The Degrees and Day Jobs of Poetsfrom M.F.A. to M.D.

By Sonja Patterson

Most, if not all, poets have day-jobs out of the necessity. Some of the day jobs of famous poets include editor at a publishing house (T.S. Eliot), insurance executive (Wallace Stevens), and medical doctor (William Carlos Williams). It is estimated that Williams delivered 2,000 babies in New Jersey, where he had a private practice and later was head pediatrician of Passiac General Hospital between 1910 and 1952.

Poet Michael Salcman, who is a medical physician specializing in neurology, will be reading from his collection The Clock Made of Confetti (Orchises Press) with poet and fiction writer Gerry LaFemina this Sunday as part of the Open Door Reading Series at The Writer’s Center.

Gerry LaFemina, director and teacher at the Lyric Center for Creative Writing at Frostburg State University, will read from his latest collection of stories, Wish List. As this exert from Silenced Press shows, LaFemina sounds like a wonderful teacher:

“Imaginative writing requires an image,” he says, “the relationship between abstractions and image is crucial to poetry.” LaFemina continues, “I look for images and usually image comes connected to some aspect of language that makes it compelling to me. For instance, about a year ago I was walking through Frostburg and saw that the chestnut tree in front of the Catholic Church had been shedding its nuts. And the husks had cracked, squirrels had come, etc.
So I ended up with the line: Open husks of chestnuts on the streets by St. Michael’s. I liked the rhythm, the “uh” sound of husks and chestnuts.

But then I have to ask: Where is this taking me? So I have to pursue, running with the idea of hollow spaces. In early drafts, then, I followed it in this way:
the empty space like a mouth agapelike her spot in the bed now that she’s gone,like the tomb of Jesus on the third day.

Now I had no idea I would get to this! Of course, the Catholic Church setting helped, as did the word “agape” which is also agape–the term for Christian love. But one has to have these images gathered in order to shuffle them up. One has to trust the leaps one makes.” Read more here.

Poets, doctors, teachers, each examine and pick at our brain with metaphorical scalpels. As Dr. Williams said, “When they ask me, as of late they frequently do, how I have for so many years continued an equal interest in medicine and the poem, I reply that they amount for me to nearly the same thing.”

Join us this Sunday, November 15th, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. for the Open Door Reading Series with poets Garry LaFemina and Michael Salcman at The Writer's Center. FREE and open to the public. More info here.

Sonja Patterson is on staff at The Writer's Center.

Poet Lore: Celebrating 120 Years

A friendly reminder that The Writer’s Center invites you to join us in celebrating "120 Years of Poet Lore,” featuring readings by Gary Fincke, John Balaban, and Myra Sklarew (bios below) on Saturday, November 14th at 7:30 pm at The Historical Society of Washington. Champagne reception to follow. FREE. RSVP and read more here.

Gary Fincke has twenty-one books in print and is the Charles Degenstein professor of creative writing at Susquehanna University. His collection of stories, Sorry I Worried You, won the Flannery O’Connor Prize and was published by the University of Georgia Press. He won the 2003 Ohio State University Press /The Journal Poetry Prize, and his third collection of stories, The Stone Child, won the George Garrett Fiction Prize that year. Fincke has also received two Pushcart Prizes. His latest poetry collection is The Fire Landscape (Arkansas, 2008). A memoir, The Canals of Mars, will be published by Michigan State in 2010.

John Balaban is the author of twelve books of poetry and prose, including four volumes which together have won The Academy of American Poets’ Lamont prize, a National Poetry Series Selection, and two nominations for the National Book Award. His Locusts at the Edge of Summer: New and Selected Poems won the 1998 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. His latest book of poetry is Path, Crooked Path (Copper Canyon, 2006). Balaban teaches at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

Myra Sklarew writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, and is the author of three chapbooks and six collections of poetry. From 1987 to 1991 she served as president of the Yaddo artist community, and she is currently emerita professor of literature in the writing program at American University. She is completing a study of Holocaust and traumatic memory (SUNY Press), and her new collection of poetry, Harmless, is due out in May. She has also co-edited (with Bruce Sklarew) The Journey of Child Development: Selected Papers of Dr. Joseph Noshpitz, due out in 2010 from Routledge.

- Sonja Patterson

Sunday’s Open Door Reading Series

Sunday: Laura van den Berg and William Heath

By Sonja Patterson

What do a Bigfoot impersonator, Loch-Ness-Monster-hunters, and a creature of the Congo forest have in common? If you answered “all are featured on the History Channel’s MonsterQuest,” you may be right, but the answer we were really looking for is that all are subjects in Laura van den Berg’s story collection What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us.

Van den Berg, as well as Novelist William Heath, will be reading this Sunday, November 8th, as part of the Open Door Reading Series at The Writer’s Center. Heath, at first glance, seems to adhere to the Reading’s monster theme—his book is titled Blacksnake’s Path. But let’s be clear: His subtitle is “The True Adventures of William Wells.” Blacksnake was William Wells’ given Indian name when he was adopted by a village chief and raised as a Miami.

Based on extensive research, Blacksnake’s Path is called “one of the best books, perhaps the best book that describes the earliest, wild and bloody days of the American Midwest,” according to Jerry Crimmins, author of Fort Dearborn.

Van den Berg, on the other hand, “blends the mythological with the everyday, buoyant playfulness with lacerating sadness,” says Benjamin Percy, author of Refresh, Refresh and The Language of Elk. Her book was recently named a Barnes & Noble Discover Great Books pick.

We have something for everyone this Sunday—whether you like fantastical fiction, authentic history, or simply excellent writing. Join us!

November 8, 2009, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Open Door Reading Series
Laura van den Berg reads from her story collection What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, and William Heath reads from his novel Blacksnake’s Path. Free and open to the public. To read more about this event and upcoming events at The Writer’s Center, click here.

Sonja Patterson is on staff at The Writer’s Center.

National Novel Writing Month

A Literary Marathon Running Thirty Days and Nights

By Sonja Patterson

“Deadlines are the most inspiring thing of all; forget lost love and people dying,” says Fran Healy, front-man of the band Travis, who plans, according to the NY Post, to end each live show on their month-long tour with a song written the previous night. Although he was referring to songwriting, his words are just as relevant to all forms of writing.

November is National Novel Writing Month and “all about the magical power of deadlines,” says founder Chris Baty. He is responsible for setting the ultimate writing deadline: Writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. “NaNoWriMo,” as participants call it, started in 1999 in San Francisco and the project has since grown to a large online following. In 2008, they had over 119,000 people participate around the world (despite its name, it’s now international), and more than 21,683 of them made it to the 50k finish line.

“As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel,” says their web site.

Forcing you “to lower your expectations, take risks and write on the fly,” the quantity-over- quality-kamikaze approach seems to be working. There are plenty of success stories; a growing number of novels started there found publishers, including one New York Times #1 Bestseller! For a complete list, click here.

Writing a novel is a lot like running a marathon. A literary marathon, involving the mind and fingers, instead of the lungs and calf muscles. Wordcount functions as milemarkers. Pacing is everything, exercising your mind, testing your endurance, and proving your status as “novelist.” Writer’s block is equivalent to a fallen tree, steep hill, or fatigue. Typing “THE END” equivalent to tearing through the finish line ribbon.

If you are one of the many who say, “Someday I’m going to write a novel.” Don’t wait for a New Year’s resolution, a birthday wish, or an optimistic Sunday morning. Your day—or month—has come. All writers started somewhere, so take your first step. Go write! And fine tune your manuscript at The Writer’s Center – all new workshops are listed on www.writer.org!

Sonja Patterson is on staff at The Writer’s Center.