Living Above the Frost Line

MASTER OF FINE ARTS - CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAMS

2012-01-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

Are you in over your head, gone too far to turn back now, and you are thinking of applying to a MFA Writing Program? My friend, NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer recently sent me this information to share with you. Check out CONVERSE COLLEGE Low Residency MFA Writing Program in Spartenburg, SC.

http://www.converse.edu/academics/school-education-and-graduate-studies/graduate-programs/graduate-programs-other-fields/m-6

Two other Low Residency MFA Writing Programs are: Warren Wilson College at Swananona, NC
(Talk with graduate Nancy Simpson)

http://www.warren-wilson.edu/academics/catalog/catalog2.php?name=mfa_program&contents=no&year=08-09

or Low Residency MFA at Spalding College in Kentucky (talk with graduate Rosemary Royston.)

http://spalding.edu/academics/mfa/

What poem most changed you as a human or most influenced you as a poet?

2012-01-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

Question?

What poem most changed you as a human or most influenced you as a poet?

Nancy Simpson: "The Teeth Mother Naked at Last" by Robert Bly in 1970 and later incorporated into his book Sleepers Joining Hands both changed me as a human and influenced me as a poet. As I read the poem for the first time (alone, young and unknowing, an unquestioning American Citizen) I kept asking myself - "What is this? And answering myself: "It's war. It's the Vietnam war, and all war and every other lie about humanity that was ever told."

You can read this poem in it's entirety, if you can read it, if you can stay with it. I hope you will.

http://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2009/09/teeth-mother-naked-at-last.html

A second poem I hope you will read, in the same vein is Robert S. King's poem "After the War, The War," first published by Foundling Review. Read Now on line at FutureCycle Press.

http://futurecycle.org/FutureCyclePoetry/AfterTheWar.aspx

2012-01-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the birth and life of Doctor Martin Luther King, poet Kathryn Stripling Byer shares with readers in her post "Continuing to Excavate Our Southern Past," one of her poems that was first published in Crab Orchard Review and forthcoming in her new book titled Descent from LSU Press, her poem "What I See Now."
http://kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com/2012/01/continuing-to-excavate-our-southern.html

Read the poem. Your comments are welcome.

Rosemary Royston Featured on Red Neck Press - TW0 POEMS

2012-01-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

Rosemary Royston is featured on Red Neck Press With Fried Chicken and Coffee, a blogzine of rural literature, working class literature, Appalachian Literature and off-on commentary, reviews and rants.

http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2012/01/10/poems-by-rosemary-royston-2/

WANT TO HELP JAPAN RECOVER FROM EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI? Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to ongoing relief efforts in Japan

2012-01-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

Poems by Nancy Simpson
Janice Townley Moore
Maren O. Mitchell
Karen Paul Holmes
and others

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/amikayepf

ACROSS THE MILES - A Note From my Editor Andrea L. Watson

2012-01-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

Dear Nancy,

Now that the (poetic) dust has cleared from getting our new anthology out and about, I wish to take a moment to say thank you for sending us a copy of your book from Carolina Wren Press, Living Above the Frost Line.

I have so enjoyed reading your selected poems this week, watching the snow fall in Denver and Taos, enjoying the very wonderful and different scenery of your poetry set in North Carolina. I especially love the poems entitled, "At the End of Always" and "This Night", "Traveling", "Night Student", "Sharing the Bed with Mother" (and I have been there!), "Heritage", and, of course, "The Collection", which we admire in Collecting Life.

Brava for your use of imagery, lining, and your ability to create and re-create situations with which we all can associate and, too, engage in commiseration.

Also, thank you for your participation and patience with bringing our anthology to birth and for your very kind words about it on your blog.

I truly hope that we will someday have the opportunity to meet.

Best regards across the miles,

Andrea

--
-Andrea L. Watson

www.3taospress.com

Collecting Life: Poets on Objects Known and Imagined

may be obtained directly from the press or from Amazon

COLLECTING LIFE: POETS ON OBJECTS KNOWN AND IMAGINED - A NEW POETRY ANTHOLOGY

2012-01-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

Poetry Lovers, Here is a new anthology hot off the press with poems by some of your favorite poets: "The Composer, The Bone Yard" by Pattiann Rogers, "Morpho" by Penelope Schambly Schott, "Lauds" by Kathryn Stripling Byer, "On the Beach" by Jane Hirschfield and others, including "The Collection" by Nancy Simpson.

Collecting Life was edited by Madelyn Garner and Andrea Watson with an introduction by Bill Brown Professor of American Culture, University of Chicago.

Until now, no anthology about collecting existed.

Buy your copy:http://www.amazon.com/Collecting-Life-Poets-Objects-Imagined/dp/0984792503

NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE BOOK FOR S.I.B.A.

2012-01-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

SIBA SOUTHERN INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS AWARD Nominations are now open. Nominations will close Feb 14th, 2012. Poetry books can be nominated. The book must be published in 2011 and must be set in the south or written by a southerner - preferably both. Did you read a new book last year? Want to nominate it for SIBA? Find your member book store on the list and name your favorite 2011 book.

http://www.sibaweb.com/home/siba-book-award

Meanwhile - Want to see this site continue? Sorry to ask, but I am curious about what you practicing poets want. Let me know.

Hello Poets and Writers, From Living Above the Frost Line, in the Blue Ridge Mountains

2011-12-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

Friends and Fellow writers,
Happy New Year.
This photo was taken Jan. 2009,
by my hand, through my eyes,
off the deck of my home.

Dear Poet and Writing Friends, You may have been wondering - "Where is she?" or maybe not. You may not give a hoot. I need to know. Here at the end of 2011, I totally lost this blog and the opportunity to communicate with you. Looks like my site is back this morning. I am shouting with joy, with hope LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE will hold and continue as we move into 2012. It was a crisis for me. I hope to never have to go through that horror again. I do not have a clue what took my site down. I do not know how it came back this morning.

If you know me, you know I am intelligent. I can do this. I have a storehouse of information to share with poets and writers. I hope to continue but not sure you have interest in poetry at all. I do not know if you are interested in southern and Appalachian poets and writers - their new books and where you can buy them at their press. I've featured many southern and Appalachian writers throughout the past three years. I have a line up for 2012. I have suggestions and an updated list of markets calling for poems now. Are you interested?

Or is there some other reason you visit this site? The links to yet other writing sites? The latest news of writing events in the mountains of western NC and North Georgia?

Sorry to put you on the spot. Are you interested? Comments please. What are your interests?

Two Poems by Nancy Simpson - You can read them on Line- FUTURE CYCLE PRESS

2011-12-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

Nancy Simpson ends the year on the up-swing - with ten poems accepted this year. You can read two of the most recent on line - FutureCycle Press. "First Responder" in AMERICAN SOCIETY - What Poets See 2011. (34) and "Years Later- Still the Old Dream" in Future Cycle Anthology 2011, (27)

http://futurecycle.org/FutureCyclePoetry/SimpsonBio.aspx
click on poems at the bottom of the page

GIVING BOOKS AS CHRISTMAS GIFTS ? GOOD FOR YOU!

2011-12-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

If you looking for a gift book for a woman on your Christmas Shopping list, consider buying Living Above the Frost Line,

New and Selected Poems.Especially if the woman lives in or is fond of the Blue Ridge - Southern Appalachian Mountains. LivingAbove the Frost Line is a 2011 finalists for SIBA - Southern Independent Booksellers Award, nominated for The Weatherford Poetry Award and Oscar Arnold Poetry Award, reviewed in FutureCycle Press, Independent News, Asheville Citizens Times, Prairie Schooner and in the current issue of Asheville Poetry Review.

(from back cover of Living Above the Frost Line -
New and Selected Poems)

“NANCY SIMPSON’S POEMS SPEAK WITH A VOICE that knows where it comes from, honoring that place and the web of relationships that exist within it. She can make the world shimmer in a single line. She can break your heart. She can sing. She does what a poet has to do, wake the reader into a fresh vision of reality.” —KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER, North Carolina Poet Laureate Emerita

“HARD-WON, SOMETIMES HARD-BITTEN, the poems of Living Above the Frost Line emerge from the page like daffodils from a snow bank: colorful, hardy and defiant. It is a privilege to be admitted into Nancy Simpson’s intense vision of the world, a pleasure to stand for a while in its light.” —FRED CHAPPELL, North Carolina Poet Laureate Emeritus

“LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE showcases the arc of a life lived richly and rendered in finely made poems of heartbreak—and beauty. Nancy Simpson possesses a wise world view grounded in and informed by the intricacies of place, offering all of us the great haven poetry can be in hands as capable as hers.” —CLAUDIA EMERSON, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

“REPLETE WITH A QUIET WISDOM, Nancy Simpson’s poems are powerfully focused on the landscape and the people who inhabit this giving, fragile land she cherishes but cannot always protect. The poet wastes nothing as she trains her vision on both the ordinary and the sublime, ‘having learned the leaves of trees, /the language of ants, not much scares her.’ Nancy Simpson shows us how to learn to love and forgive the world in poems that are always wise and generous of heart.” —JUDITH ORTIZ COFER

“IN LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, Nancy Simpson takes us to the top of a Carolina mountain and gives us a clear lens through which to mark the seasons of a lifetime. These poems reflect the history of a place and the hardy people who know that ‘nothing is certain except death.’ Hardship and grief, yes, but also friendship, humor, compassion, and the electrifying power of imagination. Through image and insight, Simpson’s mountain becomes a sustaining force, and we rejoice in the parallel certainty of rebirth. —JUDITH KITCHEN

Order Nancy Simpson’s Living Above the Frost Line: New and Selected Poems from

Carolina Wren Press 120 Morris Street Durham, NC 27701

Bookstores and Schools can order wholesale by phone
919 560 2738

or e mail carolinawrenpress@earthlink,net
ISBN 978-0-932112-61-3 Laureate Series (2010) $15.95 Retail – $14.35 at CWP.

Or buy from Independent Book Sellers who nominated the book for a SIBA Award.

City Lights Book Store in Sylva, NC (828) 516-9499

Phillips and Lloyds Book Shop (828) 389- 1492

Also available at amazon.com

or order from the author. one book - $15.95 cover price postage free or order through the month of December 2011, two copies for $20.00 post paid. (828) 389-6497

NANCY SIMPSON’s poems have been published widely in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review, Tar River Poetry, The Southern Poetry Review and Kalliope. Her previous books are Across Water and Night Student. In 1991, she received the North Carolina Arts Council Writing Fellowship for Poetry. A longtime member of the North Carolina Writers Network, she co-founded Netwest to serve writers in the nine westernmost counties and Qualla Boundary. contact Nancy Simpson at (828) 389-6497 nance@dnet.net www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com

ADD SIBA FINALISTS TO YOUR GIFT SHOPPING LIST.

http://malaprops.com/holiday/SIBA/hc_2011_ba.html

2011-12-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE authors. Our anthology has been widely accepted and reviewed. You may have heard of the newest review by Mary Ickes in Western N.C. Women, but did you know she specifically mentioned your writing. You can read her comments. Click below. Have you heard any other talk about ECHOES ACROSS THE BLIE RIDGE. Let me know what you think. Leave a comment. Nancy Simpson, Editor

http://www.wncwoman.com/2011/12/01/book-review-3/

Mary Ickes said in a note to NCWN West that she did not read anything in the anthology that she did not like. Here is a list of the authors she mentioned in her review:

Steven Harvey, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Bettie Sellers, Gary Carden, Glenda Barrett, Glenda Beall, Ellen Andrews, Mary Michelle Bodine Keller, Estelle Darrow Rice, William V. Reynolds, Kitty Inman, Dick Michener, Charlotte Ross, Mary Lou McKillip, Lana Hendershott, Susan Lefler, John T. Campbell, Jayne Joudon Ferrer, Rachel Bronnum, Rosemary Royston, Maren O. Mitchell, Karen Paul Holmes, Brenda Kay Ledford, Marshall McClung, Richard Argo, Wendy Richard Tanner, StarShield Lortie, Ellen Lampe. Ickes also mentioned Byron Herbert Reece, 1917-1958, to whom the anthology was dedicated.

Mary Ickes praises Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, edited by Nancy Simpson, an anthology which features stories, essays and poems by 62 authors who live and write in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. Ickes said, "It would make the perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves great writing or who is interested in North Carolina’s culture and history."

2011-12-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

NORTH CAROLINA WRITERS'NETWORK getting out the news reported:

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge Reviewed in WNC Women

We just heard a rumor that the December 2011 issue of WNC Womenwill feature an ebullient review of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge: Stories, Essays, and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains (Winding Path Publishing, 2010). In a sneak peak, reviewer Mary Ickes said, “In all sincerity, I’ve never read a collection in which I liked every piece. Deciding which authors to include proved frustrating, because I wanted to mention everybody! GO NETWEST!”

From the book’s description:

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge consists of the work of 62 authors: members of North Carolina Writers’ Network West. The volume includes stories and poems reflecting the everyday lives of mountain people, their experiences, their outlook on life, and their overall philosophies. The subjects range from the mundane to hilarious comic sketches. The reader will laugh, cry, and feel the heart and soul of these writers.

Contributors include former North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer of Cullowhee; Gary Carden of Sylva; and an introduction by Robert Morgan, among many more.

This collection was edited by Nancy Simpson and received blurbs from acclaimed NC authors Ron Rash and Lee Smith. It would make the perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves great writing or who is interested in North Carolina’s culture and history.

Echoes Across the Blue Ridge is available anywhere books are sold, through the NetWest website, and throughwww.ncwriters.org.

Congratulations to NetWest and all who contributed to this important piece of North Carolina heritage.

A GIFT BOOK FOR THE CHILD ON YOUR CHRISTMAS LIST

2011-12-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

Are you shopping for the child on your Christmas List? A child that perhaps lives in Georgia?
Here is the book to consider: THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA written by Susan R. Spain Illustrated by Elizabeth O. Dulemba.

THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA - Book Signings!
It's time, once again, to celebrate THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN GEORGIA! I hope you'll consider purchasing my latest picture book as a gift for your loved ones this year. And if not mine, Sterling Children's Books is working on one for each state. (Click Here to see if the one for your state is available yet.) CLICK HERE to learn more about my Georgia book and download free activities.
And if you can stop by, I'll be signing copies at several Georgia independent booksellers over the next few weeks:

Scott's Bookstore
Newnan, Georgia
Wednesday, December 7 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm
Hall's Book Exchange
Gainseville, Georgia
Thursday, December 8 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Little Shop of Stories
Decatur, Georgia
Thursday, December 15 from 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Atlanta Symphony Store
Atlanta, Georgia
Friday, December 16 from 1:00 - 3:00 pm.

BEST GIFT FOR HIM ON YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING LIST - THE HUNTED RIVER BY ROBERT S. KING

2011-12-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Give him, on your Christmas shopping list, a book. Yes. Giving a man a book means caring enough to give something of worth. It's certainly not the same as is giving him a tie, or a coffee mug. Giving a book implies you chose something unique for him. Giving a book says, He's smart, a man who reads. Think of the added opportunity to write inside the cover some words of gratitude, something like "Thank you for being you" or "With appreciation." If he cocks his head and lifts his eyes, he probably is thinking: She knows I'm intelligent.

BEST POETRY BOOK GIFT FOR THE WOMEN ON YOUR CHRISTMAS LIST

2011-11-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

PUT THIS BOOK ON YOUR CHRISTMAS
SHOPPING LIST if you are looking for a gift for a woman aged 21-50, a woman who can read and loves to read books, a woman who especially loves to read literary poetry of our time, perhaps she writes poems herself. She is a woman who is not narrow minded but rather is one who is curious about humans and their relationships, one seeking a world view, whose concerns are matters of the heart, matters of the spirit.

I highly recommend this book: Poet Nancy Simpson

Debra Kaufman's literary reputation is well known to readers of poetry. She is also the author of Family of Strangers, Still Life Burning, Moon Mirror Whisky Wind and A Certain Light. Individual poems have been published in Southern Poetry Review, Greensboro Poetry Review, Pembrok, Carolina Quarterly and in anthologies such as 100 YEARS OF NC POETRY and Literary Trails of NC. Her short and full-length plays have been performed throughout North Carolina, her adopted home.

To buy THE NEXT MOMENT, $13.95 add $2.00 postage

CONTACT Publisher:
http://www.jacarpress.com/contact.html

Want to read poems from this collection by the author
Debra Kaufman?

THREE POEMS BY DEBRA KAUFMAN all from
her book THE NEXT MOMENT

Good Girls

Good girls always fall for bad boys.
We’re trained in the fine arts
of downcast eyes and demure smiles,
to caress the crisp pages of the Bible.

Trained in the fine arts
of be ye kind and don’t make waves,
I caress the crisp pages of the Bible,
Daddy’s rabbit pelts and pheasant breasts

(be ye kind and don’t make waves?).
I earn gold stars and pinch my sister.
Daddy’s rabbit pelts and pheasant breasts
teach me the secret glee of bad.

I earn gold stars and pinch my sister,
desire the scent of Brut and smoke, want
to be taught the secret glee of bad
by a boy whose eyes could size me up.

Desiring the scent of Brut and smoke,
the swagger, oh, of his lean body, I want
the boy whose eyes size me up,
his rough hands, wild hair, tight jeans.

Oh, the swagger of his lean body!
Engine thrumming, music blaring,
rough hands, wild hair, tight jeans.
I’ll take you to see Orion straddle the sky.

Engine thrumming, music blaring,
he takes me where Orion straddles the sky.
I say, I see the good in you. He laughs:
Good girls always fall for bad boys.

The Rushing Way I Went

As if each day were the same river
with variations—
one day tires, shingles,
a doll bobbing past,
the next, a heron, hunched
and studious on the bank.
I’d wake up, put in (yes,
I had then delusions of steering),
and set in motion this sequence:
make coffee, feed the kids,
get them to school on time,
on to my job, the turnpike commute,
yada yada yada.
Evenings, upwind, rewind.
Where were you?
In those short remaining hours,
your inevitable flights
took away the best parts of us.
All so long ago.
Now I wash dishes
to the tunes of smoky angels
and doves calling from the deep
down of their soft, gray breasts.

On Learning His Diagnosis 2

After September rains flies
cluster on the porch
like one still breath.

Tiny opportunists,
they zoom inside
in crushable husks,
settle on fresh-picked blackberries,
buzz lamps and windows.

Pitiless,
I vacuum up their no-account lives
as they cling to screens
in the last light they’ll ever know.
www.debrakaufman.info

NCWRITERS NETWORK MEMBER BOB GROVE WILL DO DRAMATIC READING OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL

2011-11-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

Bob Grove will have a dramatic reading of Dickens' Christmas Carol at 7 p.m. Wednesday, December 7, 2011, at the Folk School in Brasstown, NC. It will be followed by an 8:00 performance of the Folk School Morris, garland, and rapper sword dance teams. Free and open to the public.

POET OF THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER, 2011 MALAIKA KING ALBRECHT WITH THREE NEW POEMS

2011-11-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

Malaika King Albrecht is the Featured Poet of the month of Novemer, 2011. I first met Malaika in a NCWN Conferene Master Class, "Line Dancing" taught by Kathryn Stripling Byer. Malaika is a serious young poet with publications in magazines and anthologies to her credit. She is the author of a chapbook poetry collecitons and two recent full length collections. Congratulations to Maliaka King Alrecht in this her birth month. She one of our most shining stars out of North Carolina at this time.

If you like these poems, let me know and I will pass the word on to our poet of the month, or you can leave a comment for her yourself.
Thank you for reading. --Nancy Simpson

3 poems by Malaika King Albrecht upcoming from Press 53 book

How to Walk Right Through a Woman

I can’t remember the curse that made me

invisible. I only know that one day

he held my hand and then another,

my hand slipped through his like sand.

I stayed in the room, an empty vase

in the dark and not even moonlight could find me.

He may have sensed my presence

as he stepped around me and around me

packing his books, clothes, toothbrush.

By morning he could walk right through

as if I were an open window,

a door, the immaterial air.

Previously Published in Bay Leaves

On the Shore at Holden Beach

High tide reveals

in every beginning,

an end.

The sea asks, How strong

will you stand? Rises and falls

all around you.

No matter where

we die, we’re buried

at sea.

Once my daughter nearly drowned

blue lips and

the sound of waves

inside her chest.

Cut adrift,

we clung to a hospital bed

for three days until she

thrashed ashore-

said I want to go home.

II.

She finds a whole

sand dollar in the surf,

places it in my palm. Don’t

lose it, mommy. Squeeze tight.

I say No, it will break.

How to teach her

that a fist

is how life catches us

in the jar of our own desire

to hold, to count

what we think is ours.

I show her, Hold your hands

with the sand dollar

between your palms.

Like we’re praying, she says

walking gently back to shore.

published in Asheville Poetry Review

The Dusting

Every body wants. The tongue licks
that last hint of sugar from lips.

Fingers rub satin clean from the blanket’s edge.
The soles of our feet sink into earth until the air

carries the odor of crushed grass.
Everyone wants more. The eyes

of the dying are wide open. The mouths
of the dying are wide open. The nostrils. The ears.

The hearts incessant: More. More.
Listen. A dark song folds the night clouds

into a clap of thunder. I will die.
There will be nothing

left but a wisp of smoke rising
from my open mouth like a Satin moth

wheeling towards the slow turning-
a kiss of white wing dust on my lips.

Previously published in The Pedestal

Malaika King Ablrecht's newest book Spill was also published by Main Street Rag. Her poems have been published in many literary magazines and anthologies and have recently won awards at the North Carolina Poetry Council, Salem College and Press 53. She’s the founding editor of Redheaded Stepchild, an online magazine that only accepts poems that have been rejected elsewhere. She lives in Pinehurst, N.C. with her family and is a therapeutic riding instructor.

Book can be ordered here http://www.mainstreetrag.com/MKAlbrecht_2.html

COMING SOON - SUNRISE FROM BLUE THUNDER - Pirene’s Fountain Japan Anthology

2011-11-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

Poems forthcoming from Nancy Simpson, Maren O. Mitchell, Karen Paul Holmes,

and Janice Townley Moore. Information will be made available as soon as the book is in print.

Edior: Ami Kaye

Katherine Herchler

Book Cover by Tracy McQueen

How to buy a copy: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/sunrise-from-blue-thunder/18777045

AFTERWARD - NCWN FALL CONFERENCE

2011-11-22T18:12:00.000-08:00

WHEN WORDS ARE ALL WE HAVE

It was a huge success. That's what I heard. The NC Writers Network Fall Conference in Asheville last weekend had more writers attending than ever before. I met people from as far away as Wilmington and Durham, yet I saw only one of my old NCWN friends from the east. That, I'm sorry to say only reinforced my belief which is: "They do not look west." NCWN certainly did all in their power to "educate" and to point out the misconception that many have of the mountain people. I counted 200 seats filled with listeners who heard truth personified when Silas House spoke. (photo)

I'll always remember this NCWN conference as the best opportunity I've been given in years as a poet and instructor to "pass it on." My poetry writing workshop was well attended. I am certain that some poems written in my workshop will be published and will be read by some of you readers of literature in the future. I wish I had some of those poems to post for proof right now, proof that I was there and it did happen. I wish I had one good photo, proof it did occur. At this point, it seems more like I dreamed it all.

Want to read article by Jon Elliton from MOUNTAIN XPRESS? click

http://www.mountainx.com/article/37694/.Ts49egUeFmF.blogger

NC WRITRS NETWORK FALL WRITING CONFERENCE IN ASHEVILLE

2011-11-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

AS PART OF THE REGULAR PROGRAM OF WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS, THERE WILL BE A READING BY THE FACULTY.

Saturday, November 19, 5:00-6:00 pm
The DoubleTree Hotel Asheville-Biltmore, 115 Hendersonville Rd., Asheville
The North Carolina Writers' Network 2011 Fall Conference will present the following faculty readings: Anthony Abbott, Ellyn Bache, Danny Bernstein, Stacy Hope Jones, Vicki Lane, Rob Neufeld, Heather Newton, Scott Owens, Randy Russell, Nancy Simpson, and Katherine Soniat.

CELEBRATING POET OF THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2011 MALAIKA KING ALBRECHT

2011-11-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE celebrates Malaika King Albrecht as Poet of The Month in this her birth month.

Malaika King Albrecht’s chapbook Lessons in Forgetting was published by Main Street Rag and was a finalist in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and received honorable mention in the Brockman Campbell Award. Her newest book Spill was also published by Main Street Rag.

Her poems have been published in many literary magazines and anthologies and have recently won awards at the North Carolina Poetry Council, Salem College and Press 53.
She lives in Pinehurst, N.C. with her family and is a therapeutic riding instructor.

3 poems from Lessons in Forgetting
Published in Fieralingue

Book can be ordered here
http://www.mainstreetrag.com/MAlbrecht.html

My Father Teaching my Eldest Daughter

Fill the basin with about three inches

of warm water and add a dash of baby oil.

Begin with her eyes. With a cotton ball,

start at the inside corner of one eye

and wipe outward. Do this to both eyes,
and then gently wash the rest of her face.

Make sure to get behind her ears,
drool and spit-up tend to collect back there.

He stops talking. My daughter’s hands caress
my mother’s forehead, which relaxes.

Mom opens her eyes and looks at them.
Her wet face beautiful in my daughter’s hands.

The Riddle Song

Grocery bags in my arms,

I hip the front door open

and hear my father singing

to my mother,

I gave my love a cherry

that had no stone.

He stretches out her right leg

and then slowly rotates it in circles.

She hasn’t walked in three years
or gotten out of bed in two.
I gave my love a baby
with no crying.
Her legs resist, the muscles
tight as fists. He massages
the leg nearly straight, moves
to the next one still singing.
A baby when it's sleeping
it's not crying.
The story of how I love you
it has no end.

Of course I’m crying
in the kitchen doorway.
I can’t see her eyes from here,
but I’m hoping that their open
that she’s awake
looking directly into his eyes.
He moves to her left arm,
tucked beside her body
like a broken wing,
and gently spreads it out.

published in Wild Goose Review

How to Stay Afloat

This morning, he’s gone when we wake up.
Amani says, Where’s Pop Pop?
Did he go to get biscuits?
I walk outside, and his car’s there,
and in the driveway,
the empty canoe stand.
He’s been threatening
to lug that old dugout canoe
into Cat Point Creek and paddle
to the small island in Menokin Bay.

On the pier I stand in the morning fog
and cold drizzle and scan the water
for movement. Nothing.
Then I hear him whistling a song.
I step to the edge of the dock
and see him. Floating with the outgoing tide
towards home, he’s kneeling
in the canoe, bailing with a kitchen pot.
On all sides, water breaches
the canoe gunnels. He sees me
and yells, See. She still floats.

published in Lessons in Forgetting Book

THE CLASS, "WRITE YOUR POEMS IN FREE VERSE FORM," AFTER 8 WEEKS ON TUESDAY AFTERNOONS WITH INSTRUCTOR NANCY SIMPSON, ENDED NOV. 8TH.

2011-11-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

Institute For Continuing Learning at Young Harris College.

Nancy,

I hope you are so proud of the Free Verse class. You did a super job of organizing and presenting one type a week with clear examples, and then we had time to respond with our own writing.

The submitting information was very good. I think I submitted more poems in the last few weeks than in the last few years. The way you sent us submission and contest information at the beginning, and then ended with more ambitious projects was perfect.

The opportunity for having two poems critiqued each week, one for whole class, one for you and another poet, was not only very helpful, but also stimulated me to write more than one a week. Great technique.

Mary and I on the way home (we had to rush, she had a client waiting) both talked about the growth we thought we saw, and how much better the last poems were. Wasn't Mary's good about her mother? And the other Mary's poem was excellent. Having two versions of Janet's poem to discuss was very interesting, too. I've only been to a limited number of writing
classes up here, but this was by far the best. --Peg Russell

(Photo above )Janet Bentley, Joan Howard, Clarence Drummond, and (front) class supervisor Ann Cahill.

Peg,

Yes, I am proud of this class. Your appreciation message means more to me than you realize. During the past 8 weeks, with such a large class, with some beginners and more advanced poets preparing chapbook and full length book manuscripts, my teacher-training provided back-up when I needed it the most. I still believe in "The Teachable Moment." We had a few of those during our 8 weeks together, thanks to the practicing poets in the class who generously shared their knowledge. I saw each class member advance their understanding of poetry week by week. There were many fine poems shared. I expect to see some of those poems in print in the months to come.
-- Nancy Simpson

Carol Richard Thompson, Jo Carolyn Beebe, Del Delcuze, Mary Ricketson, Peg Russell

and Mary Anderson.

SUNSET ON 11-11-11 AND MOONSET ON 11-12-11

2011-11-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER DAYS IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS 2011

2011-11-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

WINDOW OPEN TO THE VALLEY.

THE LAST GLORIOSA DAISY IN MY GARDEN.

LEAVES, LEAVES, LEAVES.

Nancy Simpson Will Teach POETRY WRITING HERE AND NOW at the NC Writers Network Fall Conference in Asheville Nov. 19th. Register now.

2011-11-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

"Start packing your bags, books and poems. Come join us in Asheville." --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 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.

POETRY WRITIG WORKSHOP

Poetry Writing Here and Now with Nancy Simpson
Poets of today have many choices and much freedom, but it is a misconception to think that as practicing poets we can write with a total abandon of rules. Yes, Free Verse breaks with traditional forms and rhyme is shunned. This workshop will cover and promote a list of specific guidelines that – although not rules – can greatly advance your poetry and make it more publishable. Where to break the line, and how to make your poems sing with sound, will be discussed. We will also talk about how to connect with the reader on a sensory level, on an emotional level, and on an intellectual level. We’ll consider specific free verse forms, especially the lyric poem, and we’ll write one in this workshop.

BOOKS OF POETRY FLY OFF THE PRESSES AND ARE SELLING IN AMERICA Since Thomas Transtromer Was Named 2011 NOBEL POETRY WINNER.

2011-11-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ecco to reissue two volumes of Nobel winner Tranströmer’s poetry

October 07, 2011

By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

Nothing like the Nobel Prize for Literature to boast a poet’s reputation — and readership.A day after Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer was awarded the 2011 prize, one of his American publishers, Ecco, a division of HarperCollins, announced it’s reissuing two volumes of his poetry: For The Living and the Dead: A Memoir and Poems, and Selected Poems, edited by Robert Hass.

Both titles will be reissued in paperback next week, with e-books to follow.

Tranströmer’s other English translations include The Sorrow Gondola (published by Green Integer), The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems (New Directions), and The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer (Graywolf).

Tranströmer suffered a stroke two decades ago, which affected his ability to speak, though he has continued to write.

Ecco Publisher Daniel Halpern, who first published Tranströmer in 1987, said in a statement, “So much poetry, not only in this country but everywhere, too often feels small and exclusively confessional – it doesn’t look outward, it looks back at itself. But there are some poets who write a true international poetry and Tomas is among them. It’s his particular sensibility that runs through the poems that’s so deeply seductive. What a wonderful writer he is – lyrical and open, curious and intelligent.”

Hass, a former U.S. poet laureate who edited Tranströmer’s Selected Poems, writes of him, “Perhaps more than any other living poet, Tranströmer conveys a sense of what it is to be a private citizen anywhere in the second half of the twentieth century.”

After Nobel Prize, the Race to Publish More Tomas Tranströmer

OCTOBER 15, 2011 BY STEVEN FORD BROWN LEAVE A COMMENT

By Emily Witt 10/10 3:34pm

When Barbara Epler received the news last week that Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer had won the Nobel Prize for literature, she had one reaction: “I said, ‘Call the printers!’” she recalled.

Ms. Epler is the president of New Directions, publisher of Mr. Tranströmer’s The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems, an anthology translated by the Scottish poet Robin Fulton. For New Directions, Mr. Tranströmer’s win was big news — by Friday its book was ranked #12 on Amazon, a rarity for the independent publisher, which is known for its commitment to publishing difficult poetry and literature in translation.

“For a poetry book to be number 12 that just kills me,” said Ms. Epler, adding that while Mr. Tranströmer “sells perfectly well in our terms” the spike in sales last week was positively “stratospheric.” In response, New Directions quickly arranged to have an additional 1,500 copies of The Great Enigma printed for shipment by tomorrow, forcing its short run publisher to work through the Columbus Day holiday. Another 8,000 copies will follow in a few weeks.

In Minneapolis, Graywolf Press, the independent publisher of The Half-finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer, selected and translated by the poet Robert Bly, celebrated the award with scones and muffins. Then they went to work. “We were all pretty busy actually,” said Graywolf publicity director Erin Kottke. “We didn’t have time to really revel in it because we were scrambling to figure out what the next step was.” Graywolf’s reprint is now also underway: 10,000 copies with a Nobel Prize sticker on the cover for release in three weeks and a planned second printing with an amended cover to follow.

Thomas Transtromer . Net click below

http://tomastranstromer.net/

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE (BLOG) Celebrated Its 3rd Anniversary on Oct. 26, 2011.

2011-10-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

“Living Above the Frost Line is a dwelling place for practicing poets. Here we give ourselves some extra time. Yes, we know the hard freeze will come, but until it arrives, we shall grow and share our poems.”

The Focus of this blog is Poetry Writing, Southern and Appalachian Poets, and Living in the Southern Appalachian Mountains in this day and time.

We’re sunrise watchers, moonrise watchers, sunset and moonset watchers. We’re obsessed with flowers and especially enjoy a full sun perennial garden growing on a mountain in the middle of a deciduous forest. The goal here always has been to see something blooming, even in the dead of winter, and that is sometimes possible.

There is great joy seeing the forest with a full range of color at leaf peak and at the same moment to see flowers still blooming.

STACKING STONES - DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE in the Southern Appalachian Mountains)

2011-10-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

True, this is the year (2011) I found myself many times walking along the banks of the Hiwassee River, in one place or another, in Hiawassee, Georgia, at several spots in Hayesville, NC and even down behind the old rock gym in Murphy, NC. I hitched a ride with anyone who would take me there.

(With Tim at Quanasee)

My favorite spot at the moment is near the old Quanesee Indian Mound at Hayesville. It was once a thriving Cherokee Village on a major trading route in the 1700s known as The Unicoi Turnpike.

Recently we found rocks stacked alongside the river. I do not know who put them there. I remember hearing stories how the Cherokee in Oklahoma often come to this area hunting their old ancesteral grounds.When I first saw the rocks, my guess was that a returning Native American stacked them.

Jeremy reminded me stacking rocks together is what friends do in Switzerland. And I remembered the Bible scripture that says "There is a time to gather stones together,"-- a symbol of unity at a marriage

in ancient days.

At the river with neighbor, Ruth. And another neighbor and exercise buddy Cheryl called me this past weekend and told me she had walked down by the river, and she described the stacked rocks. She said she also took some good photos of the rocks.

The Hiwassee as it flows through Hayesville, NC.

This photo taken in September on the Hiawassee River below Chatuge Dam, Hayesville (with Lynn.)

Walking with Tim's friend, Kathy.

Deep in the Southern Appalachian Mountains - NCWN West Writers Celebrates Twenty Years of their professional writing organization known as NC Writers Network West.

2011-10-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

Imagine - Twenty years for us "unknown" writers of the NC State. Twenty years later, we are still about the business of writing. If anything true can be said, it is this. We consistently celebrate writing. Against all odds, our writers are still here, still writing, still publishing, never winning of course, but that could change. I overheared a conversation between two poets who were agreeing, a composit of their statements: "I'd rather see a review of my book in Prairie Schooner than to be a finalist in the I NEVER HEARD OF IT contest."

On the shores of Lake Chatuge, near Hayesville, North Carolina on Sunday October 16, 2011

Rosemary Royston, Program Coordinator

Rosemary Royston and Susan Anderson

Shirley Uphouse, former Program Coordinator

Invited Guest, visiting the area, Poet and Publisher Scott Owens

Poet Carole Richard Thompson ( NCWN West's Georgia Representative) and her husband, Norm

Poet Brenda Kay Ledford, Judy and Bob Grove

Left to right - Janet Bentley, Linda Smith, Joan Howard,

Brenda Kay Ledford, Nancy Simpson

Linda M. Smith

Karen Paul Holmes and Maren O.Mitchell

Visitor, Janet Bentley, Peg Russell, Janice Moore

LEAF PEAK IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

2011-10-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Leaves in full color and flowers in full bloom.

CALLING ALL POETS - Plan to Head Out for Asheville For the BIG Fall Writing Conference

2011-10-11T06:44:00.000-07:00

The Cherokees believed that the spot where Asheville now sits was a center of spiritual and creative energy.

Plenty of modern-day Ashevillians will tell you that it still is.

If you are a poet, and want to absorb a little of that energy while receiving top-flight instruction in the craft, then come be a part of the Network’s 2011 Fall Conference, November 18 – 20 at Asheville’s DoubleTree Hotel.

October 11, 2011

(Photo taken when NCWN's Fall Conferene was previously held in Asheville) Anthony Abbott, one of North Carolina’s most beloved poets and teachers, will lead this year’s Master Class in Poetry, “Memorization, Recitation, and the Art of Poetry.” “We cannot fully understand a poem by simply ‘studying’ it academically, nor can we bring own poems to completion without reciting them aloud to ourselves and others,” Abbott said. “So we will explore the process of oral recital and memorization and the movement from memorization to public performance, and look at what we learn about the poem itself from that process.” Space in the Master Class is limited, so register now.

Other poetry workshops include “Poetry, Archetypal Imagery, and You” with Katherine Soniat; “Writing Momentously” with Scott Owens; “Poetry Writing Here and Now” with Nancy Simpson; “The Power of Poetry” with Keith Flynn; and “Prose Poetry, Point of View, and Personal Archive” with Holly Iglesias.

The Fall Conference also offers you a chance to sit down for half an hour, one-on-one, with a publishing professional. If you have a rough draft you need to hone, sign up for the Critique Service with Rosemary Royston or one of our other experienced critiquers. If you want your work to find a wider readership, the Marketing Mart will help you craft an effective marketing plan.

Of course, all the above could simply provide you with a convenient excuse to visit Asheville in the fall.

Starting this year, the Network will offer Mary Belle Campbell Scholarships to poets who teach full-time. Please contact Ed Southern at ed@ncwriters.org if you want to apply.

October 19 is the deadline to reserve a room at either the DoubleTree or the adjacent Sleep Inn at a reduced conference rate. Be sure to mention the North Carolina Writers’ Network if you make your reservation by phone at 828-274-1800 (DoubleTree) or 828-277-1800 (Sleep Inn); or visit this site to book a room at the DoubleTree.

October 31 is the deadline to sign up for the Master Class, Manuscript Mart, Critique Service, or Marketing Mart, but these offerings fill up fast.

November 11 is the deadline to register for the conference itself. Visit www.ncwriters.org or call 336.293.8844 to register now, or to ask any questions you may have.

We look forward to seeing you in Asheville.

NCWN

LEAVES AT PEAK WITH WRITERS PICNICING ON LAKE CHATUGE

2011-10-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

CELEBRATE LEAF PEAK AND POETRY on the same Sunday when NC Writers Network WEST gathers writers for their 20th Annual Picnic

On the shores of Lake Chatuge, Clay County Recreation Park in Hayesville, NC

On October 16, 2011, 2 pm, NCWN-West or Netwest will celebrate its 20^th anniversary. All members and anyone interested in Writing or interested in learning more about NC Writers Network West are invited. You do not have to be a member to attend. The picnic will be in Hayesville, NC, at “Leaf Peak” at the Clay County Recreation Park (pavilion by the water).

All those attending should bring a covered dish, chair, and drink (plates, napkins, and silverware will be provided).

SPECIAL GUEST POET SCOTT OWENS

The meal will be followed by brief remarks from Program Coordinator Rosemary Royston, a reading from Guest Poet, Editor and Publisher Scott Owens, and then an open mike.

Readings for the open mike session should consist of ONE PAGE of prose or two short poems per person. Time limit is 2.5 minutes. In order to accommodate as many readers as possible, please time your piece before reading.

Members can sell their books on the book table.

This is a golden opportunity to meet area writers and also a chance for you to come and read a sample of your writing.

OPEN MIC IS open to all writers, even non members.

OCCUPY WALL STREET - STAY AWAY FROM INGLES

2011-10-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Occupy Wall Street is the new movement, that today on MEET THE PRESS and other t.v. programs was said to be “Peaceful, Quiet.” About all that was heard was the chant: “ They got bailed out! We got sold out,” which implies something is not fair. ” Americans are eager to see our economy restored. Americans expect fairness, for it is one of our most enduring values.

Here in the deep south, Southern Appalachian Mountains, I am as isolated as ever from what is happening or failing to happen in my country. If I could go, if I could join the march, I would. Like other Americans, I feel thwarted at ever turn. I am trying to understand the failure of elected politicians to do their job, to bring our economy back and to fix our broken government. I understand the problem is not the fault of President Obama.

Everyone can do something. At this time in my life, I cannot occupy Wall Street, but I can add my voice. I can say, “Occupy Wall Street, but stay away from Ingles.” I advise you to do what you can to bring the price of groceries down.

President Bush, as he left office, said that if Wall Street was not quickly “bailed out”, we would have an economic depression. Having myself been born during in the “Great Depression,” I grew through the years of my life, dreading that an economic depression might return. My father drilled me. He made sure every member of our family knew it would be horrible if it happened. My father said if a great depression came back again, the younger generations, being spoiled, would simply go insane. Gone now, he is no longer having to worry about that. I do wish I could tell him that it is actually the younger generation that stepped forth to protest on Wall Street this week.

During three years under the present administration, when things did not get better as quickly as I hoped it would, here in the mountains where I live which operates not under a recession but under a depressed economy, I keep thinking of my father’s words. I believed the price of everything would come down, but no. Look around. Nothing has come down in price. Everything has gone up, up and keeps going up.

I remember a few years ago when the gas prices first began rising. The only store in my town, Ingles, was ready, as if they knew it was coming. They introduced us to our little “Advantage” cards. At that identical moment, they raised the price on every item in their store. They gouged and have relentlessly continued to raise prices.

Each week I study the Ingles Sales Sheet before making my shopping list. This week Ingles offers Campbell's Soup, (which has enough salt to kill me) on sale 10 for $6.00. Campbell's soup used to be 5 for $1.00. This week you can get Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker Cake mix 4 for $6.00. This time last year these cake mixes were 89 cents a box. I remember making several apple-walnut cakes for my family last Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now Ingles want us to buy 4 boxes at a time, and wants us to pay more while we do that. We’ve celebrated a birthday in the family and needed ice cream too. 1/2 gallon carton is on sale this week for $3.98. Imagine, almost $8.00 for a gallon of ice cream.

There is no fruit in the store under $1.00 a pound. If you want to eat healthy, you pay $6.00 a pound for fresh salmon. You can get canned Chef Boyardee spaghetti with meat balls or Ravoli or Armor Chili - 10 cans for $10.00. Something we can afford, but read the labels carefully, check the protein content, and avoid High Fructose Corn syrup, an engineered chemical. It is not natural fruit fructose. It is not the corn syrup your mother put in your baby formula. HFCS has been taken from store shelves throughout America, but it appears, as has been long customary, they ship their rejects to Appalachia. They think we cannot read.

Will staying away from Ingles change anything? I do not know, but I will be watching to see if food prices everywhere begin to return to a fair price, especially the price of bread and milk and the foods needed to feed a family. If prices do not come down, America will crash in a great depression. Then all prices will come down.

Comments? How many mouths do you have to feed? Where are the best prices for food, fruit, eggs, bread, milk? Where are the best prices for paper products? Do you use discarded tee shirts for rags? Did you grow a garden? Did you can or freeze for winter?

SOMETHING MAGICAL IS HAPPENING HERE Above the Frost Line

2011-10-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

Google will not let me up load to my blog from i Photo.

2011-10-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

FULL HARVEST MOON COMING OCT.12TH, TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR YOU

2011-10-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

On the banks of the Hiwassee River.

LEAF LOOKERS. IT'S TIME.

2011-10-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

Leaf Peak is just days away, maybe ten days away, beautiful now, and getting to be knock-your-eyes-out gorgeous.

It’s time to make the plan, time to fill the gas tank of the car, and grab the camera, grab the baby. Everyone goes.

My viewpoint is the Southern Appalachian Mountains in the far western North Carolina mountains near Murphy, Hayesville, Franklin and on toward Sylva, Waynesville, and Asheville. Drive east or dive west. It honestly does not matter. On October 7th, the foliage is mostly green,but one has to say, "The leaves are changing before our eyes."

Today, it is a beautiful drive from Hayesville toward Franklin. Other out of the way rides will be magical in the weeks to come.

Someone came to my house yesterday and said, “It’s just not all that pretty this year.” How can anyone say that? If not this ridge, look yonder to that ridge. You cannot miss it if you open your eyes.

(Below. See photos taken Oct.6th on my property and throughout the region.)

And please do not think you have missed it if there is a reason you cannot drive forth now. From now until the 7th of November, you will see beautifully colored leaves. Even beyond "peak" you will an amazing ridge here and a brilliant ridge there.

Visitors to Western North Carolina’s mountains can look forward to a vibrant display of color this autumn, predicts Kathy Gould Mathews, Western Carolina University’s fearless fall foliage forecaster.

Graveyard Fields

Grandfather Mountain

THOMAS TRANSTROMER, Sweedish Poet, WINS NOBEL LAUREATE IN LITERATURE

2011-10-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

Thomas Transtromer was a strong, younger man when I heard him read in Savannah, Georgia

27 years ago. I remember he nearly brought the walls down with applause, but then that is how they do it at the annual A.W.P. Conference. They clap and clap and clap until their hands fall off. He was that good, and I still have my hands to cheer him yet again. --Nancy Simpson

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/swedish-poet-wins-nobel-prize-for-literature/2011/10/06/gIQA87TwQL_story.html

http://tomastranstromer.net/

NC Writers Network West - a Professional Writing Organization Now 20 Years Old

2011-10-04T15:59:00.000-07:00

We've been Writing and Picknicking annually for 20 years. Come join us.

NC Writers Network WEST
Celebrates 20 Years at Annual Picnic

All those attending should bring a covered dish, chair, and drink (plates, napkins, and silverware will be provided).

The meal will be followed by brief remarks from Program Coordinator Rosemary Royston, a reading from Scott Owens, and then an open mike.

This is a golden opportunity to meet area writers and also a chance for you to come and read a sample of your writing.

THE ANTHOLOGY, ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE FLEW OFF THE BOOK TABLE INTO HANDS OF READERS at the Indian Summer Festival in SUCHES, GEORGIA, According to a Report From NCWN West Georgia Representative Carole Richard Thompson.

2011-10-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hello, Everyone: Thanks to each of you for your great help this weekend at the Festival in Suches. Norm and I could not have done it without you. It may not be a record, but we did sell 9 Echoes on Saturday, which was like a sunny blizzard, if you can understand what that means, and on Sunday, which was a little warmer, but still windy, we actually sold 5 more, totalling 14, which adds up to $196 at our Festival Reduction Price of $14. I just sent the money off to Newt Smith with a little note. I told him if I won the Lotto, I'd buy a very sturdy tent for Netwest to use at Festivals, because just being there can be so much fun.

Despite the cold and wind, Norm and I got the biggest kick out of looking at people and their kids and dogs going by, tents turning over, especially when, on Sunday, the nice guy selling lemonade caught the brunt of a mini tornado and his umbrella, stuck in the ground to add ambiance, pulled out of the ground and flew over to my tent, the steel pole side-glancing my head. This, after just hearing on TV that one should be very careful to protect one's head, as studies have now shown that it might be a factor in onset of Alzheimer's somewhere along the line. He had just brought me over lemonade that morning to show his appreciation to me for bandaging up his finger, which was cut somehow Saturday when his tent blew over the first time. I had, also, along with several other people, set about picking up several dozens of his scattered lemons.

One of our poets, Judy Burch, was there with her husband, serving up lots of delicious barbeque to the hungry crowd. Judy said it was a bit colder and windier than usual, but, some years it was just perfect. Judy's farm was just over the hill, so she should know.They do have perfect fried pies, hot off the fire, and undescribably delicious funnel cakes. (Well, Robert and Norm minded the store and let Maren and me walk around some. Maren found a basket that we both wanted, but that will have to wait til another day and another Indian Summer Festival in Suches.

Kudos to the fine folks who live there and work hard every year to raise money for their brave little Woody Gap School, which turns out some some fine High School graduates every year. Union County is very proud of Woody Gap School, located in Suches, elv. about 3,400 ft in a beautiful "Valley Above the Clouds." Suches is the only town in Union County, other than Blairsville.

Thanks for hanging in there with this long email. I just enjoyed the whole experience so much. Love, Carole Thompson

Carole Richard Thompson will be featured at COFFEE WITH THE POETS ON OCTOBER 12, 2011 in Hayesville, NC

2011-10-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Carole Richard Thompson will Read Wednesday at Coffee with the Poets

Carole Thompson, writer and poet, Netwest Rep for GA

Coffee with the Poets and Writers meets Wednesday, October 12, 10:30 a.m. at Café Touché in Hayesville, NC. Featured this month is poet and writer, Carole Richard Thompson.
Twenty-one years ago Carole and her husband moved to Blairsville, in the North Georgia mountains. After many years as a portrait painter, she began to study writing, and joined the North Carolina Writers' Network. She credits her love for writing to her friend and mentor, Nancy Simpson, whose classes in creative writing and poetry have been her greatest source of inspiration.

Her first short story, "A Bag of Sugar for Paula," was published in The Liquorian Magazine, and also the anthology, Christmas Presence, published by Catawba Press. Her story, "The Uniform" appeared in the anthology, Clotheslines, published by Catawba Press.

Carole's poems have been anthologized in A Sense of Place, published by Southeast Writers Association, Echoes across the Blue Ridge, published by Winding Path Publishing and Women's Places, Women's Spaces by Stone Ivy Press. Poems, "The Party's Over," and "36 Hours" were published in Wild Goose Poetry Review.

The public is invited to come and meet Carole, and read their original poems or short prose at open mike.

Café Touche, 82 Main Street, serves the best coffee in town and no one wants to leave without having a delicious muffin.

Contact Glenda Beall 828-389-4441 for information.

This event is free and is sponsored by NCWN West also known as Netwest, a chapter of the North Carolina Writers' Network.

N.C. POETRY COUNCIL HONORS POET NANCY SIMPSON - OCTOBER 1, 2011 HELD AT CATAWBA COLLEGE IN SALISBURY

2011-10-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

President of NC Poetry Council, Ed Cockrell, welcomed all. NC Poetry Council is most noted for it's dedication to promoting poetry and giving opportunities to the young poets of the region.

Vice President Scott Owens Presented BAY LEAVES 2011 and announced the dedication to N.C. Poet Nancy Simpson in recognition for her long service to poetry, for cofounding NCWN West and for editing ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIEGE, Stories, Essays, and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

He also recognized poet Nancy Simpson for Honorable Mention for

her own poetry, LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (2011, Carolina Wren Press) from which she read poems.

LINES FROM LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE:

"Cleome still blooms but time is running out."

"In My garden, Knock Out Roses still bloom their hearts out."

Attending from Hayesville, NC, poet Linda Smith.

Also attending, serving as a mentor to the young, and winning first place for Light Verse with his own poem was NCWN West member Michael Beadle

of Canton, North Carolina.

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

2011-09-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 24,2011 100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE

2011-09-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

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.