Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.


MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.


MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.




Friday, April 1, 2011

April Poet of the Day: Cathy Smith Bowers

What better way to begin National Poetry Month than with a poem by North Carolina's current Poet Laureate, Cathy Smith Bowers. Today Cathy and I will be reading together at Caldwell Community College in Hudson, NC. We admire each other's poetry and enjoy each other's company.


Cathy was born in the small town of Lancaster, S.C.,one of six children born to a mill worker and a housewife. She received her bachelor's degree in English in 1972 and a master's degree in English in 1976, both from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C.

In 1973 Cathy started her career as a high school English teacher in her native South Carolina. She worked there for ten years before becoming an English instructor at Queens University in Charlotte. She also served as director of composition from 1989–1995 and as poet-in-residence from 1996–2004. She is currently on the faculty for Queens' M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program, UNC Asheville's Great Smokies Writing Program and at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.

She is the author of four books: The Love that Ended Yesterday in Texas (inaugural winner of the Texas Tech University Press First Book Competition, 1992); Traveling in Time of Danger (Iris Press, 1999), A Book of Minutes (Iris Press, 2004), andThe Candle I Hold Up to See You (Iris Press, 2009).

For a video of Cathy reading "Snow," please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0SHHEZaAO4.



A SOUTHERN RHETORIC

"It's a sight in this world
the things in this world
there are to see!" my mother says
as she hurries between the stove
and Sunday table. She is just back
from vacation. Happy.
Talking mountains. Talking rivers.
Big cedars and tidal bores.
When I tease her for redundancy,
her face glows like a sturgeon moon
risen above fat buttery atolls
of biscuits, steaming promontory
of roast. She shakes her finger
in my face and scolds me good:
"Girl, don't you forget who it was
learned you to talk."
Amazing she would want
to lay claim to these syllables
piling up like railroad salvage
when I speak, to these words slow as hooves
dredging from the wet of just-plowed fields.
I watch her turn, embarrassed, to the sink,
to the pots and pans she will scrub
to a gleam so bright we can see ourselves
as if the two of us stared back
from the lost rhetoric of memory.
From the little house, the crib where
she bent each day, naming
for me the world where words always fail,
warranting, now and then,
those few extra syllables,
some things spoken twice.

First appeared in Poetry, later in Cathy's first book, The Love That Ended Yesterday in Texas.

8 comments:

Nancy said...

Today was a pleasure. We loved having the two of you with us at CCCTI.

Nancy Simpson said...

This is a beautiful poem. It makes me miss my Mama.

Judy Roney said...

What a beautiful poem. Cathy Smith Bowers' mom sounds a lot like mine. "Gettin a little uppity ain't you?" she'll say. Thanks for sharing this one. It makes me smile and want to see mama.

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Nancy, the time spent at CCCTI was wonderful. I so appreciate the invitation to read with Cathy. It was fun, something I can't always say about a poetry reading!

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Nancy, I still remember your poem Sharing the Bed with Mother. One of my favorites. I'm so pleased to read and hear of the reviews coming your way for Living Above the Frost Line. This important work and it will be celebrated and remembered.

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

Judy, I'm glad you like this poem! I do, too. Sounds just like home, doesn't it? Thank you for dropping by.I think you'll like the other poems I have on tap for April. So check back for the remaining days of April.

Vicki Lane said...

That's so beautiful. My older friends often said "Hit's a sight on earth ..."

Janice said...

I was fortunate enough to be one of Cathy's students at Queens. She has such an amazing gift of writing that is completely awe inspiring. She is not only an amazing poet, but an incredible woman and friend!