Thursday, March 18, 2021

Wilfred Owen, 18 March 1893-4 November 1918

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est 


     Always sad when I teach this powerful poem He died in combat a week before the Armistice.My great jungle Edmond Schollaert died of his wounds a few weeks later.

    


Arts on the Ridge 2021- May 1, 10 am-2pm in Ridgeway, South Carolina

https://www.facebook.com/events/ridgeway-south-carolina/arts-on-the-ridge-2021-see-it-hear-it-experience-it/2089091201201182/ 


     I am so glad to be going anywhere for a festival. This one is special because this was the first one I went to in 2015 with my first book of poetry. 

     Now there are three more books of my poetry, two more books of ekphrastic poetry with my creative partner, artist Carol Worthington-Levy,  and hopefully my first novel! 

     Ridgeway is a charming community a few miles off of Interstate 77, south of Winnsboro, north of Blythewood.









Saturday, March 13, 2021

It is time to pull the plug on this blog?

 

     Statistics have plummeted as of late. I would be happy with 1,000 hits a month, but I am barely over half of that.

     Are blogs not trendy anymore? Or is it this one? Please give me your insight. Thanks.

  

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

I Usually Do not Post about Education Here, but....

     ....this time is an exception. 

     The following link does not directly apply to me. However, if I had been teaching full-time when the pandemic broke out, I would have resigned. I am over 65 years of age, and at-risk. Although I was in a good school and in a good school district, I still would have resigned and started to draw my pension.

     Why?

     Not everyone believed the pandemic was real at first. I live in South Carolina, the reddest of the red states. There was talk that the whole thing was political, that it was only hyped to make then-President Trump look bad, that it would go away by the November elections, and so on. Hardly things that implied confidence.

     In my school, many students refused to wear their IDs, as faculty/staff had to. Would students be compliant with safety procedures? AHmmm. All it takes was one to infect you.

     The two-year tech college where I teach immediately went to distance-learning, and allowed me to continue doing so. They did the right thing in every way. 

     And now, some K-12 teachers are in trouble.....https://www.thestate.com/news/coronavirus/article249487270.html

    There are no teacher unions here. Remember, this is a RED state. The teacher associations are not effective. I left one that did not tell me I had to formally leave after I retired. They fussed over me when I retired, so they knew! When I joined the retired group (six months later after my successful hip surgery), they said I did not

   Good luck, teachers@ 

    


     


Saturday, March 6, 2021

Remembering the Alamo with a Poem About James Bonham's Birthplace

      James Butler Bonham was born in what is now Saluda County, South Carolina, as was William Barret Travis. They knew each other as boys, then reconnected in Texas. Travis used Bonham as a messenger to seek reinforcements. Bonham did not have to return to San Antonio de Bexar but came back to the Alamo to give the final bad news.  Why? Friendship to Travis, and dedication to his duty, no matter what.

     On March 6, 1836, Travis was among the first to fall in Santa Ana's final assault. Bonham was one of the last. Travis's


birthplace has been lost, but we know where it might have been. Bonham's has ben restored. 




The Languor of a Summer Afternoon- Bonham Homestead

 

The languor of a summer afternoon,

a glimpse into hazy eternity:

sun striking even into shaded roads

extending slowly away from the lake,

ending either at shore or in the woods;

a sense of completion or finality,

depending on your perspective or mood

framed by white clouds and deeply-blue sky.

Time enough to seek a dogtrot homestead

restored to rustic grace along old road,

or meander a spider’s web of lanes

half-hidden behind scenery flashing

by as we accelerate though our lives,

yearning to slow the pace as we hurry.

 

Arthur Turfa, Places and Times, © eLectio Publishing

Tupelo December 30/30 Project Reunion Today at Zoon 3 PM Eastern

 

     Participating in this month-long event was a fabulous experience. I hope some of the poems I wrote, once polished, will appear in print in some way. I was honored to have been selected for this project.

  Until then, my books are available at....

    https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Turfa/e/B00YJ9LNOA%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share


https://www.blurb.com/b/10335105-all-in-the-family-2nd-edition


   And hopefully in a very few weeks, my first novel will appear on Blurb! More later@

"Priestdaddy" by Patricia Lockwood

         I know some authors who write memoirs. In my opinion, it's a tricky genre unless the author is gifted, because unless the reade...