.Former Texas Poet Laureate, Paul D. Ruffin — May 31, 2007 Image by kenne
Writer, educator and editor, Paul D. Ruffin was born May 14, 1941, in Millport, AL. It is with sadness that I learned that Paul past away at 2:00 am yesterday (April 13, 2016) only hours after attending a gathering of poets in east Texas.
“I’m a Renaissance man,” Paul Ruffin told Jeannie Kever, the Chronicle reporter whose article, “Well-Versed in Creativity,” on Ruffin appeared June 6, 2009. His impact on the Texas literary world will forever be lasting.
I share again a video I produced and posted on this blog, August 7, 2009, of the Texas Poetry Shoot-Out at “Good Books In The Woods,” Spring, Texas.
Lone Star College – Montgomery Library, Writers In Performance Series. — Images and video by kenne
September 17, 2009, poet Rich Levy was the presenter at the first fall 2009 Writers In Performance at Lone Star College – Montgomery. As I had done for about a year, I recorded his reading, which took place in the college library. Levy earned his MFA at the Iowa Writers Workshop and has been the executive director of Inprint, a nonprofit literary arts organization in Houston, Texas, since 1995.
Several of the poem he read were from his 2009 book of poems, “Why Me?” One of the poems that impressed me was titled, “Body and Soul” after Coleman Hawkins’ recording — “. . . the hurling way in which their talk moves, the way his nostrils flare as he tries with an occasional false shyness to avert his glance makes me think of Coleman Hawkins’ 1939 recording of Body and Soul, the one that took the world’s breath away, . . . “
This is poetry that possesses the feelings that makes Blues and Jazz the most human of all music, therefore existential.
Rocked back on his backside, not yet risen. It’s Mr. Moon – like a thin nail paring Or sweet slice of some pale, blue melon — Hauled in the tumbril, his four-wheeled prison. We jostle the curbsides as if we were starting At a president or some famous felon.
Like moonvines outreaching your porch’s trellis Or tall man in a child’s brass bed, he lies With his tip and toes poked through the bars. Not, though the snatch at us, not to repel us. His thoughts have turned. His eyes Glozed to mirror the farthest stars.
Reflect on himself: blue shut-in Cool to all suns utter his drowsy ban This cage that couldn’t even begin To hold, shuts us outside, Excluded from the Moon in Man.
Conversations
from the past
lost
in the images
of memories
amassed
only to return
on the backs
of death
resurrected
by poets
serving only
to introduce
images
of what was
like water
returning
from a fountain’s
reservoir
only
to be reborn
again
and again
and again
kenne (first written in the following related article)
Kenne, Cliff, Dianne, Dick and George — image by Joy
Dianne and Kuyk Logan hosted a gathering of Montgomery Country Literary Arts Council members before everyone hits the road for summer — Cliff off to Japan; George off to Jackson Hole; Paula off to the ; Dianne off to San Fransisco; Kenne off to Tucson; and others, places unknown. It was an enjoyable gathering in Dianne and Kuyk’s beautiful new home. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!
Wendy Barker , Writers In Performance Series Appearances -by kenne
“We missed you,” I said as we began the drive from the airport.
“It was like missing a major family reunion,” she replied, about her not attending last year’s annual celebration of Emily Dickinson’s birthday. Not having Wendy at our annual party was like not having a birthday cake.
As we talked, we tried to remember how many years she has been a part of the Emily Dickinson panel discussion and the poetry reading at the Corner Pub – most of this decade, we agreed. The conversation continued at a pace driven by so much to share in so little time as if we could make up for time lost.
One might conclude that making up for time lost was why Wendy was arriving the day before the annual Emily Dickinson birthday celebration. To read her own poetry that evening. Even though she had become synonymous with the Writers In Performance Series, Wendy had never read strictly from her own poetry, which was about to change that evening. Now it was going to be Wendy’s turn to do Wendy and not Emily.
On the evening of her solo series performance, Wendy read primarily from her most recent work, Nothing Between Us – The Berkeley Years, a novel in prose poetry published by Del Sol Press. The book focuses on the late sixties, a period of time that was both explosive and exciting in our culture’s history. Before reading from the book, Wendy provided a synopsis of the times, which set the stage for her beautifully penetrating prose poems.
So impressed with her outline of the sixties, the video I have prepared contains a précis of her preface to the reading and the prose poem, “Teaching Uncle Tom’s Children.”
One of my joys over the years of being involved in the Writers In Performance Series has been photographing almost all the series, which includes numerous Wendy images. With each, I have tried to capture the essence of this talented writer – not an easy task since so much of her work is made more elegant with the combination of skill, ease, and grace of her spoken word. Hopefully, this video will allow you to experience the essence of her elegance.
Former Texas Poet Laureate, Paul D. Ruffin — May 31, 2007 Image by kenne
and stored it in my in-laws’ basement in Bethesda,
Lone Star College – Montgomery Library, Writers In Performance Series. — Images and video by kenne
September 17, 2009, poet Rich Levy was the presenter at the first fall 2009 Writers In Performance at Lone Star College – Montgomery. As I had done for about a year, I recorded his reading, which took place in the college library. Levy earned his MFA at the Iowa Writers Workshop and has been the executive director of Inprint, a nonprofit literary arts organization in Houston, Texas, since 1995.
