LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE (BLOG) CELEBRATED ITS 2ND ANNIVERSARY

This Blog - LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE did celebrate on October 26,2010, its 2nd Year Anniversary. Living above the Frost Line is the cyber home of owner, poet  Nancy Simpson. A celebration of the blog is first of all, a celebration of all who have visited.  

WHAT IS THE FOCUS OF THE BLOG?  Poetry, Writing  and life in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

As stated: “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.”

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. 

WHAT ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAST YEAR?  Some amazing things happened, but basically this site featured Appalachian or Southern Poets regularly:  Brenda Kay Ledford, Eric Nelson, Rachel Bronnum, Rosemary Royston, Maren O. Mitchell,  Ruth Moose, Dana Wildsmith, Mary Ricketson, Barbara Groce, and others. You can still read their poems by going to the archives.  Nancy Simpson’s all time favorite love poem was featured on Valentine’s Day:  “The Gathering” by James Haba.

All of the John C. Campbell Folk School Writing classes and most of the Institute for Continued Learning Writing Classes at Young Harris College were announced. Many poetry and other writing classes were posted with a class descriptions. Where to publish was discussed.

News of interest to writers living in the NC Writers’ Network West area south and west of Asheville was posted regularly. Many NCWriters’Network West events were announced.

WHAT IS THE MOST RECENT TALK ABOVE THE FROST LINE?   ECHOES ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE -  Stories, Essays, and Poems by Writers Living in and Inspired By the Southern Appalachian Mountains, edited by Nancy Simpson,with a forward by major poet and writer Robert Morgan was published by Winding Path Publishing.  This anthology sold out fast and is now being reprinted. Discussion about using the anthology in Appalachian Studies has been heard behind the scenes. Book reviews have been reprinted on this site.  

and in the same month, same year...talk, talk talk,   the book LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE, New and Selected Poems by Nancy Simpson, a collection spanning 32 years of her poetry career, was published at Carolina Wren Press. The book LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE is the first book in Carolina Wren’s new Laureate Series. The manuscript was nominated by NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer and was launched at City Lights Book Store in Sylva, NC on Sunday, Oct. 17th. In that week it was named Appalachian Book of the Week. 

WHO READS THIS LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE BLOG?  There have been 16,397 visits to the site with the total of 31,395 pages viewed.  Visitors are from throughout the United States, from the southeast and into Colorado and California, with an average 4 minutes reading time spent on an average of 41 pages a day.  There are 34 Followers. Most inquiries come from writers searching for poems to read, for writing tips and for recent news of writing, especially Appalachian writing, southern writing, and poetry news. 

The biggest number of inquiries came in January 2010, by readers interested in winter in the southern Appalachian Mountains and The Full Wolf Moon.  February 2010 was also a big hit month with interest in NC Poet laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer 

and a post about southern writer Dana Wildsmith with  a reprint from her new book BACK TO ABNORMAL, Surviving With An Old Farm in the New South.  In March 2010, readers were interested in reading poems by MaryRicketson and Ruth Moose.

Over all, during the past two years, other than inquiring about poet Nancy Simpson, readers have been searching for any and all information about physician poet John Stone and Georgia poet Bettie M. Sellers.

For more info, search the archives 

or contact Nancy Simpson

nancy.simpson38@yahoo.com

MESSAGE FOR POETS AND THOSE WHO LOVE TO READ POETRY BY SOUTHERN AND APPALACHIAN POETS

Hello Felow Poets and Friends of Poetry,

Living Above the Frost Line is a site that promotes poetry, especially poems written by Southern and Appalachian poets. Some poets featured in the past (found in the archive still) are Kathryn Stripling Byer, Bettie M. Sellers, John Stone, Janice Townley Moore, Glenda Barrett, Glenda Beall, and many others.

Ruth Moose of Chappel Hill, NC is the featured poet for the month of March, 2010.

Brenda Kay Ledford will be the featured poet in her birth month--April, 2010.

The featured poet is chosen by Nancy Simpson. Most of the poets featured are members of N C Writers Network West, have a book or books published and currently have a book for sale. They may be featured at any time, but birth month is preferred. It is not too soon or too late to have a few of your poems featured with a photo and a short bio. Short stories and memoir chapters are also sometimes reprinted, such as in the recently featured work of Dana Wildsmith.

To have your poetry featured and your book announced, please contact poet Nancy Simpson at

LIVING ABOVE THE FROST LINE. www.nancysimpson.blogspot.com or through e mail

communicaton at nancy.simpson38@yahoo.com.

JOHN STONE, POET AND HEALER

by Poet Janice Townley Moore

One of the most memorable occasions on which I ever saw John Stone was a beautiful October day in Atlanta during and after another triumphant performance of The Poet and the Pianist. The year was 2006 and perhaps the fifth or sixth time that he and musician Will Ransom had held an audience spellbound with a rare combination of composers such as Chopin, Debussy, and Schumann interspersed so well with John Stone reading his poems. It should be stated that one of the earlier performances had been held at Carnegie Hall in 2001.

On this particular day at Emory University, the large windows of the Carlos Museum Recital Hall looking out on the quadrangle offered a stunning view of autumn hues against marble buildings and a dramatically overcast sky. John and Will had also revised the program, adding new poems about John’s mother, close to one hundred years old at the time and residing in nearby assisted living. I remember that the poems about her brought an especially enthusiastic response. As an introduction he held up a recent photograph of his mother, her face slightly shaded by an attractive straw hat in “lighting by Vermeer” as one poem described her.

All of the above I hold dear in memory, but a personal portrait of John after he left the stage remains as the chief indelible image from that day. Shortly after the ovations, the bows, and more ovations, as the crowd started to make its way out, I found John seated near the back of the hall. He was chatting with a woman wearing one of those open boot type casts. Edging closer, I could hear his inquiries about her condition and her replies. His focus was entirely on her in the pressing patchwork of the crowd. In the midst of those still waiting to congratulate him, he was forever the patient physician, showing concern even when he was the major event of that gathering. The easy way in which he spoke to her, the sincerity of his interest have remained as a living portrait in the chasm of his loss. I think of how many others, both patients and friends, were the fortunate recipients of his kind words.

If words can help in physical healing, they can also help in healing the other pains that assault “this mortal coil.” This is where John’s poetry is extremely valuable, equal to the pleasure found in reading it. The human encounter that he relished so much in his medical practice is the same human encounter that one is privileged to be part of in his poems. Whether in the memory of those he spoke with, either medically or in casual conversation, or read on the pages of his remarkable and award winning books, his words are what we are left with. They keep us alive and living better.

Janice Townley Moore
February 23, 2009