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.




Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Gift of a Poem!

I can't think of anything much better than getting a poem like this from a friend. Isabel Zuber, poet and novelist, and a friend I've had since 1977, emailed this today. She really liked the photo of me with one booted foot on the woodpile from an earlier post, I can't remember which. I didn't suspect it would inspire a poem! As for Byron, he has been a pest lately. And he bounds around on my husband's chair, disturbing the stacks of bills, etc., etc., that lie on the lamp table beside it, and he bounds around on the sofa, and on the bed. As for the barley soup, lately I've been making lentil soup, though I have nothing against barley.

Maybe we should all try writing poems to our friends. It's better than sending flowers. And more lasting. Don't we all want to be found beautiful by our friends? And don't we also find them beautiful?

I'll be writing a poem back to Isabel. What a lot we would miss without friends like Isabel in our lives.






For Kay

Our beautiful poet
is out behind her house
in her black boots, her big
red beads and a dress to match.

She has one foot on her woodpile.
Her blue clothes line waits
and inside on the stove
a big pot of barley soup bubbles.

And she has a kind, indulgent
smile for all those whose hands
have not felt the rough bark
on logs carried in to the fire,

who have never snapped a bean
or a clothes pin and who don't
have a small bushy black dog
named Byron to bound around

in the backyard. What
a lot they have missed!

7 comments:

DeadMule said...

What a nice poem. I remember Elizabeth Zuber helping me often in the Wake Forest library when I did my MALS there a few years ago.

Evening Light Writer said...

How wonderful to get such a sweet poem, I think it is better than a bouquet of flowers or a friendship bracelet. I adore Isable Zuber's book "Salt" and I've been eagerly awaiting another from her, when people come in to the library wanting a North Carolina author I always send them to the Z section in search of Isabel's work.

Nancy Simpson said...

Kay and Isabel. Nice poem. I love you both.

Glenda Council Beall said...

Great idea - write poems to your friends. I love that photo of you, Kay. You look like you are ready to take on the world!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

Glenda said it just right - You DO look ready to take on the world! and your poem from Ms. Zuber is a treasure; as is she.

doris diosa said...

Yaaay Isabel! And we get to see that *sexy* photo of you too Kay. (Youshould use it, or the one of your flamenco move, in your next book.) Splendid peom. Splendid poets. (((((((( Sigh.))))))

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

A very nice poem indeed. Love the pioneer woman photo. I agree with Glenda, you do look like you are ready to take on the world - on second thought, why don't you?
Sam