Our
first meeting in November had fewer people than previous sessions,
the lower turnout attributed to the late night most of us spent glued
to the television sets watching election returns the night before.
Still, we had eleven guests and a very good evening of reading and
discussions. We
welcomed back another regular attendee, sun-bird Kathleen Schwartz.
George
Mindling started the evening with a wrap-up of the recent FWA
conference in Orlando, and encouraged everyone to consider attending
the conference in 2013. We discussed the upcoming Holiday
get-together and will decide at our next meeting, November 21 (The
day before Thanksgiving) whether the Christmas get-together will be
on December 5th,
or on December 19th.
George
read a short piece from the Pepper Tree by our centenarian and
faithful contributor, Ed Lyman, entitled “Looking
Forward.” Ed rarely
misses a meeting, so George read the piece as a part of our regular
Ed Lyman readings.
We
sadly learned the following day that Ed passed away in his sleep on
the 6th, the details of his service, and the piece read at the
meeting, have been posted on the blog under “Our Loss.”
Peter
Frickel took over as moderator and chief cat-herder for the evening,
and did an admirable job! He started by introducing Joanne Phillips
who continued her saga Memoirs
of a Sea Hag. Joanne
has taken us through the Caribbean on a sailing adventure that never
fails to engage the audience with her “Kinetic, not dry,”
storyline.
Kathleen
marked her return with a short, creative non-fiction piece, and Jim
Kelly read Irv Newman's engaging story of coaxing a hospice nurse to
write her memoirs. Jim then read two of his marvelous poems, one of
which he has graciously allowed us to present here. The work, Like
Him,
is copyrighted by Jim Kelly, 2012, who retains all rights to the
work. It may not be copied or distributed without his permission.
Like
Him
"Take
these, she says,
Dad
doesn't need 'em anymore."
Hands
him a pair of shoes—not
new, but shiny,
as
if they expect to go somewhere.
A
couple trips in the rain will change all that.
Feels
uneasy at first,
glances
over his shoulder,
makin'
sure he's draggin'
only
one shadow.
Dust
runs its fingers
through
his furrowed brow,
reminding
him of things that were . . .
the
last one yet to come.
Like
ties beneath his feet,
weathered
and whiskered,
he
wanders off, spending space
between
near and far―
unencumbered
by directions.
Yesterday
walks barefoot
through
the softest grass,
down
the briared paths
they
often shared.
James
O. Kelly
Englewood,
FL
10/27/12
The
meeting continued with Cecile Bell reading a reflective, “Milk
Room” piece she wrote while waiting for the meeting to start!
Cecile's mother, Paula, was a guest for the evening and got to read,
rather hear, some really great writing.
Don
Westerfield, who had poems also published in the recent “Pepper
Tree,” read “The Runner,” and perhaps summed up why we write
best of all; “I started writing one thing, and was amazed at what
came out...” What came out was great writing about the service and
sacrifice of American military men and women. Perfectly written for
Memorial Day reminding us “that free is never free.”
Kit
Crescendo read
Mirror,
an ingenious piece with a swirl, and then a touching account based on
a personal experience that had everyone in absolute silence. Writing
about personal tragedy is hard enough, but to make it a spell binding
narrative is a craft.
Peter
Frickel finished the evening's readings with a piece from the Herald
Tribune about forty words, and then another selection from his
upcoming
eighteen part work named “Lilies
of the Vlei.”
Peter also has the talent to engage the listener with his prose and
ability to describe natural beauty with the raw dangers of his South
African homeland.
We
wrapped up the evening with an open floor discussion about writing in
general. Several suggestions were to do more presentations about the
craft of writing in future meetings, and we will do just exactly
that. The readings are extremely popular, but we can balance reading
with presentations that everyone will enjoy.
With
that, we wrapped up our meeting and said our goodbyes until our next
meeting, Wednesday, November 21st.
George
