Loose Leaf Notes

Poets rhyme sugar / with teacup and saucer / They alliterate morning / with mug

Linda Fallon, who was a long-time board president for the Floyd Center for the Arts, had the idea for a poetry tea to benefit the Center after attending a 2018 poetry tea party at Fiddlesticks Farm where Katherine Chantal, Chelsea Adams and I read tea poems while donned in our high-tea lady’s hats (See HERE).

She knew that Katherine and I have several published books and had been on a Soulful Aging Tour poetry reading for the past couple of years, reading from our poetic memoirs back-and-forth in different settings, including The Death Class Reading at Radford University, where we were invited to be featured guests at a grief and loss class for counselors.

When past Floyd resident Carolyn (Kirby) Grace posted on Facebook that she had completed a MFA in creative writing and had a first book of poetry published, Linda suggested that a poetry tea with the three of us would make a good FCA event, and it did.

I first met Carolyn back in 2008 when Floyd Press editor Wanda Combs asked if I’d do a feature story on her, a sixteen-year-old opera singer who was making a name for herself.  I traveled out to her family’s farm for an interview and took a picture of Carolyn, her mother and a family goat on the farmhouse porch, which later graced the paper’s front page (See HERE). Soon after, Carolyn began attending the monthly Spoken Word Night (hosted by the Floyd Writers Group that Katherine and I were members of) at the Café del Sol to read poetry, play guitar and sing.

There we were with freshly brewed tea poured in china cups, some sweet treats and an attentive audience of about thirty to hear our poetry. We read three or four poems each from our books in three alternating sets. Keeping with the tea theme, Katherine read a few poems from her first book, A Tea Poet’s Journey, as attendees sipped tea… We shall experience a most delicious time / of words mingled with savoring / deep brown, earthy elixir / Wisdom and aging, blending quite sagely / Hidden gold in every cup…”   She also read from her books Poetic Memoir of a Nascent Senescent and Streaming from the Inside.

I read three poems from each of my poetry memoirs, Packing a Suitcase For the Afterlife, Objects are Closer Than They Appear, and Poems From the Darkroom.  For me, it was fun for me to take a break from Katherine’s and my depth psychology readings on the inner life and even share a couple of poems that brought laughter. When our eyes become / adjusted to darkness / we call ourselves poets / We wear berets / and quit our jobs / fix our gaze / on the faraway / We wait for poems / that fit like skin / We dream them / from a distance / and write them close in…

Carolyn read from her book of sensual poems and lyric glossaries, Grenadine and Other Love Affairs… I have lost my fear / of being left out at sea. I know / that we are all just following / the curves of the continents / with the soles of our feet with / our souls in our hands…  

We had a surprise guest reader. Normia Vázquez Scales, a poet from North Carolina was in town to lead a workshop at The June Bug Center and shared a couple of her poems. In closing, we passed out cards from my deck of tea poetry and a person from each table read a haiku-like poem out loud.

We had a fantastic audience and appreciated everyone who came. We’d love to see more poetry events at the Floyd Center for the Arts.

Post Note: Katherine and I are currently working on a fourth installment for our Soulful Aging Tour 2024, tentatively titled Fairy Godmother’s Midnight and the Art of Archetype.  Our books are available on Amazon and locally at The Harvest Moon, The Floyd Country Store and Floyd Center for the Arts.