POETRIO: MARY ADAMS AND RHETT ISEMAN TRULL

Mary Adams reads from Commandment at this month's Poetrio.

Every month Malaprop's Bookstore features Poetrio, a gathering of poets, usually three, reading from their work on a Sunday afternoon. This month two of the featured poets were friends,

Mary Adams and Rhett Iseman Trull, along with William Swarts, someone I had the pleasure to meet at the reading. Mary's chapbook Commandment was published last fall by Spring Street Editions in Sylva, and Rhett's first book The Real Warnings was published recently by Anhinga Press.

Mary has been a friend for many years, first as a colleague at WCU and later as, well, a friend and sister poet, animal lover, and partaker of wine and pizza whenever we can get together. Her fist book, Epistles from the Planet Photosynthesis, was published by the U. of Florida Press. She is also a Milton scholar and expert in just about everything literary. I've devoted several posts to her, so I'll include the links-- http://kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com/search?q=Mary+Adams. You may order her chapbook and her full length collection from City Lights Bookstore.

Rhett is editor par excellence of the new poetry journal Cave Wall, which she manages with her fabulous husband Jeff. She's a graduate of the MFA program in writing at UNC-Greensboro and a favorite of my ole friend Fred Chappell. I featured her as Poet of the Week last year on my laureate blog, so if you want to read more, which you certainly should, you should go to http://ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com/2009/04/poet-of-week-rhett-iseman-trull.html

The third poet was William Swarts, whose book Strickland Plains has just been released. I'd not met Bill till this Sunday, but I can tell you that he will be the featured guest at Coffee With the Poets at City Lights Bookstore in the fall.

Here are some photos from this Sunday's Poetrio. Many thanks to Alsace and Virginia for making this series so enjoyable!

Mary responding to an unseen interrogator!

Mary's lovely mother Betty, on hand to hear her daughter read.

Rhett talks with members of the audience after her reading.

Rhett Trull signs the Malaprop's reader's registry.



In a dark cafe the author and friends drink to the publication of her chapbook and her reading at Malaprop's. (Actually it's Jack of the Woods, and it's dark because my flash wasn't working.)