'She says Jesus / has spoken to her, told her not to drink coffee / or Redbull, that black tea is okay. / I feel jealous of such direct communication / with a higher power, then wonder if I would / stop drinking coffee if Jesus told me to ...'
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POETICS: 3 Poems by Doug Van Gundy
'These are the hours I love the best, / when the golden light of summer has climbed / to the top of the abandoned building next door / and all of the neighborhood / cats have come out from the woodpile / beneath the back porch to carouse and fight ...'
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POETICS: 3 Poems by Marc Harshman
‘A fiddle tune bearing, rough-shod, / the memory of the village: / sunlight on stucco, / leaf-plastered paths in autumn, / spectral sheep / in moonlight and bracken, / the lilt of the market tongue, / ancient beyond telling …’
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POETICS: “Appalachian Marie Kondo” by Crystal Good
I live in the disorder of a missing mother. / I sit in the middle of my mess. / I hear my mother’s voice: / You don’t need this. / This doesn't fit. / When was the last time you used this? ...
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POETICS: Two by Colleen Anderson
Clean music. The notes fall one upon the other, / transparent. Closing my eyes on this city concert,/ I hear water, the song of melting snow on a hill / in Braxton County, in spring ...
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CHARACTERS, PART 1: A music video about how I never slept with Allen Ginsberg
What do you get when you mix famous poet Allen Ginsberg, a bonfire deep in the West Virginia hills, an interview, and a recording studio. Well, 30 years later you get a music video.
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Q&A: “Where Sky Meets Eternity” documents an extraordinary artistic hand-off in the WV hills
The documentary "Where Sky Meets Eternity” profiles an ambitious, offbeat art project from deep in the West Virginia hills, as 12 artists bounced off each other's work in often surprising, unexpected ways.
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POEM: “Almost” by Marc Harshman
'The world will go on without me but for these few moments I am/ sitting on top of the world, a simple summer's day, away/ from the busy rush of roads, the scrolling of screens,/ almost off the map, almost heaven, almost where/ sky meets eternity ...'
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DOGGEREL: The Ballad of Bobby and Joe
Yes, we are not too proud to resort to doggerel to compare the legacies of West Virginia senators Robert C. Byrd and current Sen. Joe Manchin. The legacy match-up is not looking good for Joe, right now.
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POETICS: The Art of Being West Virginia’s Poet Laureate
We sit down — digitally — with longtime West Virginia poet laureate Marc Harshman and quiz him about his "Dispatch From the Mountain State" in the NYTimes and the obligation of a poetry to be the sort of "political being" described by W.H. Auden.
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PARADIGM SHIFTING: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Life in the Trenches of Poetry
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's storied life came to a close this Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, at the remarkable age of 101. I was blessed to interview him in 1995. What this "ageless radical and true bard" had to say — not to mention his poetry — remains timely and pertinent.
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PHOTOPOEM: “When Hay Bales Speak to You”
Let’s talk hay bales. I have, perhaps like you, been spying hay bales most all my life. Yet, in all that time haven’t met a hay bale. Up close. The other day, I had my chance.
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NATUREGRAM: January Stroll Under an Azure Sky
The dried out, frosty marshlands are not really absent of life and color. You just have to hang out and look and listen more closely as you stroll the woods and walkways beside the Ohio in western West Virginia.
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CHARACTERS | The “Spark-eyed” Vision of WV Poet Bob Snyder
Influential West Virginia-native poet Bob Snyder died in 1995. But a new collection of his poetry exemplifies why, says a fellow poet: "Every West Virginia writer should know Bob. At least know about him. You may not ever get the whole story, but this book will help you understand some of it."
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VIDEO/POEM: A Brief Visit to “Magic Mountain” in West Virginia
What happened one night on Folklife Mountain in the West Virginia heartland. Some called it Magic Mountain.
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POEM | “Nous Celeron” by Douglas John Imbrogno
'Don’t you, Nous Céleron, wish to lay down your arms? Enter the Ohio’s cool darkness, or the Chinodahichetha! Sounding out each syllable as a Wyandotte might utter them ...
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READINGS | Two by Kiley Lee
Twitter can be a whirlwind of woe. It can also be a place of discovery, of encountering creatives working in West Virginia whose work is worth checking out and lifting up. Here are two poems and two photographs by Kiley Lee, of Paden City WV.
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READINGS | A Stroll Deep into a West Virginia Marsh
If it’s true we are mother, father, sister, brother, related all to all, maybe that's one way to comprehend and befriend the ten thousand things. The hundreds of voices, cries, and songs rising from this manifold marsh.
