Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on May 30, 2019.

“We’re in it for the long haul,” said Little River Poetry Festival’s Jack Callan about the festival’s upcoming fourth year, June 7-9.  Callan, an artist, poet and carpenter, founded the festival with his wife Judith Stevens after years of visiting Floyd for Spoken Word Open Mic nights at the Café Del Sol (where Dogtown Roadhouse is now located) and camping along the Little River. 

Befriended by Daniel Sowers while camping, Callan hosts the festival in the open meadow at Sowers’ “On the Water” canoeing and kayaking business, alongside the Little River on Thunderstruck Road.  He and Stevens conceived of the idea while kayaking and coming upon a hanging rock ledge that they thought would make a great amphitheater.  The couple – who currently live in Norfolk but plan to move to Floyd – put on poetry programs throughout the year, including programs for the Poetry Society of Virginia and an every-other month gathering at their home, called The Fairmont Five.

“We wanted to take all our poet friends in the Hampton Roads area to the mountains, to the place we love so much,” said Stevens, director of outreach at Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. (Association of Research and Enlightenment) in Virginia Beach.  That impetus became a poetic interchange between regional mountain poets and those from cities along the Eastern coast.  It’s what prompted the annual Little River Poetry Festival, which features readings, open mics, writing workshops and time to soak up creative inspiration in a beautiful natural setting.

“We need creativity now more than ever,” Callan recently said.  He referred to how renowned musician YoYo Ma recently went to the Southern border to play cello. “Creativity helps our mental stability, our emotional stability and gives us a spiritual anchor,” he continued.

This year, a poet ensemble that performed at a Poetry Society of Virginia event in Williamsburg will recreate their performance, titled Heal the World. “The poems are woven into a magical blend of important subjects, from honoring our dead, human rights, respect for nature, dealing with loss, hopes for justice and peace, to a quiet poem written in the silence of a Quaker Meeting. Some of the poems will be accompanied with a musical instrument,” Callan said about Heal the World.

Local poets Mara Robbins and Colleen Redman have been writing and sharing their poetry with each other for more than two decades.   As past members of The Floyd Writer’s Circle who oversaw a local monthly Spoken Word Night for seven years, the two have a history of engaging in poetic conversation, riffing off each other’s work.   On Saturday June 8^th (3:00), they will read poems as conversation and engage the audience in the “call and response” writing of poetry. 

Other local readers include Katherine Chantal and Katherine Sowers for a “Homegrown Poetry” set (5:00 on Saturday), and Chelsea Adams, who will be accompanied by her husband Bill Adams on guitar (8:15 on  Saturday).  Readers from the Norfolk area include Serena Fusek, James Bane, C.J. Expression and others. Workshop titles include Beating Writer’s Block by Giving Voice to Inanimate Objects (Friday at 3:45 with C.J. Expression), Beyond Fractured Fairy Tales: Fairy Tales, Myths and the Tri-Part Brain (Saturday at 10:30 with Serena Fusek), and Pablo Neruda’s Love Poems (Sunday at 9:30 am with Jack Callan).  Live music will be provided by Kristi Paddock, Brian Magill and Jim Best. “Walt Whitman Yoga” is led in the mornings by Stevens.

The festival is an intimate and welcoming retreat with opportunities to write poetry while bird watching, hiking and kayaking.   It’s a place to share (bring notebooks), add your voice or come to just listen.   “The simplicity of our festival – we barely had an electric lightbulb last year – belies the actual power that we experience in connection to each other for three days.” Callan said. – Colleen Redman

– Check out the full schedule at the Little River Poetry Festival’s webpage (littleriverpoetryfest.com) and on Facebook.   1.  A poet reads at last year’s LRPF.  2. LRPF founders Judith Stevens and Jack Callan are pictured at a past Art on the Parkway at Tuggles Gap Restaurant Motel.