Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in the June 16, 2016 issue of The Floyd Press newspaper.

It was great weather for performance art at the inaugural Little River Poetry Festival, hosted by Norfolk-based festival co-founders Jack Callan and Judith Stevens.  Held along the river, in the field at On the Water Kayaking, the June 10 – 12 event combined poetry and the natural world, with Walt Whitman yoga in the morning and a river kayak trip for spontaneous writing. The kayak paddle concluded with readings under the overhanging rock where Callan and Stevens first envisioned the festival.    

Under a blue striped tent, attendees gathered to hear featured poets and perform in open mics.  On Saturday, Callan read from his book Little River on the Milky Way, which includes poems inspired by and written in Floyd, after he was befriended by On the Water owner Daniel Sowers while camping along the river, near the Sowers family land.  Callan’s reading of the poem “Fields of Daniel” was accompanied by keyboardist Kristi Paddock and was especially moving because Daniel Sowers was in the audience. “On the first date the river does not kiss you (some confusion as to who is most shy),” the poem begins.

On Friday and Saturday evening, attendees re-grouped at the Quaker Friends Meeting House.  Friday night’s program included an interactive workshop titled “Twitter Feed and Postcards: The Long and Short of the Short,” presented by poet Jill Winkowski, who also gave a featured reading.  Judith Stevens’ featured reading that night included a poem about Callan’s marriage proposal to her and one written from the voice of the uncle of Emmett Till, the 14 year-old African-American teenager who was lynched and beaten to death in Mississippi in 1955 – an act that galvanized the emergence of the Civil  Rights Movement.

Saturday’s evening workshop was on “Writing Protest Poetry” with Toni Wynn, who also gave a featured reading.  Featured poet Tanya Cunningham (left) enlisted the help of her husband for the first poem she read, which was about teaching her 16 year-old son that “doing 62 in a 55 can be a life of death situation” for young black men. The poem included the poignant refrain, “May I reach for my registration?  I am reaching for my registration.” The workshops fostered an easy flow of conversation and ideas on the craft of poetry.

Other featured poets included Serena Fusek from Newport News and David King, who traveled from South Carolina to attend. Introduced by Callan as a well loved (retired) English school teacher and a resource on historical knowledge, King read a selection of poems about characters from North Carolina, created from years of his poetic documentation.

Several of the poets said that the weekend was a welcomed retreat from city life.  Featured poet James Bane (right) read a poem about a four mile stretch of construction on I-65 where dead trees were left piled up and forgotten.  He wondered aloud if shamans of the past foretold of the scourge of “400 year old legends fork lifted into formidable and convenient graves of forgotten birdsong and trees…”

Back at the Meadow Tent, Cunningham taught a workshop on Narrative Poetry and Free Verse and Callan presented one on ekphrastic poetry, poetry inspired by a scene or a work of art.  His story about taking an unexpected, one-day trip to New York to see an exhibit of Pablo Picasso’s paintings had everyone laughing.  The taxi ride cost more than the airfare.  “But I got some poems out of it,” he said.  The trip inspired the writing of a body of work called Wings of Picasso.

Buffet meals were catered by Richard Perry of Fat Spoon.  A hike to Buffalo Mountain, where poets were encouraged to pen new poems, was scheduled for Sunday.  Closing stretches, meditation and farewells took place Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm.  The festival was the manifestation of a vision, Callan said.  He’s hopeful that the enthusiasm for what was shared and the foundation that was laid will lead to more Little River Poetry Festivals in the future.  – Colleen Redman

Judith Stevens reading.

Floyd Countian Rebekah Hicks reads her poem.

Check out the festival’s webpage HERE or visit them on Facebook. Listen to some video clips of readings HERE.  ______Our World Tuesday