winners of our annual poetry contest - Rapid River Magazine

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FEBRUARY 2009 • Friday, February 5 at 7 p.m. KATHLEEN BUERER reads from and signs In Reflections on a Haitian Pilgrimage. • Saturday, February 6 at 7 p.m. JOHN LEE a.k.a. RICHARD “DIXIE” HARTWELL reads from two books including When the Buddha Met Bubba. • Monday, February 8 at 7 p.m. AMY BLOOM will read from Where the God of Love Hangs Out. • Thursday, February 11 at 7 p.m. KAREN HEAD presents her book, Horse as Teacher: The Path to Authenticity. • Saturday, February 13 at 7 p.m. AMY GREENE reads from Bloodroot, a story of family, madness, and the legacy of place. • Friday, February 19 at 7 p.m. CHRISTINE EISNER reads from Comfort Living: A Back-to-Basics Guide to a More Balanced Lifestyle. • Saturday, February 20 at 2 p.m. FRED FEDER signs copies of Free Throw Wizard and shares a slideshow of his talent. • Sunday, February 21 at 2 p.m. DR. LEWIS RATHBUN discusses his book, A Doctor All My Life. • Tuesday, February 23 at 7 p.m. ELLEN LOGAN presents Dr. Sha’s Soul Healing Techniques. • Wednesday, February 24 at 7 p.m. JOSEPH D’AGNESE & DENISE KIERNAN discuss their book Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence. • Thursday, February 25 at 7 p.m. TIM “THE TELLER” HALL treats us to a night of Southern Appalachian storytelling! • Friday, February 26 at 7 p.m. LINDA STAR WOLF returns with her new book, Shamanic Breathwork. • Saturday, February 27 at 7 p.m. WAYNE CALDWELL discusses Requiem by Fire, the follow-up to his acclaimed debut and Malaprop’s bestseller, Cataloochee. 55 Haywood St. 828-254-6734 • 800-441-9829 Monday-Saturday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E poetry Fred Chappell: Shadow Box Dancer Anative of Canton, North Carolina, and formerly a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Fred Chappell is the author of a dozen poetry books, eight novels, and two short story collections. Among the most accomplished and critically acclaimed writers with North Carolina and Appalachian connections, and an eight-time recipient of the Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry (an annual honor bestowed upon North Carolina poets), Chappell is arguably one of the more significant American poets of his generation. He has received such nationally prestigious literary awards as the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry, and the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry. Granted his literary success, Chappell probably cannot claim the readership of some other poets of his stature, most likely because his work can be overtly formal, complex, and sophisticated, qualities manifestly evident in his recent, often innovative, book, Shadow Box: Poems (Louisiana State University Press, 2009). Illustrating his singular sense of craft, Shadow Box showcases a beguiling and challenging poetic form in which a poem is artfully embedded within a larger poem. In Chappell’s description, this form presents “two aspects of a situation or personality simultaneously. Each whole poem implies a narrative incomplete without these different perspectives.” An example of this approach in Shadow Box is “Searchlight”; within this eight-line poem exists another poem, indicated in the book by italics: The hamlet sleeps under November stars. Only the page of numerate thought toils through The darkness, shines on the table where, askew And calm, the scholar’s lamp burns bright and scars The silence, sending through the slot, the bars And angles of his window square, a true Clean ray, a shaft of patient light, its purview Lonely and remote as the glow of Mars. When the italicized portion of the larger text is isolated, the poem-within-a-poem reads as follows: Another section of Shadow Box incorporates poems by Chappell inspired by the “counterpoint” found in certain Western music compositions. In the poet’s words, “counterpoint” involves “two or more lines that sound simultaneously, independently, and interdependently” in order to create “a single unified effect.” Within that particular section in Shadow Box, writes Chappell in an explanatory note, “a debate or dialectic is established between the two ‘melodic’ lines, but these dissensions or complementaries are designed to produce a final harmony.” This approach can be witnessed, for instance, in Chappell’s poem “Music Box”: “I weary of country music,” says Madeline, “The hangdog sentiment and dobro whine. Too frequent and too sad that song of love In smithereens, the same old tune whereof They always howl, ‘She Done Me Wrong’ we know By heart, as sung again and again, oh woe Dependable as moon and sun. Their thoughts Tend ever to come round in a ring, like boats In dazed maelstroms, like rondo refrain gone mad. No more of that. Best to sing none,” she said. “Wolfgang Amadeus suits me just fine. A’ bas that hillbilly crap,” cried Madeline. Here is the poem-within-a-poem, excerpted from the larger text (with punctuation added to make the lines flow more smoothly): Too sad that song, the same old tune, “She Done Me Wrong,” again and again as moon and sun come round in a ring, like rondo refrain. Best to sing none. Read separately, the lyrical, understated poem that constitutes the italicized portion of the text serves as a kind of thematic coun- BY TED OLSON terpoint to the more colloquial larger poem. All the poems in Shadow Box experiment (or, more accurately, play) with form, yet Chappell is not interested in exercising technical cleverness for its own sake; instead, this book suggests the degree of interplay between words, sounds, and themes possible within even very short poems. An aesthetic credo of serious lyric poetry has long been that “less is more”; Shadow Box reveals Chappell’s skill at creating richly textured lyric poems with a minimum of words. In a note included within Shadow Box Chappell asserts that some of his poems were inspired by the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s Two- Part Inventions — music compositions that, like Chappell’s best poems within this particular book, may seem simple, yet that are remarkably complex in their structure and meaning. Ted Olson is the author of “Breathing in Darkness: Poems” (Wind Publications, 2006) and “Blue Ridge Folklife” (University Press of Mississippi, 1998) and the editor of “CrossRoads: A Southern Culture Annual” (Mercer University Press, 2009). His experiences as a poet and musician are discussed on www.windpub.com/ books/breathingindarkness.htm. Poets who would like for their poetry to be considered for a future column may send their books and manuscripts to Ted Olson, ETSU, Box 70400, Johnson City, TN 37614. Please include contact information and a SASE with submissions. the page of numerate thought shines on the table where the scholar’s lamp burns bright sending through the slot of his window square a shaft of patient light Love to Read? The Rapid River is seeking writers to review books by local authors, books on regional topics, as well as books by noted authors. Please respond by email with sample writings to info@rapidrivermagazine.com 28 February 2010 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 13, No. 6
R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E M A G A Z I N E Rapid River’s Annual Poetry Contest Winners 1ST PLACE Windowsill Song Don’t misunderstand. I am very happy. Content. But, there are moments standing at the sink, water splashing onto my dogwashed crewneck offbrand scrubbing out yet another cereal bowl and using my college math to arrange the dishwasher that I hesitate too long. I look out the windowsill and watch the cat leap the fence, lithe and graceful; gone. A silent twinkling bound to freedom, adventure, unfettered choices. If I left the rings there and followed, what would I find? I close my eyes and breathe in the image of my life’s backward wonderings blowing away behind me like loose plastic bags. Untethered, sunsoaked, sublime and poetic, I float through these momentary fantasies as the free spirited muse who sparkles and glows. Whose eyeliner never smudges in the corners of her eyes. Whose gentle words never tangle or wound. Who never spills coffee on a night’s work. Who never hears door slamming. Forced to inhale, I close the dishwasher, dry my hands on the towel crocheted by my daughter at summer camp and take the rings off the windowsill. Outside the sky’s blue is endless, the mountain compelling purple in the distance. But don’t misunderstand — I know the cat will come back over the fence for her supper, her fur knotted and burred. I don’t hesitate, but the rings are back on. The weight of the platinum feels good on my hand. ~ Susan Stanley Marino 2ND PLACE Cicada I feel the split starting Before it happens. The shell cracks, Falls away in one piece — And with it, the memory Of all those years spent underground, Waiting, preparing for this day. When I finally crawl out From the dark husk of my past, I leave behind that empty thing That looks like me, But isn’t me. Ascending to a higher level, I find I have a voice, That I can join it with others, And together We might be loud enough To wake up All those that still sleep. ~ Jenna Weston 4TH PLACE Faith I know melting snow Revealing secrets pale green. I know day’s young light After aging night’s fear. I know mountains and rivers Higher and longer than my sight. I know hope that lives Through pain and pretended cheer. I know the touch of gentle hands And beauty created from the ordinary. I believe these are blessings. I don’t have to know everything. ~ Lenore McComas Coberly Daffodils on a Sundrenched Windowsill. Photo: Liz Evans 3RD PLACE Manuel Labor No one praises those invisible workers who wash and wax wipe and polish our steel chariots those vehicles of distinction cop cruisers the SUV’s classic cars campers rag-tops muscle cars trucks Season after wet or cold, hot or dry season Women and men toil, detail, vacuum Armor-all the tires for the Mobility working for that minimum wage and an occasional dollar tip It’s the class(ic) system of Haves and Have-Nots and drives our desparate economy deep into the 21st Century. ~ Kennon Webber Many excellent poems were submitted for the 13th Annual Rapid River Poetry Contest, and the selected winners, whose poems are printed here, reflect the fact that poetry is alive and well in western North Carolina and among Rapid River readers. Each of the winning poems constitutes a revelation that came to a poet while in the process of living life, and readers of poetry, as believers in the edifying power of a fully-realized poem, certainly benefit from the fact that these poets all recognized the importance of writing down their revelations. The staff of Rapid River all appreciate the ongoing interest of a large number of readers in the coverage of poetry within these pages. We are happy to announce that our April issue — marking National Poetry Month — will feature a special section that will explore the poetry of western North Carolina specifically and of southern Appalachia and the American South generally. We encourage readers who might know of upcoming special events involving poetry to submit that information for possible inclusion in the special section. Similarly, people who have produced recent or forthcoming poetry books or chapbooks are invited to submit such information for possible mention within the section. Please note that the deadline for receiving submitted information for this special section will be March 15, 2010. Address your submissions to Ted Olson, ETSU, Box 70400, Johnson City, TN 37614. Please include contact information and a SASE with submissions. Vol. 13, No. 6 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — February 2010 29
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winners of our annual poetry contest - Rapid River Magazine

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