Madge McKeithen

A Well-Loved Poet and Gatherer of People

October 18, 2015

When I moved to Laurinburg, North Carolina, in June to teach at St. Andrews University, one of the first people I met was Ronald H. Bayes read more

Tags: Black Mountain poets, Joseph Bathanti, Laurinburg, NC, poetry, poets, Ronald H. Bayes, St. Andrews University, Ted Wojtasik

Slow Irony, Sure Wit

January 20, 2015

Slow Irony seeks to link the pleasures of humorous insight with a commitment to “go local” in matters key to a community.

Forty-two years ago, at a weekend retreat held at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, read more

Tags: Grace Loving Gibson, higher education, irony, Laurinburg, North Carolina, place, poetry, retirement community, Ron Bayes, Scotia Village, St. Andrews University, Ted Wojtasik, wisdom, wit

Crocuses, UConn, and Derek Jeter

April 12, 2014

Typically around this time of year crocuses incite a gasp of delight, and they did again this year — just a few days ago in the backyard of the rented house to which I moved a few months ago and the next day, more robust ones, read more

Tags: amazement, baseball, basketball, Breanna Stewart, Derek Jeter, essays, Floyd Skloot, form, heroes, hybrid form, lyric essays, New School, nonfiction, Peter Cooley, poetry, sports, standards, UConn women's basketball, writing

Onset of Spring?

February 1, 2014

Most of this post — Robin Robertson’s poem, the photographs taken in November in Frenchtown, NJ — was compiled in a moment of late November pause, read more

Tags: Calendars, family, February 1, Festivals, Frenchtown, Gaelic, Gerald Stern, holidays, Imbolc, NJ, North Carolina, poetry, Robin Robertson, Samhain, Spring, winter

Waiting Ahead

November 1, 2013

Amy Bagwell is a force for poetry in public spaces in Charlotte, NC. Spurred first by her love of poetry and her passion that it be out there for everyone to read read more

Tags: A. R. Ammons, Amy Bagwell, art and design, Billy Collins, Central Piedmond Community College, Charlotte, Charlotte Center City Partners, Jon Pineda, Leiden 101 Murals, NC, poetry, Poetry In Motion, Poetry Society of America, public art, Queens University, Wall Poems of Charlotte

Abundance

May 16, 2013

Leighton B. McKeithen, Jr.
March 12, 1925 – May 8, 2013

read more

Tags: Cameron, father, Fayetteville, Leighton McKeithen, North Carolina, poetry, Presbyterian, tribute, William Stafford, WWII

Southern Literary Festival

March 5, 2013

Each season brings a new pace. Spring carries particular anticipation — if only a momentary perspective, read more

Tags: Columbus State University, Dan Albergotti, Georgia, Kevin Wilson, moment, Natasha Trethewey, poetry, Points South, Southern Literary Festival, Spring, Stephen Dobyns, Tim O'Brien, vernal equinox

There I was told:

August 23, 2012

In a bookstore on Broadway, behind towering stacks that bring to mind bookstores past (and some present) and in front of a large clear window, read more

Tags: Carol Peters, Catallus, Cecil Day Lewis, Dylan Thomas, e. e. cummings, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Harryette Mullen, James Wright, John Ashbery, John Donne, Laura Riding, Lisa Robertson, Marianne Moore, Maureen McLane, poetry, Wallace Stevens, William Wordsworth