THE BEST OF OUR AUGUST 2016 Perennial Garden in the middle of a Deciduous Forest

Welcome to our full sun perennial garden, situated on a mountain in the middle of a deciduous forest.  August, 2016 has been bright in colors of red, purple, gold and other vivid shades: Red Salvia with Dusty Miller, Gloriosa Daisies, False Sunflowers,  Purple Coneflowers and wild asters.

 

  

Butterflies on Queen of the Meadow, also Crepe Myrtle with Butterfly Bush and Purple Cone Flower.

"Grow Flowers...That is what I do on Cherry Mountain when not growing poems."
 --     Nancy Simpson

CELEBRATING NATIONAL POETRY MONTH AND CELEBRATING SPRING

On April 20, 2016 Nancy Simpson and other poets celebrated National Poetry Month at Coffee with the Poets, Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville (sponsored by NC Writers Network West.)
Brenda Kay Ledford was also a featured poet. Both poets read springtime poems.This program was started by Glenda Beall during her tenure as Program Coordinator.(Photos taken by Lynn Hamilton Rutherford.)

POETS AND WRITERS READING POEMS AND STORIES

Deep in the Southern Appalachian Mountains on the evening of March 16, 2016, NCWN West poets and writers gathered at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown,NC for their monthly public reading. Featured writers were poet Glenda Barrett of Hiawassee, Georgia  and fiction writer Bob Groves of Brasstown.  Others attending were the school students, especially those taking a weekly writing course and other classes, along with a number of local writers who often visit the school. Lucy Cole Gratton is the NCWN West Coordinator for this event. A highlight of the evening was seeing and visiting with our long time writing friend Darnell Arnoult, the visiting writing instructor. 

Glenda Barrett

John C. Campbell Folk School located in Brasstown, NC

Poet and Author Maren O Mitchell and Nancy Simpson below.

Poet Joan Howard

Poet and Fiction author, Darnell Arnoult

SPRING ARRIVES IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

Twenty four forsythia bushes are blooming around my home. These bushes are filled with tiny bell shaped flowers. Natives often say, " my yellow bells are in full bloom." They are a welcome sight, one of the first flowers to bloom in spring. Daffodils also bloom at the same time. 

POETS GATHER IN THE SMALL TOWN OF HAYESVILLE, NC

On June 10, 2015, poets from  Hayesville and Murphy, NC and poets from the north Georgia Mountains met at JOE's for their monthly gathering of COFFEE WITH THE POETS.  This monthly event is sponsored by North Carolina Writers' Network West, a 23 year old professional writing organization.

Each month a poet is featured. For June two practicing, published poets read their poems: Mary Ricketson of Cherokee County and Joan Gage of Clay County.

Mary Ricketson (left)is the author of two poetry collections: I Heard the River Call My Name ( Finishing Line Press) and Hanging Dog Creek ( FutureCycle Press).

Joan Ellen Gage (right) is the author of three collections: Embracing You Inner Cheerleader, Water Running Downhill and new off the press, A Redhead looks at Sixty.

"Personally, I would add that this was one

of the best poetry readings I've been

attended in quite a while,  with a wide 

range of topics, some most serious 

and most crushing, and others filled with 

joy and humor so that listeners shed a tear 

or two and  then later laughed until our 

tummies hurt. When it was over, each of us 

knew again what it is like to feel fully human."

--Nancy Simpson

And there was a surprise visit from 

Hayesville Mayor Harry Baughn. 

Coffee With the Poets was founded by Glenda Beall during her tenure as NCWN West Program Coordinator. Contact her for more information about
writing  events in the western NC mountains.http://www.ncwriters-west.org/

Celebration of NATIONAL POETRY MONTH Held in Hayesville, NC

Coffee With The Poets, a program of NC Writers Network West celebratedNational Poetry Month with two featured readers, Glenda Barrett of Hiawassee, Georgia and Nancy  Simpson of Hayesville, NC on April 8, 2015. The event was held at Joe's Coffee Shop in Hayesville.

What a fun time. Thanks to all who where there.

Glenda Barrett, Glenda Beall, Carole Thompson, Bob Grove

NCWN West members and fellow poets

All living within driving distance are welcome to join NCWN West. 
http://www.ncwriters-west.org/ Serving writers in the western Carolina mountains. We are a 24 year old program of the statewide NCWN. 

CALL FOR HALLOWEEN POEMS AND SHORT STORIES

CONGLAVE: A JOURNAL OF CHARACTER is open for submissions for Issue 8 - Autumn, 2014 death, candy, costumes, leaves, pumpkins, ghosts, whatever halloween means to you. Conclave is a bi-annual print journal that focuses on character-driven.

FOR GUIDELINES CLICK 

http://www.conclavejournal.com/submissions/submissions.html

NC WRITERS NETWORK WEST 'S WRITING CONFERENCE MAY 10, 2014

NC Writers Network West's Writing Conference in  Sylva, NC on May 10th turned out to be the most fulfilling writing event of year 2014 for me. Best of all was seeing and visiting with long-time, treasured writing friends.  It was indeed restorative for me to spend time with my writing friends and to share with fellow poets some of the secrets of how we can build a readership for our poetry. It was a joy for me to share discussion time with Kathryn Stripling Byer. A family member remarked at how I came home with a spring in my step.

Kathryn Stripling Byer, NC Poet Laureate Emertia

For a long time, NCWN West has hoped to establish an annual writing conference and that goal was approved two years ago by NCWN Executive Director Ed Southern. NCWN West Program Director Ellen Schofield coordinated this event with the help of Kathryn Stripling Byer and Newton Smith, Jackson County's Netwest Representatives who hosted the event held at the historic  Jackson  County Courthouse Complex and also with the help of former Program Director Glenda Beall, Gay Moring, J C Walkup, Linda M. Smith,  Joan Howard and Lana Hendershott.

Kathryn Stripling Byer, NC Poet Laureate Emertia and NC Writers Network West Program Coordinator Ellen Schofield

JC Walkup, long time  NCWN member from Haywood County, author of new novel Partners and  William Everett, author of seven books and many articles  in English and German on ethical issues in Religion and Society, who taught ethics many years in theological seminaries and graduate schools.

Poet and long time member of NCWN West Dr. Gene Hirsch and his wife Ginny, residents of Pittsburg, PA and Cherokee County North Carolina. Gene Hirsch joined Netwest only two years after it began and he established NCWN West's  first monthly critique group for both poets and writers that still continues to meet monthly 21 years later. 

It is true I did return home with a spring in my step and with deep appreciation in my heart  for all of those who worked to coordinate such a day of inspiration

for our writers. Some of the  mountain writers do sometimes feel we are far from the writing centers of our country, even far from the writing centers of our our own state.  NCWN West has worked hard to promote writing and to serve our writers for over 23 years now. 

I want to assure you, I also returned home with a deep feeling that I too was appreciated, carrying in my arms an exotic multi-blooming purple orchid, which was presented to me as ( they said as founder of NCWN West). Those who know me know that I  always say and will always say "I am a co founder." I still deeply appreciate the guidance of then NCWN Executive Director Marsha Warren who defined the best of what NCWN West would become and  Debbie McGill then NC Arts Council Literary Director in Raleigh who organized our first meetings and ultimately got us mountain writer invited to the NCWN Fall Conference in 1991 and got us connected to NCWN. I honor Kathryn Stripling Byer as a cofounder because she signed and sent the first letter to invite the mountain writers to meet in Jackson County when Debbie McGill came out to the mountains to meet with us, and thus brought us all together for that first  meeting. How could I say no to "having dinner in Sylva with Debbie McGill when I had just received the NC Artist Fellowship for Poetry from her. I admit I did not know what I was getting myself into. Some months later, Kathryn and I were the  two members there in the room at the NCWN fall Conference when Marsha Warren and then President Anthony Abbott invited us to bring the mountain writers in as a special program under the umbrella of NCWN. This is the true account of how and when NCWN West began. Kathryn Stripling Byer has served as consultant to NCWN West from the beginning and served one year as Program Coordinator when our PC Glenda Beall had to resign during her husband's illness. That was a crucial year, as some of you remember well, because it was at the very time we were bringing our our second anthology --Echoes Across the Blue Ridge. It was the sale of that  anthology that now affords NCWN West the opportunity to hold regular writing events here in the far western NC mountains.  At the time Kathryn Stripling Byer served as P.C. she gave invaluable service in getting an introduction written by Robert Morgan and also got the best blurbs from renowned authors for the back book cover. Many times through the past 23 years I confessed and still say that I will never do much of anything related to poetry without first consulting with Kathryn Stripling Byer.

My orchid is the most beautiful flower I have ever seen. I am determined to keep it alive. If you have any inside knowledge of how to care for an orchid, please let me know as soon as possible.

Back home now, more than a week later,  I am still thinking about that very special day. I want to remind the poets who attended our discussion about  "Building a Readership for Your Poetry, " that my offer still stands to reprint some of your poems on this blog. Send 3-5 already published poems ( giving credit to the place it was first published) with your photo and a brief bio.
(nance@dnet.net) This is in keeping with the idea of getting your poems out there and keeping them out there in print, the old poems as well as the newly written ones.   Also, in the future, I am working to get this site revamped. I need more readers and more comments. In return, each week, I plan to give a listing of five open markets looking for poems. 

EDITOR TIMOTHY GREEN INVITES YOU TO SUBMIT POEMS

Timothy Green, Editor of Rattle in California is calling for your poems. Submit now. Details here.

Dear Nancy Simpson,

With our next tribute deadline fast approaching, I wanted to send everyone a quick reminder about upcoming publishing opportunities at Rattle.

While I’m at it, I’m also happy to announce that we’re now paying professional rates for every poem we publish: $50/each. So not only do we provide one of the largest audiences for poetry in the world, we also get to pay you—I hope we’ll always be one of the first places you send your best poems! We never solicit work directly from anyone, so we always rely on a high volume of quality submissions to make our issues special.

Anyway, here are the calls for submissions:

__________

Issue #45 – Poets of Faith – Deadline: April 15^th

Our fall issue will be dedicated to Poets of Faith—and by that we mean poets who are adherents to a specific religious faith tradition. In a slight revision to the guidelines, the poems themselves need not be about faith, so long as the poet qualifies. After reading an early batch of submissions, we realized that your spirituality will be embodied somehow in your poetry, even if that’s not what you’re writing about explicitly, and it’s much more interesting to explore the subtle ways that faith affects the work.

So if you consider yourself a Poet of Faith, see our guidelines page, but the gist is this: Send up to six poems on any subject and a note explaining why you qualify to submissions@rattle.com by April 15^th.

__________

Issue #47 – Japanese Forms – Deadline: October 15^th

Next spring we’ll be publishing an issue focused on Japanese forms: haiku, renga, tanka, haibun, etc. Nothing matters but the style of the poems, so that should be self-explanatory. Some of the forms are very short, so we’ll say up to six pages of poems, instead of the usual six poems.

__________

Issues #46, #48, #50, etc. – Open Poetry – Deadline: None

Don’t forget that every even issue (summer and winter) has no theme—we just want the best poems we can find, regardless of who wrote what, why, or how. So send us your best work, any time. We read year-round, reply in a month or two (or three, occasionally, I’m sorry), and always love to get a chance to see what you’ve been up to. Don’t hesitate to share.

__________

Our general guidelines are here: http://www.rattle.com/poetry/submissions/guidelines/  We’ve also finally added a Submittable option, if you prefer that system. But if you have any other questions or comments, feel free to ask me directly.

Best wishes,
Tim

P.S. If you’ve already sent work for the Poets of Faith tribute and haven’t heard back, please be patient; we’re focusing on getting caught up on submissions this week. And if you already sent some that we didn’t take, don’t hesitate to send others before the deadline. We’re very hard to please—I know it’s frustrating, but we have to be/get to be. But just because one set of poems didn’t work doesn’t mean the next won’t.

--
Timothy Green
Editor / Rattle
12411 Ventura Blvd / Studio City, CA 91604
tim@rattle.com / www.rattle.com
 

LINDA M. SMITH AND CAROLE RICHARD THOMPSON WILL READ POEMS AND STORIES

POETS AND WRITERS READING POEMS AND STORIES CO SPONSORED BY 

NC WRITERS NETWORK WEST and JOHN CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

              On Thursday, February 20, 2014, John Campbell Folk School and N.C. Writers Network West are sponsoring a reading of poetry. The reading is free of charge and open to the public.  Poets Linda Smith and Carole Richard Thompson will be the featured readers. 

Linda Smith, poet and writer, from Hayesville, NC is a long time member of NCWN West. She writes poetry inspired by the mountains that surround this area and from memories of things past.  She also writes essays and fiction. Linda is nearing completion of a mystery novel.  Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies such as Lights in the Mountains, Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, anthologies of NetWest, Mountain Time, Sand, Sea and Sail, the Freeing Jonah series, Night Whispers, Looking Back. and Future Cycle 2012.

Carole Richard Thompson

Carole Richard Thompson and her husband moved to Blairsville, in the North Georgia mountains, 21 years ago.  After being a portrait artist for many years, she began to study writing, and joined the North Carolina Writer’s 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 poem, “The House of Cards” appeared in A Sense of Place, an anthology published by Southeast Writers Assoc.  “The Party’s Over”  and “36 Hours” were published in Wild Goose Review ;  “Returning” appeared in the anthology  Echoes Across the Blue Ridge by Winding Path Publishing; “Tar Foot Morning” was recently published Women’s Spaces, Women’s Places,by Stone Ivy Press;  and “Season Change” was published in the  FutureCycle 2011 Flash Fiction Poetry anthology.  Carole’s first chapbook,  Enough,  appeared in February 2013, published by Future Cycle Press.  Carole is also a member of the Georgia Poetry Society

POETS AND WRITERS READING POEMS AND STORIES
co sponsored by NCWN West and John C Campbell Folk School

Contact:  Lucy Cole Gratton,  Cherokee Representative –NCWN West

828-494-2914

lgratton@hughes.net

"PINK PANTSUIT" MY POEM GOING OUT TO THE WORLD on January 9, 2014.

A New Year gift to me came today (1-1-14) in the body 
of this e mail regarding American Life in Poetry ( A Project 
For Newspapers by Ted Kooser)

Dear Ms. Simpson,

I wanted to let you know that your poem will be released to our website, www.americanlifeinpoetry.org, next Monday, January 9.  Newspapers carrying the column will download it as a PDF and run it according to their usual print schedules.  Current readership is about 3,000,000 per week.

In addition, a large number of readers receive the column via free e-mail subscription.  We’ve heard from some of them in such places as Nepal, Indonesia, Uganda, Bangladesh, Egypt, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, most of Europe, Mexico, Korea, India The Philippines, Turkey, Viet Nam, China, Canada, the U.K., Sweden and Myanmar, as well as U.S. Readers from Maine to Hawaii.

None of this would happen, of course, without the cooperation of the poets who so generously allow us to reprint their work.  Thank you once again!

Kind regards,

Pat Emile

Patricia H. Emile, Ph.D.

Assistant Editor

American Life in Poetry

338E Andrews Hall

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, NE  68588-0320

AT THIS TIME OF YEAR

At this time of year, like a litany, I access and celebrate four 

major treasurers of my life:

I am thankful for my family, my amazing family--Tim, Lynn, Jeremy, Sarah and Savannah, Pearson, Becky and Amanda. What a blessing you are to me. I am thankful for how you care for me. At this particular time of year we celebrate the addition to our family of Jeremy, who arrived from Vietnam on November 20, 1975 at age six. We traveled to New York to meet him, flew him back to Georgia our ancestral home, and drove him to our home on Cherry Mountain. What a blessing Jeremy has been and a true son and brother, as if born into the family. I admit I thought back then that we were saving him from war. How mistaken I was, how arrogant that thought turned out to be, for we all know now Jeremy came to save us, each one of us, one by one in some way or the other.

I’m thankful for my friends, you who have given me your love and friendship, you who unconditionally and unselfishly have stood by me during all kinds of heartache and  during unbearable situations--those who have visited when I was sick, brought food or sent or brought crates of cooked food when I could not prepare my own. Thanks for your calls, flowers, Emails, cards, and for regular comments you left on my site. Your care is paying off, for I have been blessed with health and strength.

The Victory Rose

At this time of year, and daily I am thankful for my beloved pets--Queen of the Mountain Sasha (13 years of pure love) and young Roxy who has enough love to go around and much energy to share. They are most responsible for keeping me daily up and moving--saying “Let me out”, “Let me in,” Feed me, “Bath me,” “Give me my Frontline,”  “Spray my wounds,” and “Where is my “candy?”

Here at the end of the year, each year,I also celebrate my writing and acknowledge how much writing (both mine and yours) sustains me. This year, I especially appreciate having had my poem “Our Great Depression” included in the Georgia edition of Southern Poetry Review, chosen by James Smith, Editor, and having my poem “Pink Pantsuit” featured in Ted Kooser’s wide reaching newspaper column, and having my book LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE with  a number of poems included by Michelle Aldredge in the Sunday poetry feature of GWARLINGO. 

Life is good, and I am thankful.

http://www.gwarlingo.com/2013/the-sunday-poem-nancy-simpson/#comment-35562