Will o' the Wisp

Ignus Fatuus ("foolish fire")

Hello, friends.

This is my last letter to you as the president of the Society, and I am looking back over my shoulder before following the will-o-wisp wherever it leads me next. I've been reading a delightful play from Ukrainian folklore called Forest Song, and one of the characters is Will o' the Wisp, a fire sprite with red hair who skips from place to place. In the last three years, I've done the same, hopping from county to county, poetry event to poetry event, and it is a time I will remember with great fondness. Many people have lit my path.

We know the science about will-o-wisps, those mysterious lights also called lambent flames that appear over water in the nighttime. They are the oxidation of methane, diphosphane, and phosphine, a process resulting from the decay of organic matter, but the myth is still meaningful. We can follow those lights to our peril or to our pleasure, as poet Annie Campbell Huestis reminds us in "The Will-o'-the Wisp":

From firelit window and open doors,

  The roads have golden bars;

And round and round the world is bound

  By a girdle of radiant stars;

But I watch to-night for a fleeting light

  That a moment makes or mars.

In Forest Song, another character gathers fireflies for his lover's hair, to make it glow and sparkle like a crown in the dark. There are also water spirits, Lost Babes, forest nymphs, vulnerable humans, and everything else needed for romantic entanglements. River deities are always a subject of interest to me because they cross so many cultures. Reverence and deep respect for water have made it sacred.

So what am I rambling on about? I'm trying to say we are called by nature to travel like water, like fire, and to believe in something greater than ourselves. Poetry helps us stay in touch with that calling. Academic nerds like me may find it interesting to read Pale Light: Natural Difficulties and Poetic Epistemology in the Enlightenment by Ian Michael Thomas-Bignami, which focuses on poetic treatments of will-o-the-wisp, and describes "the development of a distinct poetic epistemology that valued a way of knowing paradoxically attentive to the permanence and power of the unknown" (but you should know, it's a 178-page paper).

So, recalling the permanence and power of the unknown and of poetry, let's have a look at what's coming up in May.

The Sundown Series lineup, shared by Katherine Williams!

More on Coast Lines Anthology here!

On May 24, there will be another Coast Lines reading at 1013 Duke Avenue in Columbia (North Main area) at 2 p.m. (arranged by Ann Humphries.) I'll be there!

Now let's have a look at recent events.

Poetry Month Reading at the Greenville Art Museum

This was a fabulous event that featured several poets from Greenville and the surrounding area. Special thanks to Glenis Redmond, who put it together and also gave me a beautiful sending off with flowers from Rabbit Crest Farms. The theme was "Why Poetry?" -- and each of the poets gave a resounding answer from their own perspective.

Poetry Month Reading at the Cherokee County Library in Gaffney, SC

Another meaningful gathering of poets and community listeners. Thanks to Al Black for helping me put this event together. One special moment was when Montavius read for us and shared the news that one of the audience members was his high school English teacher. That is one proud woman.

There was also a Coast Lines Anthology reading in Hilton Head on April 3, hosted by Elizabeth Robin and the public library, but somehow I didn't get photos. Was my phone dead? I enjoyed reading alongside the other poets and had a lovely dinner out. Thanks also to Robin for housing me at her gorgeous condo.

These events were a superb end to my many poetry adventures with the Society.

The Poetry Prompt Contest is a monthly contest where we encourage you to submit a piece inspired by the new prompt found below. The winning poem or flash fiction is published in the following month's newsletter. We also offer the winner the opportunity to record a video of him or herself reading the poem to be posted to the Poetry Society's YouTube channel. There is no obligation to record the video, it is only there as an offer if the winner feels comfortable doing so.

You may recall that the March/April poetry contest was a special one because Danny Sciortino provided another guitar as a prize --- this time, a pink electric guitar. And...

the winner is Delia Corrigan with her poem "What I Mean Is," (after William Carlos Williams).

The judge for this contest, who wishes to remain anonymous, had the following remarks:

The early image of a longed-for guitar in the window (with the window as symbol of a connection between inner and outer worlds) against the unwelcome advice from someone who would shut down that creative urge provides immediate tension. I have the feeling it isn't the first time. What a relief to know the speaker listens instead to the voice of the guitar. And of course, I love that the poem is a call-back to Williams' simplicity and freedom.

Here's the poem:

What I Mean Is

(after William Carlos Williams)

I bought the pink

guitar

calling to me from

the window

which you

advised me in your note

to forget

and save my money

I'm sorry

I'm on the road now

so far

and so wild

Congratulations, Delia. Let's meet to collect your guitar from the poem's window. :>)

Everyone, I'm signing off for good. Let me know what you're up to. See you in the poetry circles. I'll be following the trail of Dafydd ap Gwilym (trans. Wirt Sikes), a Welsh poet who wrote about lambent flames in 1340:

There was in every hollow

A hundred wrymouthed wisps.

Light me home,

Tamara