MEMBERS
PRESENT:
Caren Von See, Adam Sedia, Katherine Flotz, Hardarshan Valia,
Beverly Stanislawski, Sharon Buckman, Marilyn Kessler, Haley Hardin, Rebecca
Juergens, Sharon Palmeri, Diane Stratton, Bob Philpot, Amy Brailey, Dave
Wilgus, Rachel Thomas, Mary Ellen Beecher, Ruthann Graczyk
GUESTS
PRESENT:
Kyle Myrick
The meeting began at 6PM.
The meeting began at 6PM.
OLD
BUSINESS:
A vote of approval for the March 16, 2017 minutes was first
given by RUTHANN GRACZYK and seconded
by HARDARSHAN VALIA.
NEW
BUSINESS:
SHARON
PALMERI reminded the members of her suggestion to try to write a poem
each day in honor of Poetry Month. She
also asked the various members to tell what inspired them to write. MARILYN
KESSLER stated that she sometimes found talking to herself would sometimes
inspire a poem. ADAM SEDIA mentioned that he found himself trying to fit various
statements into verse. CAREN VON SEE stated she would create a
profile sheet when asked, “What creates good characters.” BOB PHILPOT stated he would go through a list of questions from a
character catalogue he found, to establish his characters.
HARDARSHAN
VALIA stated he sometimes uses his own persona.
KATHY
FLOTZ will be speaking at the Thomas Edison Junior High School on
April 12th about her book, Pebble in My Shoe.
HARDARSHAN
VALIA talked about one of his favorite authors, Gloria
McMillan. Gloria is a professor at the
University of Arizona, originally from East Chicago, In. She has told how the literary image of
Northwest Indiana can be changed by encouraging our literary talents. She suggests writing on what you know best,
and has been seeking stories written by steel workers for her forthcoming book
entitled, Children of Steel. Two
of her already published books are, Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars, and Blue
Maroon Murder.
TRIBUTE
TO FAMOUS POETS:
ADAM
SEDIA read three stanzas from the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” (translated
by Edward FitzGerald). Adam
explained that Rubai is a form of quatrain in Persian poetry, in which lines
1,2, and 4 rhyme, and all verses share the same meter.
RACHEL
THOMAS read “Poet’s Tree,”
written by Shel Silverstein, a
beautiful one stanza poem beginning with
“Underneath the poet tree, Come and rest
awhile with me.”
SHARON PALMERI read another beautiful poem entitled, “Seeing the Best.” The author’s pen name was listed as Patience Strong. The poem was one Palmeri clipped from an Ideals magazine when she was 17 years old. Members "Googled" to
discover Strong's real name was Winifred
Emma May, from England. The poem’s
basic message was, “Believe in tomorrow
and never despair….” Sharon also
read a poem by W.H. Auden entitled “Musee des Beaux Arts” (translated
The Museum of the Arts.) Accompanying the poem was
a picture of a painting called “The Fall
of Icarus” by artist Pieter Bruegel,
because it was referenced in the poem. Auden explained in the poem that even as life
for some people is a disaster, simultaneously others are not affected, or are
even experiencing happiness.
READINGS:
CAREN VON
SEE
first read her poem, “Honor the Wonder.” The 17 line poem tells of all the various
wonderful wonders, such as, “of a morning bird’s song, the warmth of
family.” She leaves to the reader the
act of filling in lines of his or her own. Caren also read “Ice Falls.” This story was written as a 247 word entry
into a Hitchcock March/April contest. The story is a revision of the story she
read at the last meeting telling of a person
flying to Switzerland to enter an Ice Fall Competition with his
equipment manager. Not listening to his
own instincts, his rope failed as he leaped over the edge.
ADAM
SEDIA read two poems, the first, “The Void,” was written for a close friend who died a few weeks
before. The last line read, “For all my powers massed will not suffice
to fill the void.” The second poem, “Regret,” an Italian sonnet, tries to
answer the question, “You ask if I have
something I regret.”
KATHERINE
FLOTZ brought her Diamante (diamond shaped) poem telling of the birth
of her first great-grandchild and ends with,
“Thank you God, Samara, Love You.”
HARDARSHAN
VALIA read his three-stanza poem entitled, “Why Do I Write.” The reason
is best described in the first stanza, “I
write because all your life you wrote for me.”
BEVERLY
STANISLAWSKI brought
two poems. The first, a Shakespearian sonnet entitled, Creative Juices, tells
of all the work involved to be creative and ends with, “To find creative juices at the spring, We have to reinvent all that we
bring.” The second poem, “Did Jesus Know?” relates to Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” and
asks the question “did Jesus know just
who he dined with that night?” The
last line ends with, “Of course He knew
what lay ahead.”
HALEY
HARDIN read four pages from chapter two of her novel, Bad
Habits and Dangerous Secrets of Cath Evans. This chapter tells of Cath getting ready to
go camping with her friend Lillian. As
they approach their normal camping site Cath realizes that they are going to a
different place, and that her friend seems to suddenly be preoccupied.
REBECCA
JUERGENS brought two pages from chapter 22 of her novel, In
Angelic Arms. This part of the
story tells of a woman entering a hospital desperately looking for her friend,
Evan. As she enters the elevator to go
to the surgical floor the overhead light began to flicker and goes dark. After trying to hit all the buttons on the
elevator she ends up on the fifth floor, telling herself that all the growls and
accompanying noises she heard were just her imagination.
DIANE
STRATTON read three pages of her true short story entitled, “The Music Box.” The story tells of Diane’s close friendship
with Angelika since Junior High and their lives being separated after her
friend moved away. When her friend comes
back to her mother-in-law’s funeral
their attention is drawn to the sound of a music box playing, a gift to
Angelika from Diane. The music box lid
was closed with no one around it. Diane
felt it was possibly a message from the mother-in-law saying she was O.K.
BOB
PHILPOT read four pages of Chapter 10 from his novel, Strange
Friends. This part of the story begins with Zeb expecting his friend,
Frank, to arrive as he is packing for his trip back east. After they finally get around to the reason
Frank had called the meeting, Frank tells Zeb his life has changed, Dora was
his life now.
AMY
BRAILEY read her one page story prompt entitled, “The Afternoon.” The short
story, intended for her students to finish, tells of Phoebe sitting on her
porch swing, enjoying the warm weather and the fact that her parents were away
from home. Suddenly she sees a horse in
her yard. As she decides to investigate
she notices intricately tiny braids laced throughout the mane. She ends up getting on the horse.
RACHEL
THOMAS brought her one page, Book 1: One Kindness at a Time Series
entitled, “The Blue Pencil.” This 22-stanza
poem tells of Johnny going to his first day of school with his gift from
grandpa, a blue pencil. After his
teacher tells of some pupils not able to write because they did not have any
supplies, such as pencils and books, Johnny decides he knows how to help and
gives up his pencil.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 P.M.
Respectfully submitted:
