Going Home

The Novel Ladies Book Club talks with authors Erica Spindler and Lee Smith

October is National Book Club Month. Book clubs are thriving at Russell Memorial Library and at several other Chesapeake area libraries. Everything from hot topics to romance and science fiction to "ethical dilemmas" are up for discussion as men and women, book lovers all, gather to discuss a book or an author. Growing up, I never would have thought that sitting around with a bunch of other folks talking about a book would be fun - but it is!

In October, Russell Memorial Library's Novel Ladies Book Club discussed Erica Spindler's newest suspense novel "Blood Vines" with the author and truly enjoyed getting acquainted with her and listening to her talk about writing. Especially interesting was her story about going through Hurricane Katrina and how that experience affected her writing. She had just completed "Killer Takes All" which was set in New Orleans; then Katrina hit and immediately her novel became, in her opinion, "out of date." As she and her family tried to come home again to their house and business, she noticed other New Orleans residents struggling with the fact that home was not like it had been just days before. For some there was no home left at all. Ms. Spindler noticed all of the abandoned, smelly refrigerators and learned that as many as 30,000 of them occupied "refrigerator cemeteries" until the hazardous material could be removed from them. That piqued her imagination and the outcome was a new novel "The Last Known Victim" set in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Earlier this fall, the Novel Ladies chatted with well-known novelist Lee Smith about two of her books, "The Last Girls" and "Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-eyed Stranger." What a charming person this author is! At the conclusion of their conversation with her, the Novel Ladies felt as if they had been talking with an old friend, just catching up on life.

Ms. Smith spent her childhood in Grundy, Virginia, a small town nestled in the Appalachian mountains. The group enjoyed the special treat of chatting with the author by telephone. And what a treat it was! Totally charming and down-to-earth, Lee Smith answered questions with candor, sprinkled with generous amounts of humor, all delivered in the honeyed Southern drawl she swears she no longer has.

If you've read "The Last Girls," you know the author included poetry within the story. The Novel Ladies wondered why. Below is an excerpt from their conversation:

Q: Why did you include poetry in your novel "The Last Girls," and are you especially interested in poetry?

A: It was a complete surprise to me. Although I have taught poetry, I confess I am daunted by the form. Every word has to work. I write my stories by hand on a legal pad. Well, I was sitting in the sun with my legal pad and pen and started writing a poem, and I realized it was Baby (one of the main characters of "The Last Girls") speaking. Poetry was a way to get Baby's voice heard - especially since Baby was dead. I wrote some 60 poems from her sensibility.

Q: How do you write?

A: I do a whole lot of pre-writing, making notes with details. Typically, I use one legal sheet for each character, and I get to know them really, really well. I know what they think, fear, love, what motivates them, and how they would spend their time. The result is a lot of material and fewer re-writes since I start off with lots of details. As my friend, and fellow Hollins College graduate, Annie Dillard says, "Before you can make a dress, you've got to get your yard goods."

Lee Smith talked about her childhood in Grundy, describing times when she and her friends couldn't wait to get out of town, to "Go off and get some culture." She remembers her father's dime store where she would listen intently to the customers and their stories. She remembers her mother working as a school teacher and listening to family stories. She talked about going to the movies - often westerns which were changed once a week - and how they influenced her very first attempt at writing when she was a child. Her words painted a vivid picture of Grundy as it once had been. Memories. Lee Smith remembers Grundy.

If you Google Grundy, Virginia, you will discover that it is undergoing major, major changes. Much of the town is being relocated to higher ground due to problems associated with nine devastating floods in that area, 1929 through the present. Some businesses never re-opened. The project, started in 2001, included blasting the mountain, putting in utilities and new bridges, and planning a new "downtown." I'm guessing another dime store like the author's father owned is not in the plan.

At the October 7 University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award ceremony Lee Smith received UNC's 2010 Thomas Wolfe Prize and will deliver the annual Thomas Wolfe Lecture. She confided in the telephone conversation that she was in a quandary about what to say. Knowing that Thomas Wolfe wrote "You Can't Go Home Again" and thinking about her hometown of Grundy, Ms. Smith's remarks for the lecture should have come easily. Going home is not always easy, and sometimes it is not possible at all except in our hearts and in our treasured memories.

So it seems that poetry and prose live side by side in happy combination. "The Last Girls" proves that. Another proof is Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night. Be sure to come!

POETRY HAPPENINGS:

Host Nathan Richardson with Russell Memorial Library Manager Clyde Hunter

Some of the Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night performers

• Photos above were taken at Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night - Friday, October 15. The next Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night will be held on Friday, January 7, 2011, at 7:00 PM at Russell Memorial Library, 2808 Taylor Road, Chesapeake, VA 23321 This is your chance to step up to the microphone and share your work. You don't need a reservation; just come! Host Nathan Richardson will introduce you and the audience will welcome you as you share your poetry and/or prose. Thanks to Mr. Gayle Mayo of Rita's Pizza, there will be pizza as a special bonus for the evening. For more information, call 757-410-7016.



• Pick up a copy of poet Jon Pineda's autobiography "Sleep in Me." This is a good introduction to Jon Pineda, the person who became a poet. Even Jon's prose has a poetic ring to it.





• 
  
  The new Poet Laureate of the United States is Kay Ryan. For more information about her and the poets who preceeded her, visit http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate.html

"The Niagara River" by Kay Ryan

As though

the river were

a floor, we position

our table and chairs

upon it, eat, and

have conversation.

As it moves along,

we notice - as

calmly as though

dining room paintings

were being replaced -

the changing scenes

along the shore. We

do know, Niagara River, but

it is hard to remember

what that means.

Traveling Around

Sometimes life takes curious twists and turns and the unexpected happens to amaze us. While on vacation, our GPS system told us to follow the most direct route from our beach location to our destination in Georgia. Because it involved driving through congested areas with potentially heavy traffic, we consulted our map and chose a different less heavily traveled route through some of the rural parts of South Carolina. ("Recalculating")

Because we took that route to Georgia, we were treated to scenery that we would otherwise have missed; some of it beautiful and pastoral, some of it a sad memory of prosperous times past, and some of it a hopeful expression for the future. I am happy we chose that less traveled route. It reminded me of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken, and it reminded of other times when a simple decision, like choosing to share one's innermost thoughts with others, has made all the difference.

On July 9, twenty-three of the more than fifty people who attended the first-ever Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night calmed their jittery nerves and stepped up to the microphone to treat the rest of us to poetry, short stories, and even a comedy routine. Hosted by local poet and spoken word performer Nathan Richardson, (photo at left), the event was a fun-filled and thought-provoking evening. It was the perfect opportunity to meet and mingle, share our thoughts, and appreciate each other's works - with the added bonus of delicious pizza from Rita's Pizza. (A big thank you to Mr. Gayle Mayo of Rita's Pizza!)

Everyone who chose to read his work was warmly received and applauded. It was this decision of theirs - to step up to the microphone and share - that popped into my mind as I traveled through South Carolina. These brave poets who shared their work chose a more difficult and less traveled path that night. I hope it made all the difference in their lives and in the lives of those who listened to them. Some of the poets are pictured below. (Left to right below: Olivia Maguire, David King, LaQuisha Banks, and Phyllis Johnson)

Upcoming events and happenings in the local world of poetry are:

• Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night - Friday, October 15, 7:00 PM at Russell Memorial Library, 2808 Taylor Road, Chesapeake, VA 23321 (phone: 410-7016) See you there!


• Publication of Sleep in Me by Jon Pineda - Available for checkout through the Chesapeake Public Library and for sale at your local book store. Jon will be at Barnes & Noble in the Greenbrier area of Chesapeake, October 9, noon - 2:00 pm. For more information, see http://www.jonpineda.com/


• Publication of Skipping Stones: Chesapeake Bay Poets. Editor Pete Freas has compiled some of the best poetry of Hampton Roads in Skipping Stones. For more information, see http://www.chesbaypoets.org/ .


• For additional information from Nathan Richardson, see www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Nathan/Richardson


• Additional websites of interest to writers and poetry lovers include: http://www.jamesriverwriters.org/ , http://www.crwrwa.org/ , http://www.the-muse.org/ , and http://www.poetrysocietyofvirginia.org/ .

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

and sorry I could not travel both

and be one traveler, long I stood

and looked down one as far as I could

to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

and having perhaps the better claim,

because it was grassy and wanted wear;

though as for that the passing there

had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

in leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference.

Come to Poetry, Prose, and Pizza Open Mic Night on October 15

and enjoy the difference your poetry can make.