2nd October Meeting

As most of you probably know, we had a second October meeting last Tuesday because the election falls on the date of our regular meeting day, and I thought making time in your schedule to vote was more important than making time to write poetry.

So we had three folks show up, one new person, which means we have 12 people on our poetry group list now- if we could only get them all in the same room sometime! I wanted to talk about "place" and the details (sound, sight, smell, tactile) that bring the place (or people in that place) to LIFE.

Before we got into the writing portion, everybody had a chance to read something they had previously written. Diana, who had a couple of short stories recently published in an anthology on Detroit, read from the book (one on old Tigers Stadium, formerly Briggs Stadium, parts of which have been recently torn down, and her uncle who took her there; and another story on Belle Isle, which evoked some great memories for another member, Linda). India, who happily told us she is getting married in a month (congratulations!), read a poem she had written for her single who raised 4 kids, the first coming when she was 14. It was a beautiful work, and India happily pronounced that it been selected as a finalist for a competition at Poetry.com. Linda was more content to listen, but after we did a group reading of a Stephen Vincent Benet poem ("Portrait of a Baby"), she gave a stirring rendition of "My Soul is Awakened" by Anne Bronte. Well done, group!

We concluded with a writing exercise on place, starting with the phrase "I remember ...". Everybody read from their work. I forgot to get somebody to submit something for the next meeting, which isn't until 12/2. I may try to do that one at night, to see if we get a better turnout. Hope you're all well. Please comment here or send me an email (andy.schuck@westland.lib.mi.us) if you have any comments or questions.