Gil Allen: "Blueberries"

The VPR Poem of the Week is Gil Allen�s �Blueberries,� which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue (Volume XIII, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.
   

Gil Allen lives in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, and he teaches at Furman University.  He is the author of four books of poetry and a chapbook. His poems have appeared in a number of literary journals, including The James Dickey Newsletter, Pembroke Magazine, Poem, Poetry Bay, Shenandoah, South Carolina Review,and Verse Daily, as well as the anthology In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press).  He co-edited the anthology A Milllenial Sampler of South Carolina Poetry, published by Ninety-Six Press in 2005.

Tuesday of each week �One Poet�s Notes� highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, with the recommendation that readers revisit it. 

Photo of the Week: "Lake Pier After Storm"

I remind all interested that many of my photographs are available at a daily photo blog, which I began at the start of the year. I invite everyone to visit the blog and to click on the photographs to examine them in high resolution or to magnify them for a detailed look.

A Visit to Chestertown

On Monday I trekked out past Annapolis to visit the Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. (Founded in 1706, it was the major port town until Baltimore came along. These days it is a little on the sleepy side. A local bakery was pointed out as the hotspot.) I was honored read with Kevin Vaughn, this summer's Cave Canem Fellow), visiting all the way from Paris. I was also thrilled to be home-hosted by Jehanne Dubrow--I finally got to meet her dog Argos!--a great poet, friend, and the House's newly appointed director. 

Thought you might enjoy a quick glimpse of the Rose O'Neill digs, which features a fully-functioning letterpress studio...

...where students and faculty work together to make a many broadsides, including this edition of Nick Flynn's poem "Bag of Mice"...

...and where local artists have donated their talent to spruce up the walls, including this playful mural that depicts Six Degrees of Bacon--both Kevin and Francis...

...and where students can access a spiffy kitchen for snacks and cooking, provided the recipes have a literary bent. (Madeleines a la Proust, anyone?)

Seriously, what a dream haven. So many books! So many places to sit, read, write! 

Our poetry salon was lovely--we began with music from the Pam Ortiz band, Kevin read from a long series-in-progress, and I shared a glimpse of the new manuscript. We had a big, friendly crowd. The editor of the Black Warrior Review was in the house, so I also read one of my sestinas, "The Platypus Speaks," which appeared in their journal. 

Afterwards Kevin and I ducked out to the Hotel Imperial where he ordered us an ace concoction that substitutes Dewars' as the base for a Manhattan, sweetens with SoCo instead of vermouth, & garnishes with lemon and lime. 

Now, off to the mountains for the Nightsun Writers Conference in Frostburg....

Sandy Longhorn: "The Summer Saint"

The VPR Poem of the Week is Sandy Longhorn�s �The Summer Saint� which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2011-2012 issue (Volume XIII, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.
   

Sandy Longhorn is the author of Blood Almanac (Anhinga Press), which won the Anhinga Prize for Poetry.  New poems are forthcoming or have appeared recently in Adanna, Escape Into Life, Lake Effect, New South, South Dakota Review, and elsewhere.  Longhorn lives in Little Rock, AR, is an Arkansas Arts Council fellow, and blogs at Myself the only Kangaroo among the Beauty.

Tuesday of each week �One Poet�s Notes� highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, with the recommendation that readers revisit it. 

Photo of the Week: "Tiger Lily"

I remind all interested that many of my photographs are available at a daily photo blog, which I began at the start of the year. I invite everyone to visit the blog and to click on the photographs to examine them in high resolution or to magnify them for a detailed look.

Cleaving

v. cleft (klft) or cleaved or clove (klv), cleft or cleaved or clo�ven (klvn), cleav�ing, cleaves
v.tr.
To split with or as if with a sharp instrument. 
v.intr.
To split or separate, especially along a natural line of division.

This past weekend I drove down to North Carolina, just south of Danville, for an important interview. On the way back I stopped off at my beloved Virginia Center for Creative Arts to take in the derecho damage, which they'd been reporting on over at the VCCA blog (including multiple days without power). The staff has been great, particularly Barbara Bernstein and David Garratt, who had to monitor the emergency generators for the kitchen--above and beyond the call of duty for artists in residence--and fellows rallied, trading in the usual serenity of the grounds for the bond of literally weathering the storm. 

But there is no way around the devastating loss of trees. David took me around to the swimming pool, where derecho probably came roaring straight up from the hillside below. Mammoth poplars and ancient pines, wrecked. And these were not hollow trunks or deadfall waiting to happen--these were healthy trees in the prime of their multi-century lives. It was hard to see. In some cases the downed trees took others with them that otherwise would have survived the storm, the weight of one body breaking the other. 


As David said, you can't help but develop an attachment to these sentinels, seeing them day in and day out. Shape begets personality: the proud pine the, voluptuous poplar. The practical naturalist in me knows that storms have been devastating forests for eons. But humans see thing on the scale of our own lifespans, and so this feels like a death in the family. You think the shade is gone. You want to gather it all up in your arms and sit for a long minute. 

In Lynchburg, the closest major town to VCCA, I discovered a wonderful fresh farm market. I splurged on a big watermelon, tomatoes, bi-color corn, and a mix of heirloom beans. Hunkering down on the balcony to cut the watermelon, I missed Mississippi something fierce. I have fond memories of puttering around the Grisham House's mint-green kitchen, barefoot, listening to Sam Cooke or Valerie June, making do with hand-me-down knives and pots to fix a meal. Hacking hunks of watermelon off for Beth Ann Fennelly & Tom Franklin's kids while the grown-ups played bocce and sipped beer. Mixing beans and rice for the Hill Country Picnic. Roasting corn soaked in the husk (five for $1) to feed Ole Miss MFA students. 

I fell asleep early last night, in the midst of a thunderstorm, and woke to 5 AM light. This was the view from my bed. I moved to this apartment in the midst of my own violent change, the cleaving of a life in two. Trusted sentinels were falling. I wasn't sure if I'd stay; I half expected to be in Mississippi by the end of the year. But, two years later, here I am, more in love with DC than ever. There is an alternate definition of cleave: "to cling or adhere," from the Old English cleofian and/or the Old High German kleb?n, "to stick." When a hull splits sometimes it is a gesture of dying, and sometimes the revelation of something sweet inside, something to cling to. Either way, what is lost affirms what remains. 

Ron Paul Salutsky: "Camping"

The VPR Poem of the Week is Ron Paul Salutsky�s �Camping� which appears in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue (Volume XIII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.
   

Ron Paul Salutsky holds an MFA in Creative Writing International from University of Las Vegas, Nevada, and his work has appeared in Verse Daily, Shampoo, Asheville Poetry Review, Colorado Review, and Louisville Review, among others. He is currently attending the PhD program in Creative Writing at Florida State University.

Tuesday of each week �One Poet�s Notes� highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, with the recommendation that readers revisit it.