Rapp at Home’s Fireside Poetry Reading
Fireside Poetry Reading: An Invitation
Not your 10th grade English class. Not the Dead Poets Society. We're friends and neighbors Come to share our poems Over a cup of tea Or a glass of port Or both.
Come sit by the (TV) fireside, Hear us read our poems And learn how we write them. We'll tell you what books have helped, What triggers a poem, And we'll try to answer your questions. — Sue Gabbay, K.C.Bosch, and Char Duguid
This invitation from Rappahannock’s poets sums up the event at the Washington Schoolhouse on February 19 where Rapp at Home members gathered for port (or tea) and poetry readings. As one of the many programs on the organization’s monthly calendar, the event, with roaring fireplace (though virtual), seemed to cast a warm glow over the poets and attentive audience that appeared to transform the Rapp at Home offices into a cozy English pub. Each poet read selections from their original poems, with Patty Hardee reading for Char Duguid. Patty brought Char’s poems to life in her inimitable way.
SUE DAVIS GABBAY, born in Charlottesville, worked as a librarian in New York and in Fairfax, all the while writing children’s’ stories, myths, and verse. She now lives and writes poetry in Rappahannock County, She has written a book of Haiku, “Outcroppings”; and she received a Claudia Mitchell grant from RAAC to publish the book of poems, “A Sudden Brightness,” Illustrated by her daughter, K.G. Mullany of Flint Hill’s Mullany Art Studios.
Aging by Sue Gabbay
Age gives and takes;
As I grow older
My stamina is less
So too my strength, my memory. Yet with age I have been given Knowledge, empathy, understanding. I value the exchange until I can’t open a jar or find the right word
In conversation.
CHARLENE (CHAR) JAMES DUGUID lives in Amissville with her husband Jim. Char’s blog, charbeingchar.com includes many original poems and photographs. She worked with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and as an independent producer-director for young freelance directors. In Char’s words, “I’m intrigued with words: their power, whimsy and the unexpected turns a language can take. I have been preoccupied with them through many careers — as a cultural anthropologist researching a small logging community, while studying flea markets, and as an adopted daughter of the Crow tribe.”
Haiku by Char Duguid
The weight of the world Shoulders you, so you think to Blame constant rain. Fool.
We are all lonely
Mating snow goose style can help Till God cuts the cord.
Keep Grampa alive Full-time job for Gramma But where is her life?
KC BOSCH has lived and worked all over before settling in Rappahannock County, which has been his home and inspiration for twenty-five years. His poetry has appeared at Camel Saloon, Dead Mule, Poetry Breakfast, and vox poetica. He was awarded a Claudia Mitchell Fund grant through the Rappahannock Association for Arts and Community (RAAC) to publish Stealing Days (2015), a full-length book of poems and original photographs. He also founded and directs the annual Rappahannock Writers Retreat, also underwritten by the Claudia Mitchell Fund and RAAC.
Keep on Driving by K.C. Bosch
28 degrees as I walk to my truck the sky in the east is turning from dark blue to purple.
The moon and one very bright star above. The air is still with a faint smell of wood smoke. Only sound is gravel crunching under my shoes. Reminding me of long ago mornings going hunting.
Or not ...
Makes me want to point the truck west and keep on driving.
THE LAST WORD(S) by Sue Gabbay:
a poem can be an evanescent moment preserved in crystal
Are you interested? Join Rapp at Home for events such as talks, a St. Patrick’s Day Party, pickleball lessons, and a Community Square Dance. Go to www.rappathome.org or call 540-2937-4663.