Loose Leaf Notes

First there was the new Artemis poetry reading launch, hosted by two Floyd editors and featuring the legendary Nikki Giovanni (which I wrote about HERE), and then, a week later, Floyd County Moonshine contributors read at the Floyd library.

Between these two fine literary/art publications and the two reading events, along with the fact that two young and enthusiastic local writers came up and introduced themselves to me at the end of the library reading, I have hope for a resurgence of a literary scene in Floyd, after a three year lull that followed five years of an active monthly spoken word nights that were hosted by the (now inactive) Floyd Writers Circle, which I was a part of.

I’ve never read from a podium before. “It’s not your typical café open mic furniture,” I leaned in and said to the group before sharing three poems from past Moonshine
issues and three more new ones. Some of the other readers, more widely published and award winning, probably have read from podiums before.

Like Casey Clabough(right).  He is the featured author in the latest issue of Moonshine, which was founded in 2008 by editor in chief Aaron Moore.   Clabough was introduced by poet Chelsea Adams(first photo), who referred to his reading in Floyd as a “real opportunity.”

She read from the write-up that appeared in the local paper, which described him as an award winning author of a novel, a travel memoir, a biography and five scholarly books on southern and Appalachian writers.  His work has appeared in over seventy anthologies.

Clabough read a book chapter titled The Witching Women at Roads Inn from a sequel novel based on his real-life family stories.  I only wish I had taken a video clip of the part where the witching women show up with their metaphoric cauldron: a moonshine still in the woods. 

It had been a while since I had seen my potter friend McCabe (right) from the Floyd Writers Circle days.  I’ve always loved the rhythm of his work, the flair of his reading style, his art of description and the personal and touching revelations that he shares through his non-fiction essays and poetry. (Listen HERE.)

Rob Neukirch (below) has been a featured writer in Moonshine too.  I think of Rob, who is also an actor, as a cross between Garrison Keillor and David Sedaris.  He’s that funny and there’s a never dull moment or flat dialogue in his work. (A short sample clip can be heard HERE.)

Both Rob and McCabe read work that was set in Floyd with people some of us know (or think we do) as main characters.   Michele Rice (photo #4) also read a piece set in Floyd and had the description of the Blue Ridge Restaurant and the local banter heard there down to a tee.

Then we were whisked away by the jazz guitar playing of Bill Adams, who accompanied his wife Chelsea (both pictured in the first photo) as she read from her chapbooks.  They usually have berets on, I hear. You can listen to a sampling of their collaborative performance with Chelsea, a former Radford University Writing teacher, reading about an Alice in Wonderland fall below.

My husband Joe was there, and so, I too got videotaped. He appears in one of my poems (Morning Commute) and you can see me look at him as I read that part. I also read a couple of tribute quotes from Maya Angelou and Nikki G in my first trio of poems.

Note: Subscriptions to Floyd County Moonshine can be purchased online.  Issues can be purchased locally at The Harvest Moon Food Store, noteBooks or The Floyd Country Store.

Look for a write-up of the Moonshine reading in this week’s Floyd Press. ____Our World Tuesday