From the Dollar Store notebook:

I will be introducing poet John Hoppenthaler at the West Virginia Book Festival at 10 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. Admission is free, and the festival runs Saturday and Sunday that weekend. There will be many top writers there and programs for young and old, including Kanawha County Library’s used book sale. Check out the festival online.

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Daily Press in Newport News, Va., reports that a new alternative school is helping teenagers. Poetry plays a role in helping people graduate on time.
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Worth mentioning is the Music for Life tour about capital punishment in Texas.  At First Jefferson UU Church in Fort Worth, Texas, musician Sarah Hickman and others recently sang and talked about the issue. El Paso Mayor John Cook played his guitar and sang “The Guy in the Glass,” an original composition based on the poem by Dale Wimbrow in 1934 about looking into the mirror with a clear conscience. By the way, there’s even a Web site called theguyintheglass.com where you can find the words to that poem. It’s there that Wimbrow’s family says of the poem, “It has touched the souls of millions of people the world over and it is with great warmth and rememberance that we present the original version just as he penned it.”

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In the category “We are all artists,” The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle has a story today about Jack Blue’s green thumb. Blue is a landscape businessman who likes word play (he used to call himself “the lawn ranger”). Anyway, Blue writes poetry too, and for many years has designed custom Christmas cards, complete with a poem on the back. If you know of any similar stories of someone spinning out event poetry or any other poetry around the Mountain State, call me at (304) 348-5184. Leave your contact number and a voice mail if I can’t answer immediately.

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A classic poem for the road:

I HEAR AMERICA SINGING
Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics–each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat–the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench–the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song–the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning,
or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother–or of the young wife at work–or of the girl sewing or washing–Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day–At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.

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The British poet Adrian Mitchell has this quote:
“Most people ignore most poetry
because
most poetry ignores most people.”
So I continue my effort to be more inclusive at MountainWord. If you have a poem or some poetry news, e-mail it with your contact information to me.

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