I'm Back!

The picture for this month is me at the Gannett Poplar. How cool is that? It’s an old growth tree not far from where I live in North Georgia. The bark is full of moss from hundreds of years of watching people go up the trail. Just standing near it is special and magical. I know there are bigger trees in the U.S. but this was a great moment in a hike a friend and I did not very long ago.

So much has happened since we talked last. Once again I am saddened that we cannot communicate on a real time basis because of some people who would take advantage of my being away. It’s hard thinking about security when all I wanted to do when I started this blog was to share with you. But those in the know tell us to not communicate in real time if we are away from home.

My friend Marty’s mother passed last month. I drove over to Little Rock to attend the service for her. The place was packed. She was a weaver, and her and her husband Perk were bird watchers all their lives, and for many years banded hummingbirds at their home in Arkansas. She was a woman who encouraged her children and others to dream dreams and to be who they wanted to be. I will miss her smile, but I know one thing, there are a lot of people who are better because of her.

Two things have happened with my writing. I joined a poetry critique group here in North Georgia. I like my group in Blue Ridge, but I needed a group who concentrated on poetry alone, and where I didn’t have to be the leader. It’s a good group, and they keep me on my toes.

The other thing I did was to accept an invitation to attend the quarterly meeting of the Georgia Poetry Society. I traveled to a college south of here, and it was a very good meeting. I was able to read, and was welcomed. I was impressed with the speakers, and they revealed this year’s anthology, “The Reach of Song.” A beautiful book. It is a collection where the poems are judged, and the works are a joy to read. I liked what I saw at the meeting, and am considering joining. The trouble is that the meetings are held throughout the state, and the travel time is a problem from up here in the mountains.

I have been writing. Just sent a dozen or so poems to the lady who edits for me. If you don’t have a person who will read your work, and who will edit for you and will be honest about it, then you need to look around. You will be a much better writer if you have a person like that. Critique groups help me a lot, but having a person who is not a writer and has fresh eyes has really helped me through the years.

I’m also working on my audio book, and hope to have it done by the time I attend the Kentucky Poetry Society meeting this year.

I did want to say something here about my cousin Clay. He has been sick for a month or so now, and will be entering treatment soon. He and I have spent some special times in high mountain steams together, and I believe we will again.

So, since I wrote this a few weeks ago I have been working on the book, and have decided to call it “Air Swimmer.” Well, that’s my first thought. I’ve also decided that I might submit it to a contest first. I really like the poems in it, and I think I have grown since my last book. They are different, but I’m getting less afraid of what I write, and am stepping out with some new things from old notes I’ve had for years. So, I’ll put one of the poems here, and see what you think.
Here’s the first draft of the title poem.

Air Swimmer

I see a far off day
When I will lift myself
Up on tip-toes
Push back and down
With my hands
And fly

Just as easy as that the air
Will hold me aloft
In a room a little bigger than this
I will fly

By myself at first
Because I wouldn’t want
Disbelievers to break the magic
Of the moment or dirty the
Pure joy I feel

When I finally get the courage
to go out, the children will say
Why can this old man swim in the air
Call like a Red Tailed hawk
And we can’t?

When I see them gathered far below
I will come down, collect them around
me and whisper the truth of it

Tell them not to be afraid


Robert W. Kimsey 2010