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.




Thursday, June 19, 2014

Who Speaks for Our Mountains? Who Sings Their Songs?







During April,  City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC and I sponsored a poetry contest for Jackson County school students to help them--and all of us--- join in our annual Greening up the Mountains celebration.  Over the next few weeks I will be sharing the poems by some of these students.  These are the voices we should be heeding as we meet the challenges--- environmental and cultural--- that confront us here in our mountains.
                                                                       


Maia Wilde, who attends Cullowhee Valley School, 
 weaves a tapestry of images that invites us to enter the natural world, the wild home where she lives.   I particularly like the rocks "like wise old men and women," their presence being the bedrock of these ancient mountains. That the smell of pine sap gives her courage gives me hope that our children will grow into adulthood looking to the natural world for the strength  to take care of the places they love.  







Wild Home


By Maia Wilde--Cullowhee Valley School

Sun rays like stars at night

Dew shining

Wild flowers blooming

Twittering birds say hello to me

Snow falling

Wind like a warm

Blanket

Mountains cast a shadow on the valley

Rocks like wise old men and women

The sun is like fire at night

The smell of sap and pine gives me courage
              
The mountains I live in are vast and tricky
    
Get lost

     
Good luck




3 comments:

Vicki Lane said...

A lovely invitation to lose ourselves in these vast and tricky mountains of ours.

Kathryn Stripling Byer said...

I love the vast and tricky mountains, too, Vicki. This is really a lovely little poem.

Anonymous said...

It is wonderful little poem. The ending makes it all. I was drawn to the idea of getting lost as a goal, and good luck is kind of ambiguous. Good luck in getting lost or good luck if you get lost.