About Me

My photo
Nancy Simpson's LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, New and Selected Poems was published by Carolina Wren Press (N.C. Laureate Series, 2010.) She is the author of ACROSS WATER and NIGHT STUDENT, State Street Press, still available on WWW at Alibris and Books Again. Her poems have been published in Southern Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review and other literary magazines. "Carolina Bluebirds" was published in THE POETS GUIDE TO THE BIRDS, Anhinga Press). "Grass" was reprinted in the 50th Anniversary Issue of Southern Poetry Review: DON'T LEAVE HUNGRY ( U.of Arkansas Press.) Seven poems were reprinted in the textbook, SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN POETRY,(McFarland.) Two poems were published in SOLO CAFE, Two more poems were published in SOLO NOVO."In the Nantahala Gorge" was published in Pisgah Review. "Studying Winter" was reprinted in Pirene's Fountain Anthology and "The Collection" in Collecting Life Anthology. Most recently, Southern Poetry Review Edited by James Smith, published "Our Great Depression," and The Southern Poetry Anthology Vol. VII: NORTH CAROLINA,Edited by William Wright, reprinted "Leaving in the Dead of Winter."
Showing posts with label Living in Appalachia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living in Appalachia. Show all posts

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Fall Festival at John C. Campbell Folk School this Weekend. Don't Miss it!


Head for the Folk School in Brasstown, NC. O C T O B E R 3rd AND 4th.




My Life in Brasstown, An Appalachian Memoir, the much-anticipated sequel to My Journey to Appalachia, written by Eleanor Lambert Wilson, will be released this weekend! Ellie will be available to sign the book in the Craft Shop during Fall Festival, on Saturday, October 3 from 11 am to 2 pm.


In My Journey to Appalachia, Ellie tells the story of her year working at the Folk School after she graduated from Vassar College in 1941. My Life in Brasstown: An Appalachian Memoir, reveals the story of the next 40 years - after Ellie and Monroe Wilson were married and began to raise a family in Brasstown.


While you're here for Fall Festival, come in and meet Mrs. Wilson and pick up a copy of her latest book!


Photo: Ellie Wilson at her Brasstown farm. Photo by Virginia Porter Reynolds.


Note: Author Eleanor Lambert Wilson will have excerpt from her memoir, My Journey to Appalachia included in the forthcoming anthology ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE:
Stories, Essays, and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired by the Southern Appalachian Mountains, edited by Nancy Simpson, Winding Path Publishing.
Posted by at 3 comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Thursday, February 19, 2009

TEACHING MYSELF How to Burn Last Years Leaves by Nancy Simpson

If you live in a forest
don't burn on a windy day.
Look on the boundary oak
for the surveyor's orange ribbon.
If it is not dancing, if it dangles,
you can hope burning is safe.
Best, burn when rain is predicted.

Rake leaves onto the dirt driveway.
Make small leaf mounds.
Burn one or two leaf piles at a time.
Don't let yourself think of the day
your young sons scorched the mountainside.
Do not look across the drive
where your old home place used to be.

Forget it. The cabin was dismantled,
buldozers to the ground, buried.
Don't think of the man who found you
burning leaves one spring and said,
"Let me help you." He will not come back.
They're all gone now. Rake and burn
leaf piles 3&4, 5&6.




Let sudden wind frighten. Rake faster
when your hear thunder. Rake hot coals
into the gravel. Stop only when rain
drives you back to the tool shed.
Tomorrow you will see bright green foliage
of five thousand daylilies lining your drive,
promising to bloom.

Previously published in Journal of Kentucky Studies
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)