Montserrat Poetry Festival, May 23rd

Great news. Tonight I learned my application had been accepted to read at the Montserrat Poetry Festival near Warrensburg, MO on May 23rd. There will be 15 or 16 readers (judging by last year) including the Missouri Poet Laureate, Walter Bargen. I am quite excited.

Reading in Church - Jan. 24th

Here is a picture Jan took of me reading in our church as part of the morning

sermon. Our minister, Tim Carson, included my poem,

Corn, in his sermon to indicate "You can't go home." The

text for the morning was Jesus' rejection in Nazareth, his

boyhood home, when he tried to go back.

Ideas for a book of prayers

A minister friend of mine, upon hearing my prayers at the communion table continues to insist that I try to publish a book of my prayers. Does anyone have an idea of how this might be formatted, who it would be aimed at, and who might publishe such a volume. I love the idea, I even could use daily writings of prayers as a kind of daily devotion, but I need some ideas. Do you have any? Thanks. Jim

Read at Broadway Christian Church - Jan. 24

CORN

Back
to east central Illinois
to where my early years still linger,
to where the horizons are flat
and the dirt
is black
and Corn still owns the land.

Off
the paved road
and on to gravel
that thumps the floorboard
and boils behind us
marking for the farm folk
visitors passing through.

Inside,
decades old stories,
like forgotten friends,
shake themselves awake,
chatter for my attention,
pointing out the turns
to the farmstead where once we lived.

Rounding
the corner, adjacent to the farm,
the stories are stilled
as they hold their collective breath.
no house, no corncrib,
no trees, no barn,
no stage for them on which to play.

Living yet
are the stories,
although their stage is gone.
for now on that black dirt
of my childhood
standing soldier-like in row upon row
the Corn’s returned to claim its land.

Upcoming Readings, Signings, Programs
---February 21, 2:00 - First Christian Church, Savannah, MO
---March 6, 10:30 - Daniel Boone Regional Library, program on Starting Your Memoir
---April 17, AWP in Denver, CO (book signing in my editor's booth)
---May 23rd, 2:00 to 8:00 pm. I will read at 4:10. MO Poet Laureate, Walter Bargen will also be there to read.

A Good Book on Writing of Memoirs?

I need help. I hope to give a program in early March on the writing of memoirs. Does anyone have a suggestion for a source other than what I have. My favorite is Tristine Rainer's Your Life As Story. She advocates what she calls The New Autobiography. She means by that the livening of our autobiographies by using "fiction techniques." In other words, arranging the events, feelings and meanings of your life into dramatic story. She says story is "what you wanted, how you struggled and what you realized out of that struggle."

Does anyone have any other usable sources?

First poetry book published

I am still excited over my first book of poetry now published. Gravel Dust and Dreams, the first installment of my coming-of-age series, is now in hand. The publisher, Pudding House Press, of Columbus OH, has done a superb job with its printing.

Gravel Dust and Dreams - $10.00 (each) in person or $10.88 (each) by mail. If ordering by mail please furnish cash or check and full address.

Outside the Crowd, a sequel, is in production and will be released in the next few weeks.