Loose Leaf Notes

1. Here I am fangirling these talented quilting sisters who I wrote a story about for the Floyd Times. Read more HERE.

2. And here I am, being fangirled in the middle of these mostly young poets who were showing me some love and asked me to pose with them as one of their Little River Poetry Festival elder poets. Judith, festival co-founder (second from left) is also being loved on.

3. When your book photo looks better than the real thing because you’re late for your own reading… and your first!  Check out Scenes from the Floyd Little River Festival where I opened with readings from my book Mining the Gold of the Inner Life HERE.

4. It’s the last year of the poetry festival being held in the meadow alongside the Sowers family farm and the Little River where the poets float and write in kayaks.  So, there were some closing tears and lots of hugs.

5. We’ll be back next year (just don’t know where yet) and will meet our first Festival baby.

6. That’s Vanna Barbarian, whose name I always forget, so I call her Barbarella, a reference she’s too young to get.

7. My wit is no longer so quick, and my cowlick is set in its ways.

8. Haiku by Erika Joyner: An apple a day / keeps the doctor away / if aimed properly.

9. “This field is a hand-me-down / an inheritance from Daniel Sowers / Passed on from those who came before / So fall on your knees on the forest floor / Give thanks to trees, bees, all the unexplainable mysteries / Practice accepting that our time here is temporary / But the ripples of our interconnection are forever / It’s so good to be together.” – Krista Gerber

10. Krista wrote another tribute to the festival, titled Final Day, on the 11th year and our final festival in the field.

11. Parting from the land: Vanna shared Homage to the Festival at the mic… “This sacred covenant…Once a year we draw close and gather here… I miss you is an understatement… I call back my family from this land…

Many of us have been to all or nearly all 11 LRP festivals, so the bonds have been made.  Our spoken word motorcycle poet, Don MacKellar, who is an always wisely entertaining mainstay, gifted some of us with his homemade books of poetry, memories and photos of past festivals. Check out his book Bent Spokes and Broken Dreams HERE. 

13. Founders Jack Callan and Judith Stevens wrote love poems to each other.

__________ Thirteen Thursday