Poet in the House
“I feel a little like Leonard Cohen to her Sylvia Plath,” I leaned over and whispered in my friend Jayn’s ear. We were at the Café Del Sol for the monthly spoken word open mic, and Sierra Bell had the mic. Sierra, who grew up in Floyd and recently graduated from Appalachian State, read three poems. Her style was natural, her sultry voice perfectly metered. She poured her poems out like filling an empty glass. Never losing her place or her rhythm, she did not look up from her notebook, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. By the end of her reading of “The Birds,” posted below, I was giddy. Imagine it read in a Dorothy Parker-like delivery:
The Birds
The birds are sweet little voyeurs
and my pain’s on open-house.
They are sugar in my wounds:
paper packets full of bleached,
granulated chipper chirping.
Good god, get them out of my infection.
They smash their pie-songs in my face.
They dance their catchy little honey coated waltzes
on all nine horizons of my suffering.
The birds are dulcet weapons and I wake
each day to their bludgeoning lollipop standards.
All afternoon while I attempt to wallow
in my misery in peace, they accost me
with their shrill cherry-on-top trills.
I didn’t ask for this
saccharine spoonful of warbled jingles.
I’d rather not have my blisters
smeared with syrup, thank you.
Star struck, I called Sierra over to the couch I was sitting on when the readings were over. I wanted to learn a little more about her and tell her how I felt about her poetry. I found out that, although she had taken a poetry class at her college, she majored in Cultural Anthropology and not poetry or creative writing. 
Eventually she plans to go back to go back to school, but not for poetry or creative writing. “You can’t earn a living at it,” she explained.
Sierra’s father is a well known photographer in Floyd. Her mother is just as well known for her pressed flowers on glass, and her older sister makes jewelry. The results of their creative pursuits are sold at the family’s gallery in town where Sierra is currently working. Knowing how creative her family is, many customers ask, “What do you do?” she tells me.
“You can call yourself a poet. You’re a poet.” I insist.
“Then what do I say … do you want to buy a poem?” she jokes.
We talked about chapbook publications, places she might submit her poems, and the writing courses our friend and fellow poet Mara is taking at Hollins College. But Sierra was right, I had to agree. There are no jobs for poets listed in the want ads. No “poems wanted.” Not many people are interested in buying one.
“I only started calling myself a poet when Will Bason, (a mutual Floyd friend and folk poet), started calling himself one (via a bio in a Roanoke Times commentary). He gave me the courage to,” I told Sierra.
“But I also did it to explain myself. I think being a poet is a way of life, and I was hoping people would cut me some slack and leave me alone to do what I do,” I continued. “I wasn’t claiming to be a good poet. I was just saying that writing poetry was what I was compelled to do more than anything else.”
This is a young poet prodigy, I kept thinking as we talked. I silently cringed, knowing the steps Sierra would likely have to take to be recognized as a poet, to get paid even occasionally for her poems. Although I wanted her to get on with the rest of her life being a poet, I also realized that she’s young.
“Maybe you’ll find yourself home raising young children some day with lots of inspiration and time to devote to your writing,” I conceded. “Just keep writing,” I told her, “and don’t ever hesitate to call yourself a poet because that’s what you are.
October 27th, 2006 10:02 am
Good for you, stepping up and taking her under your mentoring wing like that. Encouraging her at this time will probably make all the difference for her to persue her gifts.
October 27th, 2006 11:35 am
I’m afraid that poetry is lost on me. I can read it and appreciate what is being done–but it doesn’t resound in my soul. I just don’t get it on an emotional level. I don’t know why, Colleen.
Michele sent me up to the mountain of NC to read a poem. Little did she realize…
October 27th, 2006 11:38 am
Strong poetry for sure. Glad you encouraged her. There are far less articulate poets publishing books but the road is long and en’shallah, she’ll choose to get there.
Do you suppose it would cause a flurry of excitement to put a poet wanted job ad in the want ads of the paper? One month only, short-contract. End product, a chapbook. Like a poetry content but really a job competition. Just as a charitable sort of act.hmmm…maybe with a government grant and to write on a given subject as public education contract?…
October 27th, 2006 12:32 pm
How about a poetry yard sale! Or a poetry counter in department stores? Like the cosmetic counters, people could sit and be made over from inside with good poetry!
October 27th, 2006 12:33 pm
Our society doesn’t value the things that people once did. Being a poet is akin to being a shaman. Most people don’t know what that, is either. It if isn’t profitable as defined by corporations it doesn’t matter. Little do they know the profit to the soul in the joy of writing (or reading) a good poem.
Good for you for being a part of building a better world.
October 27th, 2006 2:02 pm
Well they certainly are a talented family!
I liked “The Birds” and I love Dorothy Parker!
October 27th, 2006 5:50 pm
Her attitude is important. If she doesn’t view herself as a poet, she won’t value her ability.
October 27th, 2006 6:34 pm
At what point do you call a person a poet? By the # of poems they write per week? Or have written in their life so far? Do we define a person by what they do? Or did? I’m a teacher, but not actively teaching, am I still a teacher? I have written quite a few poems and stories but I’d hesitate to call myself a poet or writer as I just would rather say I do a lot of it. People think perhaps that you can call yourself something if you make your living at it, or make at least some money from it. I do a lot of singing, but I wouldn’t even think of calling myself a singer. Just different degrees and ways of thinking of the same thing, I guess. Interesting.
October 27th, 2006 11:09 pm
Wonderful post and interesting comments.
October 28th, 2006 12:17 am
Wonderful Colleen…Oh the pain of seeing someone’s wonderful exciting talent and to not be able to say…”Here, I’ll buy a poem”…I mean in essence your support of her lovely talent is just that—a form of buying a poem but it doesn’t put food on the table, does it…but I can surely see where she is coming from…It’s wonderful that you are giving such heartfelt encouragement to her to keep writing and to indeed, call herself a poet.
October 28th, 2006 6:39 am
She is so cute and one of those people you meet in life that makes your day special. Yeah, she’s a poet. But then aren’t we all?
October 28th, 2006 4:39 pm
hi everyone. just so y’all know I’ve proudly called myself a poet without hesitation since I was about 13 or 14. I began to do so upon my own insistance. I think a poet is anyone who would literally die if she or he didn’t write poetry.
I don’t want anyone to presume that I don’t recognize and/or proclaim my own poet nature. I am sure enough about my poet-ness to walk into a room and share my work with people who have been writing longer than I’ve been alive. This is not the action of someone who doubts her abilities!
I also think that if I was twenty years older and presented the same material, no one would say I needed a mentor. we ALL need support and inspiration, regardless of our ages. a group setting can provide this brilliantly for poets.
of course, I am eager to learn from Colleen and others about the processes of self-publishing, etc. Experience is an invaluable resource!
yet I see myself as a peer with the other writers involved in this group, and I think Colleen and the others do too.
please, readers, don’t assume that young artists need to be taken under someone’s wing just because they are young. many of us are truly artists in our own rights and we know it.
thanks, colleen, for posting my poem and your supportive comments. and thanks everyone who took the time to read my work. I appreciate the compliments. I hope you will have the chance to read much more of my poetry someday!
October 28th, 2006 6:19 pm
Just for the record…you’re right, sierra. We learn from each other. Hearing your work certainly informed me further. The whole reason I wrote the piece was because I was excited to recognize a poet when I saw one and I wanted to share that with others. I was wishing that poetry was such that poets could be discovered in the same way singers are. Your talent is a “native talent.” Thanks for sharing it!
October 29th, 2006 1:50 pm
I like the poetry make-over counter idea. 🙂
October 29th, 2006 7:36 pm
Great post and I totally agree with your thoughts…If I write poetry, then I AM.