This week's Poet of the People is Moses Oaktree - Al Black

This week's Poet of the People is Moses Oaktree. I met Moses several years ago in Augusta, GA, when he was the manager of the Book Tavern Bookstore and a staple of the local poetry scene. Pre-COVID he would sometimes make an appearance at Mind Gravy. After COVID he moved to the Midlands and exploded on the scene. He is (in my humble opinion) the best spoken word poet in the area. He owns the stage and his work stands up well on the printed page. He is a top draw in the region and I fully expect him to become a force throughout the Southeast on his way to a national reputation.

- Al Black

Moses Oaktree is an artist, storyteller, and co-founder of Charleston, SC’s UnSpoken Word Open Mic.  Mosely has performed his signature features across the United States, especially for his homes of New Orleans, Atlanta, Columbia, and Charleston.  His style melds southern lyricism, historical intrigue, and a surrealist take on the African/African-American tradition to create a contemporary black American myth.  He is currently working on his first book of poetry, “Heaven Be A Black Land”.

  Just. Like. You.  

 Met someone who looked Just

Like You Today.

Honestly, it was uncanny. Your curves;

Your style--

God knows I missed your smile. She was a song

I’d once known well.

I reached for her hand out of reflex. A habit in death throes;

Memories of you echo Through places in me That have no name.

Why do you remain?

Your smile could lift the waves.

I stopped myself just as I felt

the warmth of her body. Goosebumps;

Hot needles in my skin turn to ice. Shudders;

She walked way in the moments tween my

Stutters.

I am reminded

Your smile was paradise.

I, too

                                                                            I love telling folk how Dr King’s “I Am A Man” slogan turned queer in the next iteration of the movement.

I love talking bout Black Lives Matter being run by queer/women.

I love talking bout Bayard Rustin.

I love talking bout how voices, once hushed, still can find their way into the Light.

“I Am A Man”

We are equal as human.

                                                                                                                                            “Black Lives Matter”
                                                                                                                                         We are equal as human.

The final rendition will be “I, too, have a soul”

 But if they kill me, they’ll say it wasn’t true.

  Notes From Abraham

“Life was a constant miracle”, He say.

His body like smoke in the wind; He who gives shape to mist.

Substance like vapors, Both solid and shapeless.

He leans closer before he persists.

“Each breath was a gamble with death”, He say.

“I won so many times I musta cheated. Pain----

Illness----

At times, I was broken.

I took losses, but was undefeated.”

“I wanted it all…” He say.

“I made deals with the Devil- Chasing keys to Heaven.

We don’t realize the moment we

Lost Cause

The more I realized what beauty was;

The more fluent I became in the language of

God”

                                                                                                                                                               Time

Time Manifested

as flesh and bone

Dove into itself to discover its soul Then walked Earth’s mighty plains As the ghosts of the future.

                                                                                                                                                                         I am

                                                                                                                                                                                             .

This week's Poet of the People with Al Black is Lang Owen

This week's Poet of the People is Lang Owen. Before the printing press, balladeers carried poetry and news to the people; Lang Owen writes in that tradition. He is a gifted singer/songwriter who writes poem songs about people and the human condition. Every so often you meet someone who paints stories that sound new every time you hear them sung - I am privileged to know Lang Owen. www.langowen.com/

-Al Black

Lang Owen works straight out of the 1970s singer-songwriter tradition, employing poetic lyrics to express the challenges and possibilities of the current day, often viewed through the perspective of individual's imagined interior lives. Lang’s gift for seeing the world around him and dialoguing with others about their lives informs his songwriting, which often takes the form of conversations between characters in his songs. Lang released his third album, Cosmic Checkout Lane, in April 2024, his second collaboration with musician/producer Todd Mathis. “Cosmic Checkout Lane is about living our wisdom at any moment, including standing in a grocery store checkout line,” Lang says.

In 2022 Lang released She’s My Memory, which the Post & Courier Free Times ranked sixth on its The Best of South Carolina Music 2022 list. Lang’s 2019 debut album Welcome To Yesterday was hailed as “evocative storytelling at its finest” by music writer Kevin Oliver. Lang has played multiple venues in North and South Carolina, and received airplay on radio stations in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Luxembourg.

Everybody Here 

Everybody here’s my therapist

I need all the help I can get

I look around, I’m losing my ground

I don’t like what I see one bit

I float by like a whisper, you hand me a megaphone

In our own little worlds somehow we’re not alone

We’re not alone

Everybody here

Everybody here’s my archeologist

Digging in the dirt for things I miss

Down on hands and knees beneath the olive trees

Finding my love still exists

We live in memory like statues standing in Rome

In our own little worlds somehow we’re not alone

We’re not alone

Everybody here

I don’t know what I’m dreaming any more

I just know you’re believing

I don’t know whose shoes are on my floor

I just know you’re not fleeing

What I can do is wash your feet

Patch you up when you’re bleeding

I’ll keep your secrets discrete

I’ll say what you’re meaning to me

I float by like a whisper, you hand me a megaphone

In our own little worlds somehow we’re not alone

We’re not alone

Everybody here

Gravity 

I’m not a smart man, but I know gravity

I drop nails from many a roof, it’s physics obviously

Don’t take paper in a frame to see that things fall

I’ve done this job for twenty-eight years, I’m a jack of all trades

I fix everybody’s leaky walls, water moves in strange ways

Don’t take paper in a frame to know a hammer’s what you need

House to house, I drive around, lots of new cars everywhere

From my truck, I see it clear, this town’s in disrepair

I guess that’s why God put me here

My knees are shot, all the ups and downs, I tell my boy get your degree

I’ve done some things of which I’m proud, it never came easily

Don’t take paper in a frame to know what builds you breaks you down

House to house, I drive around, lots of new cars everywhere

From my truck, I see it clear, this town’s in disrepair

I guess that’s why God put me here

I paint all your empty rooms, I like the smell of something fresh

I leave a little bit of me in there, where your baby lays down to rest

Don’t take paper in a frame to know love’s all in your hands

House to house, I drive around, lots of new cars everywhere

From my truck, I see it clear, this town’s in disrepair

I guess that’s why God put me here

Love Sputnik 

Mr. Hardy taught the sciences, the stuff of life

Backrow kids mocked thinning hair and tattered ties

Astronomy was his true love, Mr. Hardy had no wife

Russia launched first satellite shook the world

Beep beep on ham radio, spaceage unfurled

Mr. Hardy daydreamed at his desk of a long-lost girl

Oppenheimer called out God

Galileo searched the stars

Mr. Hardy lectured genius does no tricks

Sir Iassac’s apple fell to ground

Einstein wrote it simply down

Mr. Hardy questioned who on earth invents

Love Sputnik

18,000 miles an hour light across the sky

Mr. Hardy said change rockets into our lives

When she burned up in the atmosphere, Mr. Hardy cried

I recall a film about the sun Hardy showed

Man in glasses explained giant stars someday explode

In the cosmic scheme of things no one is betrothed

Oppenheimer called out God

Galileo searched the stars

Mr. Hardy lectured genius does no tricks

Sir Iassac’s apple fell to ground

Einstein wrote it simply down

Mr. Hardy questioned who on earth invents

Love Sputnik

Mr. Hardy gazed alone at night crescent moon

Mr. Hardy knew she’s inching away too soon

Mr. Hardy retired from everything that very June

Oppenheimer called out God

Galileo searched the stars

Mr. Hardy lectured genius does no tricks

Sir Iassac’s apple fell to ground

Einstein wrote it simply down

Mr. Hardy questioned who on earth invents

Love Sputnik

Man With A Broom

Thirty years I swept floors, F & M Bank

Retired with a big mug, too many last hugs

Cards and thanks

Now I use a red broom, sweep my curbside

Photos, bottles, pennies, cigar butts

You know it’s not right

My sight is still good, careful when the cars pass

My doctor says she’s never seen a man my age 

With such a strong back

I’ve got so little to leave this big world

I never had a son or a precious little girl

I’m just an old man with a broom

On the street in the sun Monday afternoon

Man with a broom

I found a brown shoe on the sidewalk nearby

My whole day puzzling what happened to that foot

Can’t say why

My shadow tells time, I don’t wear a watch now

I can see no point in counting the hours 

As they wind down

Who’ll pick up this broom? Nobody wants to sweep

I’m scared things all go to hell when I fall into

That long sleep

I’ve got so little to leave this big world

I never had a son or a precious little girl

I’m just an old man with a broom

On the street in the sun Monday afternoon

Man with a broom

Neighbor kid walks by with those earphone things

Give me a listen, though it don’t beat Bob Dylan

My heart still sings

Wife calls me inside, says I’ll die from the heat

But this broom’s what I’ve got, and I’ll sweep ‘til I drop

On this clean street

I’ve got so little to leave this big world

I never had a son or a precious little girl

I’m just an old man with a broom

On the street in the sun Monday afternoon

Man with a broom

Used Books

I Sunday browse your shop for hours

We talk about writers when no one’s there

And you proclaim love for Hemingway

For your age that’s pretty rare

You say you can relate

To wine and war and fate

And how this life is so unfair

Your eyes ask me why, you wait for me to try

I scratch my head, I can’t help you there

You wanna be heard, you gotta listen

You wanna be read, you gotta buy somebody’s book

You wanna be found, you gotta know who you’re missing 

You wanna be seen, you gotta really, really look

Oh I swear, my sweet Karina

I once told a girl you never mind my words

“I mind them too much,” she said with a smile

She vanished like a ghost in a cloud of cigarette smoke

I missed that coming by a country mile

I tell this tale to you, I’m no fountain of any truth

Might be the one thing I do today worthwhile

No doubt it’s been said by poets long since dead

There’s nothing in this world we can’t defile

You wanna be heard, you gotta listen

You wanna be read, you gotta buy somebody’s book

You wanna be found, you gotta know who you’re missing

You wanna be seen, you gotta really, really look

Oh I swear, my sweet Karina

Old Man and The Sea, I peruse with iced coffee

I’ll soon forget every page I turn

My days are scribbled down, torn up paper on the ground

Take what I say this once for what it’s worth

You wanna be heard, you gotta listen

You wanna be read, you gotta buy somebody’s book

You wanna be found, you gotta know who you’re missing

You wanna be seen, you gotta really, really look

Oh I swear, my sweet Karina

Poetry of the People with Al Black featuring Tim Conroy

This week's Poet of the People is Tim Conroy. I met Tim Conroy several years ago at a Columbia literary event and cajoled him into doing his first poetry feature. We became fast friends, haunting and terrorizing coffee shops throughout Columbia. Later, we teamed up with singer/songwriter, Lang Owen as the Two Hats & a Ponytail trio. When Tim's wife retired, they fled to Florida; however, he will be back in Columbia to perform Tuesday, 05/07 at Simple Gifts and Wednesday, 05/08 at Mind Gravy with Lang and myself for the Reunion Tour of Two Hats and Ponytail.

Tim Conroy is a military brat who has lived all over the country and eventually ended up in South Carolina. A retired educator and beloved social rabble rouser, he has published two books of poetry, Theologies of Terrain, Muddy Ford Press 2017 and No True Route, Muddy Ford Press 2023. During COVID, he co hosted the YouTube poetry interview series, Chewing Gristle

Lousy

My Dad said lousy a lot

to describe his children

a lousy jump shot, a lousy right fielder,

a lousy bedmaker, a lousy dishwasher,

with a lousy attitude.

We had lousy eyes, freckles, and postures.

But he would never admit,

we were stationed in lousy towns.

We could have become lousy

because he fought in three lousy wars,

where he won a few lousy medals.

Every year, we left friends and moved

on lousy cross-country car trips.

He had a lousy temper and backhand.

His world turned lousier when our mom divorced him.

He was lousy in love with her.

He tasted lousy when schizophrenia

came for one of his sons.

Afterward, he was never a lousy grandfather

or a lousy money giver.

He remained lousy at saying sorry.

When he died, we never felt lousier

and knew a pilot's love didn't land empty,

his caps and his godawful shirts,

his lousy flaws, our hearts.

No True Route, Muddy Ford Press, 2023

The Flight Jacket

hung in the closet to forget the throttle

and how it zoomed from carriers during

the Korean War, dipped into battle

of the Chosin Reservoir for the troops

to make a break for it through scarred paths

and never told its story, zipped up mute

stayed cold to the touch preferring the dark

every day its arms down not saluting

while its empty pockets refused to hold

onto the sound of bombs and men waving

screaming hello, goodbye, and blood marking

each sleeve forever, but the leather saved

many lives, though not Dad’s, his explosions

and how he didn’t want us to touch him

The Child We Need

 In front of imperial drones,

swollen under cement blocks

—tongues, old and young

because we doubt what is told

because it takes silence to listen

because we need to learn gestures

to rise reversals from wombs.

War-born babies and hostages

with no chink of light, no angels,

no safe mangers even for donkeys,

only hunger and inconsolable wails

until we embody the dead,

the child we need to live won’t

sing and fly paper kites in Gaza.

The Best Part

The truth be known,
gay or straight,

the priest gets paid,
the nun has a shitty deal,
the minister wants his ass kissed.

 Meanwhile I have felt a voice
in the forest of owls and ordinary spaces.
Strangers have rescued me from peril;
like you, love has saved me.

Your neighbor is human.

We don’t listen or tell it right,
we take it literally,

we can’t write it down better,
we make it too complicated.

Who have you loved in this journey?
What is it you have given?

From Theologies of Terrain, Muddy Ford Press, 2017

A Fitted Game

 The American Legion is full of men and women who battle

video games for printed slips to exchange at the bar for cash.

They don't dare add up the losses, so full of gin and silent friends.

Some say it's a loss of purpose and only passing time.

My Dad would have died playing if he hadn't croaked in bed.

His fingers reached, but I did not know what to tell him.

Their sacrifice isn't gone, and the popcorn kernels are still free,

salted, and buttered, sliding down throats that burn like cigarettes.

The flashing screen doesn't care who presses the fortune of the hours,

shouldering memories with sips. No soldier deserts the machine

that programs a fitted game, though many dream of a different outcome.

I have loved those players who won once

Al Black's Poetry of the People Features Janet Kozachek

This week's Poet of the People is Janet Kozachek. Shortly before COVID I hosted an ekphrastic poetry event at the Arts Center in Kershaw County, Camden, SC; Janet has had a lot to do with introducing me to many opportunities to host poetry events in Camden, Orangeburg and Hampton County. She is a dynamic advocate of the creative arts and a talented poet, writer, and visual artist. I look forward to participating in whatever event she creates next.

-Al Black

Janet Kozachek  has led a long and eclectic career as a writer and visual artist,  pursuing work and advanced study in Europe, China, and New York.  She was the  first American to matriculate in the Beijing Central Art Academy (CAFA), where she studied  painting, poetry, and calligraphy.  Ms. Kozachek moved  to the Netherlands with her husband Nathaniel Wallace,  to teach with the University of Maryland overseas division for two years.  Returning to the United States she became a graduate student at Parsons School of Design. 
During graduate work at Parsons in New York, Kozachek studied painting and drawing with Larry Rivers, Paul Resika, Leland Bell, and John Heliker, and poetry with  J.D. McClatchy.  It was this brush with McClatchy, then editor of the Yale Review and author of Painters and Poets, that first inculcated the idea for Kozachek that painting and poetry could emanate from the same creative source in western as well as in  eastern art.

In South Carolina, Kozachek embarked on a long peripatetic career as an artist in residence and sometimes adjunct professor teaching Chinese art and Mosaic making throughout the state under the auspices of the South Carolina State Arts Commission.  Kozachek founded and became the first president of the Society of American Mosaic Artists in 1999.  She wrote for, and co-edited, the society’s quarterly publication, Groutline, and co-authored the catalogue for the first international exhibition of mosaics in the United States.   She also actively wrote for Evening Reader Magazine, publishing essays on art and social issues.  She is the author of four books of poetry. 

Song of the Sinuses

(On the occasion of the discovery that researchers playing ancient ceramic musical instruments would sometimes hear a note that others could not because it was generated from resonance inside their sinuses) 

The archaeologist,

with his vinyl gloves 

and his plastic straw,

played the ancient globular flute,

last touched a millennium ago

by Shaman’s lips.

Six whole notes

climbed up a scale

as the pressure of modern air

yielded sound.

For the record there were six notes.

The archaeologist heard seven.

Investigators played that tape

again and again

– in search of that seventh note.

that they were certain that they heard.

What was that seventh unrecorded final note

that could not be bound 

yet rang persistently in their heads?

It was a singular sinus sensation!

The lonely note was for 

the hearing of the solitary.

It was a spiritual resonance

of an internal sound

echoing in the caverns of their skulls.

Not every note must be noted.

Not every thought must be voiced.

Not every sound need be heard by others.

Not every action must be known,

nor every meaning ascertained.

Not every desire must be met.

There must be quiet in the world

to leave a space for internal music.

Listen.

News Cycle

( After a Drawing by Laurie Lipton)

Another school shooting

the jaded eyes and numbed mind

observe on the rectangular

porthole to the outside world

Another invasion

I watch the troops float onscreen

above my painted toes

Another disaster

A family sleeps on borrowed blankets

outside the rubble

of what was once their home.

I scan them while reclining

in my own bed

in my air-conditioned room.

Another war

feeds my evening news cycle

I watch it through

the hazy steam

that emanates from my

museum shop coffee cup 

decorated with scenes from

Picasso’s Guernica

aesthetically wrapped snugly

around the glazed form.

Purchased for just

$9.99 at the museum shop.

Another famine

plays out across my television

Mothers cradle emaciated infants

My cat cries out

wanting to be fed

I pause to feed her

and switch the channel

I am told

that brain surgery is performed

with just local anesthetics

to get below a scalp’s surface

with sedatives to blunt awareness

of what is inserted or extracted 

from the matter of mind

Brains don’t feel pain

Patient patients

close their eyes then

and don’t panic 

at what they see or hear

Another massacre?

Too many in a day now

to be counted

With the precision of a scalpel

the news cycle enters

through an anaesthetized cloud

of indifference

blunted by frequency

numbed by distance

cushioned with a thick cotton blanket

blocking out the fear

that the news 

some day

will find me

Celestial Beings and Lesser Gods

(Zaparozhia and Melania Perik)

Objects upon a white cloth

lay as offerings to people passing by

in the torpor of late afternoon shadows.

A solitary apple, a tempting trinket,

sit as the trappings of yearning

for a warm bed and respite from hunger.

A mass of woman sits

swaddled in a woven coat

and a thinking hat.

She nods her head downwards,

as hypnogogic hallucinations

fly within and without the hollows of trees.

Celestial beings and lesser gods,

half human and half chicken,

turn right side up and upside down

in their flight between somnolence and wakefulness.

They have been conjured.

They cavort among the boughs,

and then are exorcized 

from haunted limbs. 

Crow

Crow watches you

with eyes you cannot see,

black on black  against the setting sun,

waiting in quiet silhouette upon a branch.

Crow seeks you

in benevolent predation,

to feed upon your sorrows,

and swallow your regrets.

Crow finds you

alone among the living,

lost within memories of departed souls

who call and call your name.

Crow grasps you

in her claws folded

tight around your waist,

her black beak cool against your face.

Crow knows you

when you cross the bridge

into that great void

and come back home again.

Jasper Project Board Member AL BLACK Creates New Poem to Celebrate Announcement of ONE BOOK 2024 Novel - BEAVER GIRL by CASSIE PREMO STEELE

In honor of the announcement of Cassie Premo Steele’s novel, BEAVER GIRL, as the selection for the ONE BOOK 2024 community reading project, we asked Jasper Project board of directors member and local poetry guru, Al Black, to read Beaver Girl and craft a poem in response to the message of the book. Al did not disappoint! Please read Al’s poem, and the signature poem for this project, The Remembering, below, then pick up your own copy of Beaver Girl, and write a poem, paint a picture, or create a piece of music in your response to the book and enter it in the Jasper Project’s THE ART OF ONE BOOK 2024 Arts Contest.

The Remembering

Leave your shoes here on the stump.

Go forward on bare feet,

step through into the Remembering.

The ground will know you.

The mycelium will announce your approach. 

Next to the beaver pond remove your gown.

Sit naked on the bank. Tonight is the Leaving of the Kits. 

The recitation of old stories 

of Livia, Chap and their families

Tales of a time when humans and beavers 

spoke the same language 

and learned to live together, again.

Tonight, young beavers must leave their parents

make space and time for the next litter.

They may invite you to swim 

to the far side of the pond with them.

There they will leave the water 

and begin their journey to new streams.

Not all of your sisters or all of the kits will remember, 

but if they listen,

they will feel memories of the Healing Time 

that came after the Great Dying Away. 

And maybe - if you are blessed,

you will remember and believe the old stories of a beaver girl

and that ancient laws of preservation are based in truth.

The door of enchantment is only open a short time

so do not question me, remove your shoes and enter the Remembering.

Al Black, 04/21/2024 

Announcing the Jasper Project's THE ART OF ONE BOOK 2024 CONTEST for Literary, Visual, and Musical Arts!

The Art of ONE BOOK 2024 – Cassie Premo Steele’s BEAVER GIRL!

Want to bring your own interpretation of 2024’s ONE BOOK  selection? The Jasper Project has an opportunity for YOU! Read Cassie Premo Steele’s Beaver Girl, then write a poem, paint a picture, or craft a piece of music with or without lyrics.

Entries

A panel of experts in the art of your entry will review submissions and choose winners in the following categories:

·         Poetry

·         Visual Art

·         Original Music

Winners will receive prizes, be featured in the Fall 2024 issue of Jasper Magazine, and be celebrated at the ONE BOOK 2024 Round-Up Party on Sunday, September 22nd at the One Columbia Co-op! DEADLINE JULY 1, 2024!

All submitted work must be original, family friendly, and capable of being performed or displayed in an outdoors setting. Both 2D and 3D work will be considered for the visual art competition.

Submission Instructions

Email your files to submissions@jasperproject.org. In the email please include your name, mailing address and phone number. Submissions are limited to 3 entries in each arts category.

Include the following attachments in your email:

·         Poetry – Word Document or PDF

·         Visual Art – Hi-res photos or scanned image of your work.

·         Music – MP3 or WAV (If files are under 150 mb you can attach them to the email). For larger files please send a Google drive, Dropbox or One Drive link. Youtube, Vimeo and Sound Cloud links are also fine.

Cassie Premo Steele's BEAVER GIRL is the ONE BOOK 2024 Selection!

The Jasper Project, in partnership with One Columbia for Arts and Culture and All Good Books, is delighted to announce that Cassie Premo Steele’s novel BEAVER GIRL has been chosen as the community reading selection for the ONE BOOK 2024 Project.

Set against the backdrop of a post-pandemic and climate-collapsed world, Beaver Girl follows the journey of Livia, a 19-year-old confronting the aftermath of environmental upheaval. As wildfires encircle her, Livia seeks solace in Congaree National Park, where an unexpected alliance with a beaver family becomes a central theme in her fight for survival.

Steele skillfully intertwines elements of a morality tale, shedding light on humanity's role in climate disaster. The novel delves into the ecological significance of beavers as keystone species, emphasizing their ability to shape landscapes and create sustainable water sources.

Beaver Girl  transcends traditional genres, offering a narrative that explores themes of redemption, resilience, and the interconnectedness of all living beings. Anxiety and Outcast Press, through this joint venture, bring forth a powerful story that challenges readers to reflect on the consequences of environmental negligence.

Jasper, One Columbia, and All Good Books have joined hands to provide a summer-long celebration of the project with programming, readings, an arts competition, and a culminating project party in September.

Pick up your copy of BEAVER GIRL,* read along, and join us for the following free events!

• April 21 – Earth Day Celebration with Jasper and One Columbia Arts and Culture

• April 27  – Congaree National Park Spring Forest Wellness Journaling

• May 2 – Can Beavers Really Save the World? Ask the Author and Scholar

• June 10 – Uniquely Close: Biodiversity at Congaree and Diversity in Columbia

• July 1 – The Art of ONE BOOK 2024 Contest Deadline                                                      

• August 27 – Community Book Discussion with Cassie Premo Steele

• September 7 – Congaree National Park Summer Forest Wellness Journaling 

• September 22 – ONE BOOK 2024 Round-Up Party and Contest Winners Showcase

*Beaver Gril is available at All Good Books, Liberation is Lit, Amason, Barnes & Noble & Bookshop.org

Poetry of the People with Al Black featuring Frances J. Pearce

This week's Poet of the People is Frances J. Pearce. I first met Frances over a decade ago in the low country, where she is a respected fixture of the literary community. I've heard her read at literary events and admired her steady hand when she served as the President of the Poetry Society of South Carolina. Her poetry speaks of family and friends as she observes the passing of days casting her luster on our community of poets.

Mount Pleasant resident Frances J. Pearce is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer whose work has appeared in Archive: South Carolina Poetry Since 2005 (Ninety-Six Press), The Fourth River, North Carolina Literary Review, Kakalak, Fall Lines, I Am a Furious Wish: Anthology of Lowcountry Poets (Free Verse Press), and elsewhere. Her poetry chapbook Those Carolina Parakeets Once Far from Extinct was published by Finishing Line Press. She is a past president of the Poetry Society of South Carolina. 

Yorkshire Pilgrimage 

On a drizzly August afternoon, Marion, Jo,

Katherine, and I traveled on foot up the perilous

hillside path to find her resting place—not

amongst ancient graves surrounding the church,

but in the walled section beyond the gate, behind

Dunleavy, beside the Drapers. All lined up like patients

in a ward. Black letters on gray granite. Full name.

Dates. A line of verse: Even amidst the fierce flames

the lotus can be planted. A tangle of weeds. Blades

of bright green grass. A lantern leaning against Sylvia’s

headstone, an unfilled basket resting on the mound.

Later, jackets drooping, skin wet, we four pilgrims

filed down the High Street of Heptenstall, passing by

the wafting aroma of mutton pie. The others cut through

occupied pastures and returned to our borrowed rooms

in Ted’s hillside house, a mile from where he buried you.

Alone, I entered a pub, empty except for the German

Shepherd, sporting a red collar, seated next to a window.

Night Sounds in a Neighborhood along the Wando River

Sometimes palmetto fronds

rustling. Sometimes a foghorn

cautioning an approaching ship.

Sometimes the buzz of mosquitoes

out for blood. Sometimes a deafening

boom as lightning ruptures

a loblolly pine. Sometimes the call of

barred owl in pursuit of wharf rats.

Sometimes a shipping container

plummeting to ground at the nearby port.

Sometimes the swish of a car traveling

across wet pavement. Sometimes the

explosion of a transformer. Sometimes

the scream of the vixen calling her mate.

Often the neighbors’ various dogs

barking. One time, a sudden screech

when your speeding truck missed the

curve. Tonight, the floofy cat pretending

I’m her kitten, purring into my ear,

It’s all right. Everything’s all right.

Announcing Fall Lines Vol. X Winners and Launch Date

May 19th 2:30 pm Richland Library

The Jasper Project is delighted to announce the winners of our Fall Lines Volume X poetry and prose prizes, our newest prize for a South Carolina writer of color, and the date of the Fall Lines Volume X book launch and reading.

Please join Jasper on Sunday May 19th at 2:30 pm in the auditorium of Richland Library as we welcome the 10th volume of Fall Lines – a literary convergence to the world. Previously announced accepted contributors are invited to read from their published work and copies of Fall Lines will be available for further distribution throughout the state. Contributors and guests are invited to attend.

Congratulations to the following prize winners.

Alyssa Stewart, winner of the Combahee River Prize for a SC Writer of Color for her poem “a black boy dreams of water” sponsored by the SC Academy of Authors.

Liz Newall, winner of the Broad River Prize for Prose for her short fiction “Red Hill Fans” sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation.

Brian Slusher, winner of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry for his poem “Improv 101” also sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation.

This year’s judges were Jennifer Bartell Boykin, poet laureate for the city of Columbia, SC (Combahee River  Prize), Ed Madden, Fall Lines co-editor and former poet laureate for the city of Columbia SC (Saluda River Prize), and Cindi Boiter, co-editor of Fall Lines and Jasper Magazine (Broad River Prize).

In writing about “a black boy dreams of water” by Alyssa Stewart, Boykin says, “It is not a coincidence that the winner of the Combahee River Prize is a poem overflowing with water. Water can be healing. Water can be dangerous. But what is water to a Black boy? What is the role of water in the Black psyche? In “a black boy dreams of water” Alyssa Stewart explores these questions and more. She pens a well-crafted poem in which the Black boy experiences water in a pool, in a pond, a river, a broken fire hydrant and infuses them with memories of the Atlantic Ocean and the Middle Passage. Boykin continues, “There is joy in the water that ‘has the power / to make his auntie’s hair curl’ and danger in water that can ‘turn hardened men into narcs.’ This poem deals with the legacy of water and Blackness, the not knowing how to swim (‘we do not go in’) and water as a path to freedom. It’s a call and response that beckons us to dream with this Black boy and to dream of/in water.”

Ed Madden, who is the Jasper Project’s literary editor, having selected poetry contributors to Fall Lines since our begging, writes about adjudicating the Saluda River Prize for Poetry. “While I love the meditative language of Randy Spencer’s "Reading Ann's Poem..." and the unemotional attention to the things we do in Worthy Evans’ "Blues Song...," and the humor of Debra Daniel’s "Studies in Reproduction"—all that to say this is a tough decision—I decided on Brian Slusher’s "Improv 101" as the winner of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry this year. While there is so much to love in all of the finalist poems, this poem has such a playfulness that almost-but-not-quite distracts from its serious lessons, every instruction for improv comedy also resonating with so many other possibilities. Say yes and....  Why don't we just let it go?” Madden continues, “The wild pacing of the poem suggests the wild pacing of improv--as if to suggest that poetry itself is a kind of improvisation. (And isn't it?) And that last double simile is so so delightful.”  

For Boiter, it was an honor, though also a challenge, to read and adjudicate this volume’s prose submissions. “As a prose and creative non-fiction writer myself, I find that I always learn something from reading the widely varied contributions to Fall Lines. In Suzanne Kamata’s ‘Community Building,’ for example, I vicariously learned about the awkward enthusiasm of actively participating in a culture foreign to one’s own. As a person who had once felt so out of touch with the portion of my peer group that valued conformity, Evelyn Berry’s “The Home Party” reminded me of the darker days of my early thirties and the frustration and shame of trying to fit in among people for whom I had no admiration and little respect. I think many readers will commiserate with the satisfying sense of personal growth I felt, and Berry’s main character begins to feel, at having extracted oneself from the kind of dangerous women Berry writes about and ensconced oneself in a community of forward-thinking artists and progressives. But it was in Liz Newall’s ‘Red Hill Fans’ that I was most carried away by the storytelling and the plot twists that have always inspired me both as a writer and a reader. For that reason, and more, I selected Newell’s ‘Red Hill Fans’ as the winner of the Broad River Prize for Prose.” 

The Jasper Project wants to thank Richland Library, Lee Snelgrove, One Columbia for Arts and Culture, Xavier Blake, the South Carolina Academy of Authors, Wilmot Irving, Mary Beth Evans, Ed Madden, and Jennifer Bartell Boykin.

Congratulations to Liz Newell, Alyssa Stewart, Brian Slusher, and all the accepted contributors to this historic issue of Fall Lines – a literary convergence.

 Mark your calendars!

Sunday May 19th 2:30 pm

Richland Library

1431 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC

Jasper Partners with One Columbia & All Good Books to present 2024 ONE BOOK Project -- Book Announcement Celebration April 21st at Bierkeller

A few hints: the author lives, works, and writes in Columbia, the book’s theme centers around nature, environmental responsibility, and climate change, and there are characters in the book that transcend perceived racial, gender, sexual orientation, and even biological divisions to remind us that we are all citizens of this planet.

The public is invited to join the Jasper Project, One Columbia, and All Good Books, along with our host, Bierkeller Brewing Company on Sunday afternoon, April 21st from 3 – 5 pm for the announcement of our new book selection for Columbia’s 2024 ONE BOOK project!

As an Earth Day Eve event, the Bierkeller has invited representatives from local environmental organizations to be on hand to help us set the stage for the announcement of this year’s book selection.

A few hints: the author lives, works, and writes in Columbia, the book’s theme centers around nature, environmental responsibility, and climate change, and there are characters in the book that transcend perceived racial, gender, sexual orientation, and even biological divisions to remind us that we are all citizens of this planet.

Columbia city poet laureate Jennifer Bartell Boykin will read a poem dedicated to the city, and southeastern regional poetry event host Al Black has created a new poem inspired by the selected book. Dr. Melissa Stuckey, USC professor of History, will speak as will One Columbia’s Xavier Blake, All Good Book’s Jared Johnson, and the Jasper Project’s Cindi Boiter. There will be an interactive arts table for the children, environmental information booths, and various arts and crafts vendors will share their wares and talents with attendees. And, of course, beer, wine, and authentic German dishes will be available from the Bierkeller.

In addition to announcing the calendar of events for Columbia’s 2024 ONE BOOK  celebration, the pre-Earth Day event will also allow for the announcement of a Jasper Project – sponsored and ONE BOOK - inspired visual art, literary art, and singer-songwriter competition open to Midlands area artists with prizes and a 2024 ONE BOOK culminating party on September 22, 2024.

The ONE BOOK, One Community project began in the Seattle public library system in 1998 when Seattle librarians invited the community of greater Seattle to read and discuss the same book over the course of a summer. Columbia embraced the project first in 2011, and we enjoyed several years of exciting, thought-provoking programming centered around a singular book. One of our most exciting projects was in 2017 when the Columbia community read local author Carla Damron's novel The Stone Necklace, a detailed and ultimately uplifting story focusing on the power of community to combat poverty and homelessness and set in Columbia. Along with One Columbia for Arts and Culture and independent bookstore All Good Books, the Jasper Project has renewed the project focusing exclusively on books by SC authors.

While the title of the book remains embargoed until April 21st, media representatives may be made aware of the information upon request.

What will the selection for Columbia’s 2024 One Book be? Join us on April 21st from 3 – 5 pm at the Bierkeller, 600 Canal Street, Suite 1009 to find out!

For more information contact info@JasperProject.org

Book Launch and Celebration for DeLana Dameron's REDWOOD COURT

FEBRUARY 9TH 6:30 - 9 PM

MIKE BROWN CONTEMPORARY GALLERY

122 LINCOLN STREET - IN THE VISTA

From our friends at Mike Brown Contemporary …

A breathtaking debut about one unforgettable Southern Black family, seen through the eyes of its youngest daughter as she comes of age in the 1990s Columbia, SC.

"A beautiful exploration of a family . . . deeply moving." Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful

“Mika, you sit at our feet all these hours and days, hearing us tell our tales. You have all these stories inside all the stories everyone in our family knows and all the stories everyone in our family tells. You write ’em in your books and show everyone who we are.”

So begins award-winning poet DéLana R. A. Dameron’s debut novel, Redwood Court . The baby of the family, Mika Tabor spends much of her time in the care of loved ones, listening to their stories and witnessing their struggles. On Redwood Court, the cul-de-sac in the all-Black working-class suburb of Columbia, South Carolina, where her grandparents live, Mika learns important lessons from the people who raise her exhausted parents, who work long hours at multiple jobs while still making sure their kids experience the adventure of family vacations; her older sister, who in a house filled with Motown would rather listen to Alanis Morrisette; her retired grandparents, children of Jim Crow, who realized their own vision of success when they bought their house on the Court in the 1960s, imagining it filled with future generations; and the many neighbors who hold tight to the community they’ve built, committed to fostering joy and love in an America so insistent on seeing Black people stumble and fall.

With visceral clarity and powerful prose, Dameron reveals the devastation of being made to feel invisible and the transformative power of being seen. Redwood Court is a celebration of extraordinary, ordinary people striving to achieve their own American dreams.

Richland Library Hosts Award Winning Graphic Novelist ANDREW AYDIN - author of the 3-volume MARCH about John Lewis (and more!) as guest of artist-in-residence CHUCK BROWN

Richland Library is hosting an evening of intellectual engagement as AiR Chuck Brown, Richland Library's newest Artist-in-Residence, conducts an insightful and captivating interview with award-winning author and American comics writer Andrew Aydin. This special event, "A Comic Conversation with Andrew Aydin," promises to delve deep into comic creation, writing, the civil rights movement, and more.

• Date: Friday, Jan. 19

• Time: 7:30 - 9 p.m.

• Location: Richland Library Main

AiR Chuck Brown, renowned for his significant contributions to the comic book industry, will sit down with Andrew Aydin, the Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Georgia congressman John Lewis. Aydin is best known as the co-author, with Lewis, of the groundbreaking autobiographical graphic novel trilogy March, which debuted in 2013 by Top Shelf Productions.

Andrew Aydin, a Turkish-American creator, boasts an impressive array of accolades, including being a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a National Book Award winner, a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Honoree, and a three-time Eisner award winner. Co-authoring MARCH with Rep. Lewis, Aydin made history with the first comic's work to win the National Book Award.

Chuck Brown, an Eisner, and multiple Ringo award-winning writer, brings his wealth of experience to the stage. Known for his work on iconic characters like The Punisher, Wolverine, and Black Panther for Marvel, as well as Superman, Black Manta, and Aquaman for DC comics, Brown is a creative force in the comic book world. His creation, Bitter Root, is being adapted into a live-action film by Legendary Pictures.

Attendees will have a unique opportunity to witness a conversation between two influential figures in the comic book industry. Before the event, Aydin will lead a creative writing workshop on the essential parts of a comic story.

The workshop, geared toward young adults interested in graphic novel creation, will be held at Richland Library Main at 3 p.m.

Jennifer Bartell's Traveling Mercy Book Launch Drop- In December 20th

Join Columbia’s Poet Laureate, Jennifer Bartell, on Wednesday December 20th from 5 - 7 pm at the Ernest A. Finney Cultural Arts Center, 1510 Laurens Street, for an informal Book Launch Drop-In celebration of her new book Traveling Mercy.

After reading a single magnificent poem in Traveling Mercy, “the sapling in your chest floods with too much water and light.” Read a handful of poems, and find yourself on the poet’s ferry crossing the river “between thens and tomorrows.” Every magical, existential line is an iteration of Jennifer Bartell’s dextrous poetics. This accomplished debut elegizes human loss while celebrating the resilience that persists through witness and language. Traveling Mercy is a dazzling first book.

–Terrance Hayes

Bartell’s Traveling Mercy is such an intimate history of a Black girl raised by Black women, raised by church fans and magnolia memories, dream-hymns of Black people pushing through mud and disease and held together by traditions. This rich collection of poems, by a Black girl who knows how and why to style okra seeds in her hair, spills with fat oysters and a community’s petrified pounded grace. Bartell assures she will never give us one chance to hold our breath, as we jump into this never-ending deep end of blazing life, therefore, prepare to be drenched.

–Nikky Finney

Ed Madden Celebrates A Story of the City at Historic Columbia

Tuesday December 5th 5 - 7 pm

Boyd Horticultural Center at Hampton Preston

Mansion & Gardens

Join us as we celebrate A Story of the City: Poems Occasional and Otherwise! Published by Muddy Ford Press, this collection of poems was written by Ed Madden during his 8 years as Columbia's first poet laureate.

Hosted by Historic Columbia at the Boyd Horticultural Center, the event will include a short reading by Ed and some special guests, with introduction by Lee Snelgrove, former director of One Columbia, and comments by Robin Waites, executive director of Historic Columbia.

The Horticultural Center is a state-of-the-art greenhouse located behind the Hampton-Preston Mansion. Enter from the back gate on Laurel Street. Street parking available (and evening at the nearby Richland County School District parking lot).

~~~~~

Introducing A Story of the City: Poems Occasional and Otherwise by Ed Madden

I remember the first time I sat at a table with Ed Madden.

Drue Barker, who was coming in as the new director of the women’s studies program at USC, had come to town and Ed, Julia Elliott, and I had taken her down to the Hunter Gatherer pub on the university side of Main Street to chat.

It was sometime in 2007 and I felt like I was among royalty.

I knew of Julia because she sang in the alt-band Grey Egg, which may be the most innovative and eclectic musical group Columbia, SC has ever seen. She had copies of the band’s most recent CD to share with Ed and Drue.

I knew of Ed because it seemed like everyone knew of Ed. A proudly-out gay man, his reputation as a poet and activist set a standard for community engagement. I’ll admit now that these three people, all clearly commanders of their own fates, were a bit intimidating. I was just an adjunct instructor looking to find a new place to grow myself, having spent the last two decades teaching, writing, and watching my daughters grow into adults. If I had known then how many tables Ed and I would sit at together over the years to come, how many projects we would hatch and secrets we would share, I would have taken better note of our surroundings than I did. I would have recorded those observations like historical artifacts of the moment. I would have recognized that I was meeting a person who would play a unique and cherished role in the rest of my life.

Fast forward eight years and I had the proud pleasure of cheering Ed on as he took the title of Poet Laureate for the City of Columbia. A brave and selfless thing to do. Ed embraced the role like it was made for him, working with Lee Snelgrove to create a culture of renegade poetry at the same time that he seamlessly elevated the importance of poetry by creating beautiful and profoundly honest responses to the events that occurred in the life of the city.

As the first poet laureate in the capitol city of a state that has gone without a state poet laureate for three years and counting, Ed’s position took on greater significance than it had to. While South Carolina’s first state poet laureate, Archibald Rutledge, had served a lifetime appointment from 1934 until his death in 1973, followed in succession by Helen Von Kolnitz Hyer, Ennis Rees, Grace Freeman, and Bennie Sinclair, in 2020, Marjory Wentworth, the sixth person to hold the title, left the post and, as late as summer 2023, Governor Henry McMaster had failed to fill the position. In the absence of a government or appointing body following through on its responsibility to maintain the continuity of leadership in the poetic arts, poets throughout the state looked to Ed Madden as their guide. And guide them he did. Soon, city poets laureate were being named throughout the state in Charleston, Greenville, Rock Hill, the Pee Dee, and more.

Why does it mean so much to poets to be represented by an honored one of their own? Several reasons, none of which are monetary. In fact, the small budget once allocated to the state poet laureate was rescinded by former Governor Mark Sanford in 2000. There is a smaller budget for the Columbia city laureate, but it all goes toward supplies needed for various projects and never sees the inside of the laureate’s pocket.

It is validating to wordsmiths of all genres to have an artist among them who represents the importance of the part they play, we play, in the creation of our culture. The poet laureate of a city or state is a role model for all of us who confess our words and perceptions to paper in an attempt to make sense of the chaos that surrounds us. That person reminds us that the act of creative writing is not an exercise in frivolity but rather an important practice in interpreting the turns of events that make up our history.

Similarly, patrons of poetry depend upon the writers among us, especially our poet laureate, to help us find truth in ways that sooth and unite us. Time and again, Ed Madden reminded us that in addition to being a city of individuals whose unique gifts intimately design the world around us, we are also a cohort of creatures living life together at this particular place and time and are forever united by the community we create.

So much has changed over the almost two decades I’ve called Ed Madden my colleague, friend, and collaborator. Neighbors have moved, both to and away from us. Elected officials have come to office, created policy, and moved on. Friends and allies have passed away from us, leaving their own legacies on the landscape of our home. And because Ed Madden used his inimitable gifts to record his perceptions of this community and commit them to paper to preserve for posterity, the record of our lives as citizens of Columbia, South Carolina will live on in the volume—A Story of the City: poems occasional and otherwise, Columbia, SC 2015-2022.

By Cindi Boiter

Reprinted with permission from Jasper Magazine, Fall 2023

Join Us Under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at Rosewood Art & Music Festival – October 7th

You’re invited to join the Jasper Project and some of your favorite local writers of poetry and prose under the Jasper Literary Arts Tent at the 2023 Rosewood Art & Music Festival on Saturday, October 7th from noon – 5 pm.*

You’ll get to hear some of your favorite Columbia-based writers read from a selection of their works, purchase their books, and then meet the authors and have your books signed.

*Authors will read during the first half of each hour and then sign and greet friends during the second half of each hour.

901 S Holly St, Columbia, SC 29205

 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Noon – 1 pm

Carla Damron

Jane Zenger

Sandra Johnson

 

1 – 2 pm

Evelyn Berry

Debbie Daniel

Susan Craig

 

2 - 3 pm

Terri McCord

Ann Chadwell Humphries

Robert (Bo) Petersen

 

3 – 4 pm

Jo Angela Edwins

Randy Spencer

Kristine Hartvigsen

4 – 5 pm

Al Black

Ed Madden

Cassie Premo Steele

For more information about the performing and visual artists you’ll see at the Rosewood Art & Music Festival, check out the festival website!

You're Invited to the 1st Launch Party & Reading of Ed Madden's new book of poetry -- Story of a City: poems occasional and otherwise - Saturday September 23rd, 6 pm, 1013 Duke Avenue

Please join Muddy Ford Press and friends and family of former Columbia city poet laureate Ed Madden for a launch party for his new book of poetry, Story of a City: poems occasional and otherwise, published by Muddy Ford Press.

Saturday, September 23rd

6 pm

1013 Duke Avenue

In addition to hearing Ed read from his new collection of poems written in his role as city poet laureate, Ed has invited some special guests to read as well.

And there will be cake!

Books are $20 and will be available for purchase at the event or, prior to the event at Amazon, Barnes & Noble dot com, Booktopia, and more.

Cover Artist is Steven Chesley.

1013 Duke Avenue is located up North Main Street by turning left on Arlington. Parking is available in the designated lot across the street.

Ed Madden is the author of five books and four chapbooks of poetry, most recently A pooka in Arkansas, which was selected for the Hilary Tham Capital Collection, and Ark, a book about his father’s last months in hospice care. He is a professor of English and the former director of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches Irish literature, queer studies, and creative writing. Ed served as the poet laureate for the City of Columbia, SC, 2015-2022. He is recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship and artist residencies at the Hambidge Center in Georgia and the Instituto Sacatar in Itaparica, Brazil.

Rob Shaw Gallery Reception to Feature Eclectic Private Collection and Award-Winning Photographer

On Friday, September 1, from 6 to 9 p.m., Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery will host a reception featuring the private art collection of Mary Beth Dawson-Gillis. The reception will also feature award-winning photographer Skip Willits, who will sign copies of his new book Come Walk with Me. Both Willits’s book and all works in the private collection will be for sale at the event. The gallery is at 324 State Street in West Columbia. 

The Dawson-Gillis collection features an eclectic mix of artwork ranging from Folk Gullah paintings to representational landscapes. Featuring more than 20 artists, it includes works by Charles DeSaussure, Kip McCullough, Amiri Farris, Saundra Erickson Wright, Marshall Foster, Michel McNinch and Cami Hutchinson.

Willits is a professional photographer specializing in maritime, nature, and urban scenes, with a special emphasis on lighthouses. His work appears in books and magazines as well as in lighthouse and wildlife posters. Willits has led tours and produced multimedia presentations for the Smithsonian Institution. 

Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery is a full-service frame shop and fine art gallery. Since opening the gallery in April of 2019, Shaw has showcased many talented South Carolina artists with diverse styles. 

The gallery hosts First Friday at Rob Shaw Gallery receptions every month except July and August.

Jenifer Bartell's Traveling Mercy -- Launching this Fall, Preorder NOW!

“A Jennifer Bartell poem unwinds like “a Black tea-stained river water… on its way to the Atlantic.” A Jennifer Bartell poem houses the bucolic gospel of a Bluefield griot and the abstract blues of our present world. Lucille Clifton appears with tiny packages of light. A stone grows gills and lives  at the bottom of a woman-built lake. You find the poet in the mouth of the fish. Jennifer Bartell makes fabulous poems. Traveling Mercy is a fabulous debut.” –Terrance Hayes, MacArthur Genius and author of American Sonnets for my Past & Future Assassin

“Bartell’s Traveling Mercy is such an intimate history of a Black girl raised by Black women, raised by church fans and magnolia memories, dream-hymns of Black people pushing through mud and disease and held together by traditions. This rich collection of poems, by a Black girl who knows how and why to style okra seeds in her hair, spills with fat oysters and a community’s petrified pounded grace. Bartell assures she will never give us one chance to hold our breath, as we jump into this never-ending deep end of blazing life, therefore, prepare to be drenched.” –Nikky Finney, National Book Award Winner and author of Head Off & Split

Jennifer Bartell Boykin is the Poet Laureate of the City of Columbia. She teaches at Spring Valley High School, where she was named the 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year. She was born and raised in Bluefield, a community of Johnsonville, SC. She received the MFA in Poetry from the University of South Carolina. Her debut book of poetry, Traveling Mercy, will be released in November 2023 under the name Jennifer Bartell. Her poetry has been published in Obsidian, Callaloo, pluck!, As/Us, The Raleigh Review, kinfolks: a journal of black expression, Jasper Magazine, the museum americana, Scalawag, and Kakalak, among others. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, Jennifer has fellowships from Callaloo and The Watering Hole. She is pursuing a Master of Library and Information Science at USC to become a school librarian. You can reach her online at www.jenniferbartellpoet.com.

Traveling Mercy navigates the journeys of a Black woman from rural South Carolina. Her travels transcend time as she encounters history, nature, and grief. She sits with the eldest residents before her birth, with the first ancestor who came to these shores, with her parents through their marriage, and through her own loneliness in the wake of their deaths. Planting as she harvests, this book is a lament and a love story to survival. 

Pre-order Traveling Mercy for $20.99 (USD)

This is an advanced sales price that will increase after its release

• Online: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/traveling-mercy-by-jennifer-bartell/ 

Traveling Mercy will be released on November 17, 2023. The pre-order sale price is guaranteed through September 15, 2023. Reserve your copy today!

Deadline for Fall Lines Extended to August 14th! Whew!

It’s not too late to submit your poetry and prose to the 2023 Fall Lines - a literary convergence journal and competition. 

Because at Jasper, we know how it feels to juggle art and life, we’re extending the deadline for submissions to 2023 Fall Lines volume X until midnight Monday, August 14th.  

This gives you two weekends to create a poem or some flash fiction, or to finish and polish that short story you’ve been building in your mind, if not on the screen or paper.

Don’t forget that this year we’re offering Three Prizes! 

The Saluda River Prize for Poetry and the Broad River Prize for Prose, sponsored by the Friends of the Richland Library, as well as the Combahee River Prize for South Carolina writer of color in either poetry or prose, sponsored by the SC Academy of Authors.

 

So relax. You have plenty of time to burnish your words and send them on to Jasper. 

We can’t wait to read what you’ve written!

SC Academy of Authors Sponsors Jasper's Combahee Prize for a SC Writer of Color in this year's Fall Lines

The Jasper Project is delighted to announce that the South Carolina Academy of Authors will be the sponsor of the 2023 Combahee Prize for a SC writer of color in this year’s Fall Lines – a literary convergence journal.

Founded in 1986, the South Carolina Academy of Authors (SCAA) is a nonprofit organization which recognizes distinguished South Carolina writers, living and deceased, through induction into the Academy. It also supports developing writers with its Coker Fellowships and Student Prizes in Poetry and Short Fiction. 

"The SCAA is very pleased to join with The Jasper Project in supporting the Combahee River Prize,” says Marybeth Evans, chairman of its Board of Governors. “The Academy is dedicated to nurturing and supporting South Carolina’s literary talent. It deeply values the multicultural diversity displayed in the work of all the extraordinary writers in our state."

The SC Academy of Authors joins the Friends of Richland Library in sponsoring these three prizes: the Broad River Prize for Prose, the Saluda River Prize for Poetry, and the Combahee River Prize for a SC Writer of Color in Poetry or Prose. Each prize offers $250 cash and publication in Fall Lines - a literary convergence, volume X.

The deadline for submitting your work for consideration in this year’s Fall Lines - a literary convergence is July 31, 2023.

Submit to Fall Lines volume X here.