Volume VII, Issue 6 February 5, 2018 Dear , I burst into tears when I received the marvelous, totally unexpected news that I've been selected for this year's Irene Blair Honeycutt Legacy Award, which "honors a community member who has contributed outstanding service in support of local and regional writers." This is total icing on the cake that is the joy of getting to work with writers, including you, as a livelihood. (It is indeed lively, and life-giving!)
Here's the part where YOU come in: you ARE one of the people I have the privilege and pleasure of working with. And on Monday, April 9th at 6 and/or 7 p.m.
(reception at 6; reading at 7), you are warmly invited to a talk and reading I'm giving about words as legacy in Tate Hall on the CPCC campus, as a part
of this year's Sensoria, a Celebration of Literature & the Arts. In fact, it would mean a lot to me to have you there.
This award is named for poet, retired CPCC instructor, and Sensoria founder Irene Blair Honeycutt, who is also my beloved teacher, mentor, and friend, and one of the reasons
I cried was because I owe so much of any success I've had to her teaching and mentoring.
Another, was because I couldn't help but think of all the amazing times Irene and I have had together before and during past CPCC Literary Festivals. Like the afternoon she and I drove Mary Oliver to the airport after her reading, and I, behind the wheel, was so enchanted to just be with
THE Mary Oliver that I nearly got us terribly lost.
And the poetry workshop with Robert Hass, a former U. S. Poet Laureate, in which, when asked, how he knew if what he was writing was a prose poem or not, he answered something akin to, "I don't worry about that; I just think of them all as 'pieces.'"
I will never forget the (bad hair) :) day Irene and I met for
lunch at a Chinese restaurant on East Independence Boulevard to celebrate Lamott's coming, as well as celebrate the full-page feature in The Charlotte Observer, which ran shortly before the festival. We needed an overflow room for that event!
I do hope you can join the both of us for this year's Irene Blair Honeycutt Legacy Award Presentation and Reading (again, it's free, as are most Sensoria events, and it's on Monday, April 9th at 7 p.m. (preceded by a reception at 6 p.m.). More important, I hope you come for as many Sensoria events as you can make it to!
You'll be glad you did.
So, there it is, your invitation to come to events that are about literary, artistic, and musical legacy.
But there are so many kinds of legacies, in so many areas of life—legacies that you and the people you know and love (and your characters, if you write fiction) are creating day by seemingly unimportant day.
I couldn't help but to reflect on this Saturday, when I flew up to Baltimore to attend my nephew Olin's Eagle Scout Award ceremony. (That's Olin, on the right, with his brother Arden, who is on the path to becoming an Eagle Scout himself and served as the Master of Ceremonies, which fulfilled a requirement of his Communications badge.)
Their dad, my brother Tim, is an Eagle Scout himself, and being present to the
legacy of perseverance and service he is passing on to his sons brought more tears. (I am such a crier! Maybe you are, too?)
But now it's time to dry my eyes and get to work, which will, as usual, include some writing!
If you want to spend a bit of time writing about legacy, scroll on down to the prompt, checking out a powerful poem by our country's poet laureate along the way, and a few WordPlay opportunities as well. Thank you for the legacy you are creating moment by moment through sharing your love, and your talents. Love and
light, Maureen Upcoming WordPlay
THE FINE ART OF COOKING UP A POEM: A Poetry (and Prose) Craft Workshop
Ever wished your writing had more finesse? Or wondered what goes into the making of a fine poem? This class that explores “poetic ingredients” in the areas of content, sound, and form will increase your expertise—in poetry and prose. Learn how to identify and use these ingredients, as well as how
reading work by writers you love can inspire and instruct you. All levels welcome.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 6th, from 7:00 until 8:30 p.m.
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Lanier Library is holding their 10th Annual Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition. They are accepting submissions through March 15, 2018 with prizes awarded April 28, 2018 at
the library in Tryon, NC.
Adult and Student categories are available with prizes from $500 (Adult) and $100 (Student).
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EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT POETRY
* But Were Afraid to Ask
There are at least ten thousand ways to write a poem! In this lively presentation about the art and craft of poetry based on
Maureen’s latest book of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can’t Be Wrong, participants will learn how content, sound and form work together, and get to try their hand at the process. They’ll also have the opportunity to ask every question they’ve ever had about poetry.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 11th, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. until
noon
Featured Writing
The Good Life
by
When some people talk about money They speak as if it were a mysterious lover Who went out to buy milk and never Came back...
Read the rest of this poem by our U. S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith here.
Learn more about Tracy K. Smith here.
Learn about her presentations this April at CPCC's Sensoria here. WordPlay Now! Writing
Prompt
This is WordPlay—so why not
revel in the power and potential of one good word after another? This week, it's "legacy." PROMPT: Take a few minutes to make a list of people who have influenced you—famous, infamous, unknown by all but family, friends, and coworkers.
Then, choose a few of these people, and list ways in which they have left/are leaving a legacy in the world.
What have they accomplished, modeled, contributed, taught, inspired, created through their hands, their hearts, their minds, and their spirits?
Next, choose one specific example of this legacy and write about it. (For example, I could write about my brother, in my kitchen last Easter morning, teaching his son Arden how to
"massage" kale for the salad he was making for our family dinner. Given our mother taught us how to do many things in the kitchen, witnessing this was near and dear to my heart.)
Note: If you'd rather write fiction, put yourself in the body of one of your characters, and do this from his/her
perspective.
MAUREEN RYAN GRIFFIN, an award-winning poetry and nonfiction writer, is the author of Spinning Words into Gold, a Hands-On Guide to the Craft of Writing, a grief workbook entitled I Will Never Forget You, and three collections of poetry, Ten Thousand Cicadas Can't Be Wrong, This Scatter of Blossoms and When the Leaves Are in the Water. One of her long-held dreams came true in July of 2015 when Garrison Keillor read one of her poems on The Writer's Almanac. She believes, as author Julia Cameron says, "We are meant to midwife dreams for one another."
Maureen also believes that serious "word work" requires serious WordPlay, as play is how we humans best learn—and perform. What she loves best is witnessing all the other dreams that come true for her clients along the way. Language, when used with
intentionality and focus, is, after all, serious fuel for joy. Here's to yours! |
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