POET OF THE MONTH Jayne Jaudon Ferrer (March 2011)

Jayne Jaudon - featured POET FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH (2011) 

Readers  can find four separate posts about her writing life. If you like getting a closer look at southern poet and like reading  a number of her  poems,  please leave a comment.

S.C. Poet Jayne Jaudon Ferrer and N.C. Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers ( photo taken) at the 19th Annual NCWN West Picnic held on the grounds of Western Carolina University, Sept 5, 2010.

Jayne is the creator and host of  YOUR DAILY POEM. She is dedicated to sharing poetry with the world, and especially with young people, an ambitious goal that is working well. See link to YOUR DAILY POEM below. Join free and you will receive a poem each day, some by major poets and some from poets just now beginning to practice the art and craft of writing poetry.

When Nancy Simpson  asked Jayne Jaudon Ferrer for a copy of her favorite poem from among her many published poems, she sent this one, and wrote: 

"How about one long poem instead of two shorter ones? One of my very favorite poems is "Almanac," from A Mother of Sons. It incorporates all the best memories I have of my sons into a sort of 'poetic calendar.' "

Almanac  by Jayne Jaudon Ferrer

It is summer.

I know from wild, primal whoops that

echo

in the afternoon stillness.

From firm-fleshed rumps

glistening

like peaches in the breeze

as one, two, three!, they

bounce

in front yard sprinklers and backyard pools.

I know from sweat-damp foreheads

and blackberry-moist chins,

chubby hands

clenched

around pickle jars blinking

             twi-light

                        twi-light

                                    twi-i-i-light

in the cabernet softness.

It is fall.

I know from dancing eyes and

cinnamon cheeks that

peek

over smiling wisps of cocoa.

From cowboy boots

scuffling

through restless crimson and topaz leaves

like tiny torpedoes

streaking

into a school of skittish guppies.

I know from pumpkins,

their smooth flesh

hacked

and jagged where virgin fingers

sought to create ghouls

from a simple gourd.

It is winter.

I know from giddy whispers

in the halls,

carillon giggles that rival cherished carols

in their sweet, simple melodies of joy.

From fingertips frosted

pink as a newborn kitten’s nose,

their woolly red cocoons

flung aside

in pursuit of the perfect snowball.

I know from

footsteps

in the final chill before dawn ascends,

a prelude to softly rooting heads and

feebly flailing limbs in search of

warmth and safe haven

for a few moments more.

It is spring.

I know from

sweaters slung

impatiently

around slim denim hips,

the sole concession made

to still-brisk mornings.

From lace—Queen Anne’s—

pieceworked

with just-plucked stems of milkweed and Lazy Susans

presented in a pride-filled fist.

I know from bunnies,

chocolate ones and

plush ones and

terrified ones

clutched in smudged, impetuous arms

I hope will always make room

for me.

From A Mother of Sons (Loyola Press, 2004)

(Her books are available at any bookstore. If you do not find the book you want on the bookshelf,

the bookstore will be happy to order you ca copy. Also, books are available on Amazon.Com.)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_19?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jayne+jaudon+ferrer&sprefix=jayne+jaudon+ferrer

Jayne speaks and teaches writing through the country. Check her site below to learn where she will be teaching in the future. Photo below taken at John C. Campbell Folk School (2010) She is scheduled 

to each writing again at JCCFS in 2012.

  

www.JayneJaudonFerrer.com

http://Commagoddess.Blogspot.com

www.YourDailyPoem.com

POETRY NEWS OUT OF THE CAROLINAS

NC Governor Bev Perdue named the new NC Poet Laureate: Cathy Smith Bowers. She will be crowned with laurels in Raleigh at The Capitol on February 10, 2010 and will serve for two years.

Photo credit: The Charlotte Observer at time of the announced of the Governor's appointment.

Cathy Smith Bowers, a native of South Carolina, lives in Tyron, and she teaches in the M.F.A. Writing Program at Queens University in Charlotte and at U.N.C. at Asheville.

"Cathy's powerful poems open new avenues of thought," said Gov. Perdue, "and her poems are a reflection of the love of words and learning. She believes poetry inspires and instructs North Carolinians of all ages."

As poet Laureate, Cathy Smith Bowers follows the tenure of Kathryn Stripling Byer. Much of Bower's poetry career path follows the steps of Kathryn Stripling Byer also in that she has published widely in literary publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, Georgia Review, Shenandoah, Southern Review and Southern Poetry Review. Bowers first poetry collection The Love that Ended Yesterday in Texas was published at Texas Tech University Press as the winner of their first book competition, as was Kathryn Stripling Byer's first book, The Girl In The Midst Of The Harvest, published at Texas Tech Press in cooperation with the Association Writing Programs Award Series in 1986.

The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas was republished by Iris Press in 1997. Cathy Smith Bower's second book, Traveling in Time of Danger (1999) and her third, A Book of Minutes (2004) were also published at Iris. Her poetry craft essay "A moment of Intensity" was published in The Poet's Market (2007.) Bower's most recent book publication is The Candle I Hold Up To See You (2009 Iris.)

Kathryn Stripling Byer, who be ending her tenure as NC Poet Laureate, will attend the "crowning" celebration in Raleigh. She has praised Cathy Smith Bowers as "one of the finest poets writing today," saying that "her work fuses narrative with exquisite lyricism, as well as wit and vulnerability."