Doggone Poetry
-The following was written by the Little River Poetry Festival co-founder Jack Callan and first appeared in The Floyd Press on June 4, 2020. The Festival will take place June 12-14, 2020 at On the Water in Floyd.
What if you were out with your dog an’ it run off with no, “May I go?”, an’ when you find the varmit, it’s sittin’ in a tent on a farm, Little River runnin’ by, and the dadgum dog is just layin’ there, listenin’ to some man or woman spoutin’ poetry?
What? I mean, what should you do? Get rid of the dawg before it spoils the others? Keep it tied up? Or give it to your daughter who’ll put bows on it? The dog could be ruined.
Maybe you’ll stop pokin’ your head in down at the store. You begin to imagine the talk behind the silence. “His dawg went where?” “Naw!”
They may not know what people were talkin’ about in that tent – they may not know some of them were writin’ and readin’ about livin’ on these mountain lands, raisin’ families, an’ ideas that might of come to ’em in church – mostly just what it’s like to be human. Some folks just wanta’ talk out loud about it.
Well, here’s what happens. We don’t have dog food, but people get fed good. People get ideas an’ write ’em down. Some o’ them get a wild hair an’ want to get up on a tiny stage an’ read ’em out loud. They find that everybody in the audience is listenin’: we only heard snorin’ once in the last four years, and he was just layin’ on the ground, relaxin’.
Mostly, people there just started feelin’ good inside, started makin’ notes about ideas. We might see ’em again the next year an’ they got a bunch o’ new poems they want folks to hear. What they find is people come up to ’em after they read, an’ tell ’em what a good job they did, an’ how the poem reminded them of somethin’. An’ there’s lots of hugs. Why, you can even go kayakin’ while you’re there an’ write poetry while you paddle, or dawdle, or just float. Amazin’ words pop into your head on a river. You have no idea. And it’s personal.
We have found that the wildlife likes to be mentioned in the poems. It makes people write about what it’s like to be here on a mountain river, words in your quiver, sometimes laughter an’ tears, an’ best of all, cheers. There ain’t nothin’ special, but it feels right.
Then we pack up and head on home. Over the Blue Ridge Mountains we roam, and hope you’ll all come back next year. We plan to be there. Here’s where and when.
We’re in the field next to “On the Water Outfitters” on Thunderstruck Road. Look for the white tent. We start on Friday, June 12th, at 2:00 – 10:00 p.m., go all day Saturday, June 13th. On Sunday, June 14th, we wrap it up at 3:00 p.m. Send you home.
There’s open mics, featured readers, yoga, kayaking, unrepentant lazing, and note taking. You can buy a meal on site with a donation. You can put your lawn chair out in the field and ignore everybody. Or you can have an out-of-body writing experience and no one will think you’re crazy.
This year, we plan to space the seating in our Festival tent for social distancing. We have a hand-washing station set up at the Porta-Potties, and we’ll be wearin’ masks and hope other attendees will, too. Some people may choose not to wear masks and they will also be welcome. We’re here to celebrate our resilience at a challenging time in our lives. We’re here to love one another.
This will be our fifth year.
Bless the Sowers Family for puttin’ up with us.
It only costs $15.00 a day. Register at the tent. Questions? Call Jack or Judith, 757-622-8721. Check out the Little River Poetry Festival’s webpage and their Facebook page for more.
