist poetics, and animal studies.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick - Three Poems from her book Unaccountable Westher

We're singing the praises of POET OF THE MONT,  Kathryn Kirkpatrick here above The Frost Line in this her birth month These three poems are from her book Unaccountable Weather, Press 53 2011.

From Unaccountable Weather (Press 53, 2011)

First published in Calyx

The Garden of Lost Breasts

At first they are lonely,

severed from the capable chest.

Without feet, without bodies to carry them,

they arrive on the backs of herons,

in the pouches of possums.

Because they have often fed others,

the animals refuse to eat them,

will not leave them in labs

on pathology slides.

Instead they bring them here

like racehorses put out to pasture.

Having done the work

of nurture and beauty, nothing

more is required of these breasts—

coffee or golden, ivory or pink,

they have all forgiven someone.

Now they lounge under willows

or sun themselves by the lake.

And here among so many others,

they soon forget the lover’s tongue,

the low-cut gown, the matching breast.

From Unaccountable Weather (Press 53, 2011)

First published in The South Carolina Review

Chemotherapy

Up from the massage table

I catch sight of myself

in the unavoidable mirror.

Afternoon light doesn’t blink.

Basic bald head. Bare pudendum.

Soft pile of belly and hips.

Once mirrors drew me like friends,

broke my gloomy moods

with a smile, eyes brighter

than I’d remembered. Now I’m sacra

to myself, a neutral suggestion,

transpersonal form. Stripped

to Neolithic goddess, I’m all

that’s behind all that will ever be,

prima mater, prima material,

impersonal as rain, kneaded

to dozens of shapes, except

that my chest is  scarred

which is what you’d expect

of a goddess in this 21^st century.

From Unaccountable Weather (Press 53, 2011)

First published in Shenandoah

After the Cave Paintings

Why do I stand unmoved,

jaded as a tabloid, refusing

astonishment, not down on

my knees, but sober as stone—

surely 19^th-century spelunkers,

pranksters, or WWII resistance

fighters passing hours in the belly

of the mountain made these

bison, these bearded horses.

But carbon dating brings me

to my senses. Whatever I can’t take

in—1,500 generations, 32,000 years—

here’s human memory on the horns

of an ibex, our ancestors making it up

from scratch.

                       Is it all too near

to where I’ve been?  Birth & Death.

Back and forth across that stuttering

line, illness a long darkness with only

a lantern and my love’s strong

arm, the uneven, the unearthly

underfoot.

                  Stalactites make their own

sense of water and limestone

as I’m to make something wholly new

from the dripstone of another life.

Just as well we’re not as firmly

anchored as we think.

In the thinned air, the wavering light,

easier to find that other self,

that knows as the animal

knows, as the bears in these caves

once knew, the first scratches on stone

their marks, beyond light, standing

upright on the old riverbed, so that

daughters of Adam, sons of Eve,

took up what the bears laid down,

dark claw on limestone, and drew.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick HAS BEEN NAMED POET OF THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY 2012. Two Poems and Bio.

Here "Above the Frost Line," Award Winning Poet, Kathryn Kirkpatrick has been named Poet of the Month for February 2012 in this her birth month.

Biography for Kathryn Kirkpatrick

Raised in the nomadic subculture of the U.S. military, Kathryn Kirkpatrick was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and grew up in the Phillipines, Germany, Texas and the Carolinas.  Today she lives with her husband, Will, and their two shelties in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and she currently holds a dual appointment at Appalachian State University as a Professor in the English Department and the Sustainable Development Program. She has a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Emory University, where she received an Academy of American Poets poetry prize.  Her poetry collections include The Body’s Horizon (1996), which was selected by Alicia Ostriker for the Brockman-Campbell award; Beyond Reason (2004), which was awarded the Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Prize by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association; Out of the Garden (2007), which was a finalist for the Southern Independent Booksellers Association poetry award; Unaccountable Weather (2011) recently published by Press53. 


TWO POEMS by Kathryn Kirkpatrick:

From Beyond Reason (Pecan Grove Press, 2004)

Originally published in Kalliope

FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN SOLOS IN A FIXED-WING, HEAVIER THAN AIR MACHINE, 1910

I dreamed of flying under bridges

upside-down

                    or diving swift-like toward

the rushing ground at Curtiss Field.

                                                         He says

I'm just to check the wires, guide forward

and then back across the runway,

                                                    says if

I crashed they’d blame his Pusher plane

or him.

             To teach a woman how to lift

herself from earth in this frail fabric plane

is bad enough,

                      but flight, alone, intoxicates

like drink, like money, power.

                                               So when I find

the throttle lever blocked and take

away the piece of wood,

                                     I know the price

they’ll pay, years on, to see me risk my neck,

a freak because I’m first.

                           My hands are ice.

From Out of the Garden (Mayapple Press, 2007)

First published in The Florida Review

These Things No Longer Suffice

And I was walking in Chicago

with unnecessary purchases

or rather,
            they were necessary in that intangible way

like it is necessary to see a blackcap chickadee
light on a redbud in bloom.

It was something in clay

and something in paper

and I felt a little of that glow one feels

in the sensuous and material,

shorn up and satisfied

                                    for a moment

and saying how much I’d spent

when he stepped up with his empty

cup and it felt arbitrary

as wind not rain

that he had the cup

and reached it toward me

and I had the bags

and quickened my pace.

Why he with the empty cup?

And me with the laden bags?

I know the body is a reasonable animal.

Give it pure water, good food,

nest it in sheets washed clean.

Offer a share of touch.

And beauty. Give its sight beauty,

an arch of forsythia in spring.

Anger loses its urgent beat.

The claw of want retracts.

Why he with the empty cup?

And me with the laden bags?

What once would have sufficed,

the something in paper, the something in clay,

no longer sufficed.

Joy, that fragile wing, folded.

I wanted to say, paper, clay.

Because you are without pure water, good food,

I am without my small wing of joy.

I wanted to say, paper, clay.

If my laden bags require

your empty cup,

I give them back,

I give them back.

Now where is your wing,

O where is your wing of joy?

Please leave a comment here or

send the poet a comment if you wish.

kirkpatrick@appstate.edu

IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS - A MILD WINTER THIS YEAR

I've noticed several searches recently - readers looking for "weather in the southern Appalachian Mountains" or "snow in the southern Appalachian Mountains. I have been slack in my weather reports this winter. The reason for that - we've not had much of a winter. 


We've had no snow until last Saturday morning, and that did not stick, even snowed most of the day, but it did not stick. I woke up this morning with snow again on the ground but at sunrise it rained and by noon the snow was gone. Neither time did it stick on the driveway, so there has been no alarm whatsoever. 


This winter has been nothing like the past two winters. It's been, so far, a wonderful, cozy winter with lots of walking weather.  And flowers, you will not believe it. The daffodils started blooming in the last days of January. By February 10th, I had many clumps of purple crocus blooming, King Alfred Daffodils and last Saturday, even with snow, my larger Flowering Quince bloomed and also one lovely Lenten Rose.  I will keep you posted if

anything changes, but as it stands, I have not seem much of winter this season on Cherry Mountain. It's been like a gift to me.

A GATHERING OF POETS

Press 53 and Jacar, two North Carolina Presses will hold the 2nd Annual  Gathering of Poets in Winston Salem NC on April 7, 2012. Cost $125.00 plus your travel expense.  Limited to 53.

Featuring former NC Poet Laureate Fred Chappell, Current Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers and other workshop leaders.

Choose 2 morning workshops, 2 afternoon workshops. Faculty Reading and Open Mic.

http://www.press53.com/GatheringofPoets.html

NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS NETWORK WEST Opens a New Monthly Critique Group for Members

Prose Critique Sessions Begin February 9th. Come Join.

Photo: Netwest members: Linda Smith, Brenda Kay Ledford and Bob Grove.

              On Thursday, February 9th,  at 7 pm, Bob Grove will facilitate the North Carolina Writers Network West new Prose Critique Sessions.  It is to be held at Tri-Community College (Peachtree, NC between Hayesville and Murphy) in the McSwain Building, Room 152.   The sessions are open to members of  NetWest and there is no charge for participation.   For questions, contact Bob Grove at 828-837-3233 or bob@grove-ent.com.

The purpose of the critique group is to provide an immediate and useful feedback environment for a prose reading among fellow writers.  Short excerpts of fiction and non-fiction are welcome. 

Bob Grove

Bob Grove of Brasstown, NC, received his

Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State

University and his Master of Science in

Teaching degree from Florida Atlantic

University. He has taught courses in

English, journalism, and creative writing.

He is a former ABC-TV and radio news

journalist and program host and is a

popular guest speaker and reader.

           

Bob is founder and publisher of

Monitoring Times magazine, and has

published seven books and hundreds

of articles in fifteen magazines. Most

recently, he has written a mystery

novel, his memoir, a collection of

children’s stories, and some poetry.

Lucy Cole Gratton

Publicity Coordinator

NC Writers’ Network West

828-494-2914

lgratton@hughes.netN C WRITERS NETW

POET - HERE'S A CALL FOR YOUR BOOK MANUSCRIPT

BELLDAY POETRY PRIZE
$2,000 PRIZE TO WINNING POET

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 15, 2012

CONTEST FINAL JUDGE: RAE ARMANTROUT
Rae Armantrout has published 10 books of poetry, including her most recent book, Money Shot (2011), and Versed (2009), which won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work is widely anthologized and appears in Postmodern American Poetry, several editions of Best American Poetry, and The Oxford Book of American Poetry (2006). She is a professor of poetry and poetics at the University of California, San Diego.

Bellday Books will publish the winning book and award $2,000 and 25 copies of the book to the winning author.

CONTEST RULES
-  Submit a manuscript of 60-90 pages of original poetry in any style in English. The
manuscript must not have been published in book or chapbook, but may contain poems that have appeared in print or on the Internet.  Entries may consist of individual poems, a book-length poem or any combination of long or short poems.
-  Submitted manuscript must contain 2 title pages: Name and contact information should appear on first title page only. Name should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.
-  Include a table of contents page, but do not send an acknowledgements page.
-  Manuscript must be typed single-spaced, paginated and bound with a binder clip.
-  Enclose an SASE for announcement of the winner. Manuscripts cannot be returned.
-  Postmark deadline: March 15, 2012.
-  Include a check or money order for $25 reading fee, payable to BELLDAY BOOKS.
-  Bellday Books reserves the right not to select an award winner, in which case all reading fees will be refunded.

CONTEST MAILING ADDRESS
Bellday Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 3687
Pittsburgh, PA 15230

Questions may be directed to:
office@belldaybooks.com

NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS' NETWORK WEST

Hello Poets, Writers, and Friends,

Yes, I am still connected to NC Writers Network West, still a consultant. I strongly recommend their programs for writers living in the far western NC mountains, where there are literally no other on-going programs for writers.  These three programs featuring writers reading their work are free and open to the public. This is one way to meet other writers and a way to introduce yourself and learn more about NCWN West and our programs.

In February, three  programs you will want to attend are (1) COFFEE WITH THE POETS which presents one featured poet per month, with an open mic for all and ( 2) WRITERS NIGHT OUT that features one poet each month with an open mic for all and (3) POETS AND WRITERS READING POEMS AND STORIES  at John C. Campbell Folk School which features two readers, often one poet and one fiction writer who are publishing authors and members of NCWN West. --Nancy Simpson

HERE'S THIS MONTH'S LINE UP

You don't want to miss Bob Groves, featured reader this month at Coffee with the Poets.
Come early to get a good seat. Cafe Touche, 82 Main Street, Hayesville, NC
Open mic follows Bob's reading. Bring something to read, a poem or short prose piece.

Put the date on your calendar now. Wednesday, Feb. 8, 10:30 a.m.

We look forward to seeing everyone again.See you there,
Founder of Coffee With the Poets, Glenda Beall


Here's the press release with information on the poet reading at the next Writers' Night Out Feb 10. Hope to see you there. He does a fun and intelligent reading. --Karen Holmes

“GEORGIA AUTHOR OF THE YEAR” NOMINEE TO READ IN HIAWASSEE

FEB 1, 2012 – Atlanta poet Rupert Fike will be the featured reader at Writers’ Night Out at Mountain Perk Coffee House in Hiawassee on Friday, February 10 at 7 p.m.  Audience members can also participate in an open microphone if they’d like to share their own poetry or prose. This is a free monthly event for people who love the written and spoken word.

Fike’s collection, Lotus Buffet (Brick Road Poetry Press), has earned him a nomination for Georgia Author of the Year 2011 in poetry. Two of the poems in the book have also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Writer Barbara Hamby says, “What happens when you cross a Southern raconteur with a Buddhist monk? You get Rupert Fike’s exhilarating poems.” His work has been published in Rosebud, The Georgetown Review, Natural Bridge, The Atlanta Review, The Cortland Review, storySouth, The Blue Fifth Review and others. He has a poem inscribed in a downtown Atlanta plaza, and his non-fiction work, Voices from The Farm, accounts of life on a spiritual community in the 1970s, is now available in paperback.  

 Writers’ Night Out takes place on the second Friday of each month and is open to the public. The event draws approximately 30 people from four counties. Mountain Perk Coffee House is located at 1390 Highway 76 East in Chatuge Harbor Plaza across from Towns County High School. Food, gourmet coffees and other refreshments are available for purchase. Each open microphone reader can sign up at the door and has two-and-a-half minutes to read.

            For more information, please contact Karen Holmes at (404) 316-8466 or kpaulholmes@gmail.com, or call Mountain Perk at (706) 896-0504.

Poets Glenda Barrett and Mary Ricketson will read their original poems at John C. Campbell Folk School.

POETS AND WRITERS READING POEMS AND STORIES 7:00 p.m. at John C. Campbell 

Folk School on Feb.16th are two of the best you will hear, both authors with books in print: Mary Ricketson of Hanging Dog, NC ,  author of I Heard the River Call My Name  and Glenda Barrett of Hiawassee, Georgia, author of When the Sap Rises. Contact Program Coordinator Linda Smith
(828) 389-9849.

NC WRITERS NETWORK WEST  also offers to members only, two writing critique groups that meet once a month at Tri County Community College, one for poets and one for prose writers.