New Series in Morganton to Feature Local Writers

NEW SERIES IN MORGANTON TO FEATURE LOCAL WRITERS

The Burke County Public Library is beginning a new reading series to be called “Wednesday Night Readings.” The readings will be held at the main branch library in downtown Morganton, and at least initially will feature primarily area writers.

The series will kick off March 9, at 6:30, with Hickory poet, Scott Owens. Owens, who teaches at Catawba Valley Community College, is the author of 6 collections of poetry, editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review, Vice President of the Poetry Council of NC, and founder of Poetry Hickory. His work has received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the NC Poetry Society, the NC Writers’ Network, the Poetry Society of SC, and the Pushcart Prize Anthology.

Owens’ latest collection of poems, The Nature of Attraction, is a narrative sequence focusing on the relationship of two characters, Norman and Sara. The collection was written collaboratively with Florida poet, Pris Campbell, and published in 2010 by Main Street Rag.

Joining Owens will be Lincolnton poet, Morgan DePue. Together, they will present a dramatic reading from The Nature of Attraction. They will each read a small selection of their own work as well.

Other readings in the series this spring will feature T.A. Epley, author of Ghosts of the Soon Departed, on March 30; Vale’s Ann Chandonnet, author of Write Quick: War and a Woman’s Life in Letters, 1835-1887 and The Pioneer Village Cookbook, on April 6; Morganton poet, Ted Pope and Hickory poet, Tim Peeler, co-authors of Waiting for Charlie Brown, on April 20; Caldwell Community College instructor, Nancy Posey, author of Let the Lady Speak, on May 4; Hickory poet, Kermit Turner, author of Sandy Ridge: Portrait of a Depression Family, on May 18; biographer T.J. Shimeld, author of The Four Foot Giant and the Vanishing Wheelchair, on June 1; and Winston-Salem poet, Helen Losse, author of Seriously Dangerous and editor of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, on June 22.

All readings in the series are free and open to the public. For more information on the series, contact coordinator, Mindy Evans, at 828-437-5638

Reading in Lincolnton, NC

Two Acclaimed Writers to Lead Workshop at Poetry Hickory

Two Acclaimed Writers to Lead Workshop at Poetry Hickory

Raleigh, NC, writers Maureen Sherbondy and Richard Krawiec will offer a workshop on publishing poetry as part of the monthly NC Writers’ Network Writers’ Night Out, held at 5:00 on Tuesday, July 13, at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory. The workshop will cost $10 per person and will be followed by Poetry Hickory’s Open Mic, beginning at 6:30 and then readings by both Sherbondy and Krawiec. The readings are free and open to the public.

Sherbondy is the author of two collections of poetry and has a third due out this year. She is also the author of a collection of short stories. Krawiec is author of two novels, a collection of short stories, and a collection of poems, and is editor of a collection of poetry about cooking. Both have taught workshops and formal classes in a variety of locations and have received numerous awards for their writing. For more information, visit www.poetryhickory.com or contact Scott Owens at 828-234-4266 or asowens1@yahoo.com

Here is a sample poem from each author:

“Dorothy Discovers Sex and the City” by Maureen Sherbondy

After the tornado she thought
life would be dull and grey as Kansas
but on the new color screen
she watches Samantha bedding
a plethora of men. She relates
to Carrie, lately Dorothy’s been daydreaming
about a career in journalism,
she writes columns in her head
about storm preparation, the meaning
of dreams, archetypal figures, red shoes.
She’s contemplating a change of hair
style, maybe like Charlotte’s -- men
don’t seem to be drawn to ponytails
anymore. Aunt Em passed years before,
but Dorothy is certain she wouldn’t have
approved of the show. She turns to
the Weather Channel and monitors storms,
the forecaster’s smooth voice soothing
away her twister anxieties
even as she dreams of Oz.

Excerpt from “Judging the Worth” by Richard Krawiec

my son hunches into my chest
it toooowl he says I agree
it is cold but his breath warms
my shoulder his chest protects my own
he burrows his arms between us
one hand pops free his fingers slide
over his thumb as if testing fabric
the weight and weave judging the worth
of this life he throws his head up laughs
his teeth small and bright as stars
the cherubic firmament of his face
radiates
around us hidden in the dark branches
of pines and hardwoods birds
chorus a greeting the cacophony
of their song edges towards clarity
if I can only stand still long enough
to listen

Reading at MESH Gallery in Morganton

I'm excited to have been invited by Eliot Lytle and Ted Pope to kick off their new reading series at Eliot's gallery, MESH, on May 8. The Gallery is at 114B W. Union St. in Morganton, NC. The reading will start at 3:00 and will include live music from The Secret Alphabets and of course attendees will be able to view the artwork on display as well. And if you're tired of hearing poems from "Paternity," this is a reading you'll want to attend. I'll be reading some of my more "interesting" poems -- the uncensored Scott Owens.

Making Time for Poetry

Poet, Ann Chandonnet, wrote this profile of me, and last week the local weekly newspaper, Outlook, ran it. I love what Ann did with this, and after a student of mine told me his wife cried when she read it, I loved it even more. More than anything else I want my words to have an impact on the reader (I imagine this is the goal of most poets), so when an article about my words stirs a reader's emotions to the point of tears, it's pretty gratifying and a very complimentary reflection on the quality of Ann's writing. Thank you, Ann and Outlook. Pick up a copy of Outlook or visit the blog tomorrow for a poem from Joanna Catherine Scott, author of my favorite book of poems from the last several years and Poetry Hickory reader next Tuesday (2/9)

MAKING TIME FOR POETRY: A PROFILE OF SCOTT OWENS, POET
By Ann Chandonnet
The literary artist—the novelist, the essayist, the poet—must make time for his art.

Why? Because the literary artist is the most ignored artist of all in the United States.

In the Soviet Union (or whatever its politic name these days), they name battleships after poets. No such thing in the land of gummy worms and sound bites. Actors and embezzlers become celebrities while the poet is shunned like a leper.

Like the dedicated artist he is, Scott Owens chooses to stick to his literary guns. He makes time for what he feels is important. Although he has three children—one at home, two in college—he finds time. “Two mornings a week [my daughter] is in school,” he said in a recent interview. “When I was younger, I used to get up at 5 and have two hours to work. Now I just take advantage of time wherever I can find it. I take my books to the swimming pool when she swims. I take my stuff to her dance lesson.”

Owens was born in Greenwood, South Carolina. His life hasn’t been easy. He paid his way through college by working double shifts in a cotton mill. To make money while attending college, he gave massages, edited papers for fellow students and took on all sorts of part-time jobs. He has lived in Hickory for eight years, and teaches at CVCC. Two and a half years ago, he founded Poetry Hickory, a group that sponsors monthly readings at Taste Full Beans coffee shop.

As readers of his 2008 collection The Fractured World are aware, Scott was abused as a child. He has worked through that horrific experience, and his calm demeanor gives little clue to his early years. “At the bottom level, poetry was a way out—out of my feeling of desperation,” he explained matter-of-factly. “Poetry helped me think about the situation I was in, in my childhood and helped convince me that [life] didn’t have to be that way. Today poetry is how I know that I exist.”

Owens’ healing is expressed in his latest collection of poems, Paternity, out this month. The germs of the collection lie in his own fractured upbringing and in the love he has for his young daughter, five-year-old Sawyer.

Some of the inspiration for Paternity comes from his “absolutely favorite poem,” “Little Sleeps-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight,” from The Book of Nightmares (1970) by Galway Kinnell. Owens’ second favorite poem, also by Kinnell, is “The Still Time.” Kinnell wrote The Book of Nightmares for his children, Maud and Fergus, and it has been called “a howl against the depravities of social injustice.”

Not all poets are sure they are deserving of the title. How did Owens know he was a poet? “When Robert Grey, the editor of Southern Poetry Review, was teaching me in a graduate level creative writing class, he said he wanted one of the poems I had submitted in class for the magazine. And I thought, ‘Well, maybe I am getting it after all.’ “Owens was 24 at the time of this revelation. Since then he has won many poetry prizes.

The beginning poet often feels lost. What advice does Owens have? “Read twice as much as you write. Make it twentieth- and twenty-first-century stuff that you are reading.”

And take your notebooks along to your daughter’s swimming class. Make time.

Poetry Reading