Last year I received a poem flawlessly presented on paper by a friend, Joan Wyrick Ellison.  She has written more than one or two books, including “Lyrics of Love: An Introspection” (2005). The poem “Is Anybody Home?” seems somehow both restrained and unrestrained in view of her husband’s serious illness at the time. He is the Rev. A.D. Ellison, and has since largely recovered.

IS ANYBODY HOME?

I leave my door half-open
for you may pass this way,
I listen for your footstep
and hope to hear you say,
    “Is anybody home?”

I leave my door half-open,
sit quietly and muse,
hoping your pleasant voice
will call out,
    “What’s the news?”

I push my mind wide open
for truth may pass this way,
I listen for its inklings
in every word you say
    because

The time we spend together
highlights my lonely day.
I’m glad my door is open
so I can hear you say,
    “Is anybody home?”

— Joan Wyrick Ellison

This was recorded on one of those little home Webcams, quickly and just in time for Halloween.

Any interest out there in a filmed W.Va. poetry theater? If you are a published poet or spoken word artist and would be interested in such a thing, call me at (304) 348-5184 and leave your contact information and a brief pitch on my voicemail. I won’t publish your number, but I’ll call you back. If you just want to let me know what you think, reply in the blog comment line. I’d appreciate it. Each of these little films would be about 1 or 2 minutes long, and they’d be higher quality audio and video than the Shakespeare poem. We’d use a real high-definition camcorder.

I’ve heard that back in ‘62, in “The Gutenberg Galaxy,” Marshall McLuhan gave us the acid test for long books. He said to turn to Page 69, and if you like that page, buy the book.

A lot of good prose doesn’t really get going until you’re in about 100 pages, and some great poetry books don’t even have 69 pages, but try the Page 69 Test sometime. Go to your library or bookstore or Google books and turn to Page 69 a few times. What do you think?

Continue reading, and please leave a comment »

Poetry & Politics
Covenant House,
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008,
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
600 Shrewsbury Street (parking in rear of building)

A lively open mic in downtown Charleston, W.Va., coming up this Tuesday will feature Kanawha Valley emerging poets, singers, musicians, spoken word artists and activists.

“True artists, writers and performers.” — Amy Weintraub, Covenant House director

Hosting the event will be Covenant House assistant director and well-known poetry organizer Crystal Goodwoman Nazario and Randy Elsea, Drop In Center coordinator and notorious comic.

Continue reading, and see printable flyer»

I think the preceding video explaining what people do with blogs is worth watching. With the hope that I’ll connect with kindred spirits out here in the blogosphere, I spend a lot of time writing MountainWord. Remember, though — a blog is a fine place for you to comment. Add your thoughts, a poem, a story, a link to content elsewhere on the web, a how-to, news of events, anything relevant.

Your comments on this blog are just as important as what I write.

Add your signature to your comment, and remember that I don’t heavily moderate comments. Spam and clearly negative and unrelated things are quickly deleted, but most of the time, the door is completely open. Just click on that little comment link just below each blog post, and start writing.

Thanks for visiting MountainWord. Will you add a comment?

Since 9/11, I see a new war poetry. As always with war poetry throughout the ages, there are poems about freedom, memory, shame, slaughter, camaraderie and protest. I think of Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke and Siegfried Sassoon.

Along these lines, here are two five-star links:

Above, watch the YouTube video of Iraq War veteran and poet Brian Turner, author of “Here, Bullet,” reading a poem. Turner is from Fresno, Calif., and he teaches English at Fresno City College. He is a U.S. Army veteran and was an infantry team leader for a year in Iraq beginning in late 2003.

Then, a different turn, Poets Against War.

Poets Against War grew from poets who insisted on remaining truthful and socially engaged. It all started with some invitations. Laura Bush set off this firestorm back in 2003 when she invited some well-known poets to the White House, and a bunch of them didn’t want to go but instead wanted to make political statements about W’s then-possible war. The event was canceled.

Poetry is so much more than a nice cookie club for jingoism. What do you think? If anyone knows of poets for the war, give me a ring, leave a comment, send a poem.   Send a poem, too, if you’re against the war. Are West Virginia poets speechless about war and peace? I don’t think so.

Continue reading, and send poems»

This quick audio podcast is about the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh. The Forum’s 2008-2009 season began last night. Just plug in your headphones or turn on your speakers, and hit the AUDIO MP3 button. You can also download the update.

2 minutes

Continue reading… »

Poet Devon McNamara will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008, in the Shawkey Room of the Memorial Student Center on Marshall University’s Huntington campus. Admission is free and open to the public.

McNamara teaches at West Virginia Wesleyan College where she also co-directs the Honors Program.

For more information, contact Art Stringer in the English Department at (304) 696-2403.

An award-winning poet will read from his collection of verse and teach the writing craft to some aspiring authors later this month as a writer-in-residence at West Virginia University. William Olsen, the 2008 Virginia Butts Sturm Writer-in-Residence in the Department of English, will give a reading at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, in the Mountainlair Gold Ballroom. Olsen is the author of four collections of poetry: “Avenue of Vanishing,” “Trouble Lights,” “Vision of a Storm Cloud” and “The Hand of God and a Few Bright Flowers.” A book signing will follow the event, which is free and open to the public. Also, Olsen will work with 12 WVU creative writers for the remainder of the week. For more information, contact Mark Brazaitis at (304) 293-9707 or Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu.

This weekend, with the 2008 W.Va. Book Festival in town, we look back at some poets at last year’s festival.