literarians & storytellers

tangibles vs. intangibles
The SOMOS Poetry Week continues. Last evening Nancy Ryan and Annie MacNaughton read. Annie and her late husband Peter started SOMOS over 30 years ago and created the wildly popular annual Poetry Circus that brought to Taos well known cutting edge poets who gave workshops and participated in The Main Event -- a bout set up along the lines of a boxing match: a ring, judges, bells, rounds, a glamorous ring-girl (who was often a handsome guy in gold lame, lipstick and stilletos). Back in the late 1980s I coordinated our yearly visits to Taos (before moving here) with that event. Through the years many poets have acknowledged that it was the Circus that first inspired them to write and publish their own work and it's the SOMOS programs and events that continue to support and inspire. We know that one doesn't earn a living writing poetry -- what we learned last night was that SOMOS was created not only to hear poets but to PAY them! What a concept!

The original Poetry Circus ended some years ago and SOMOS has continued on as a non-profit known as the literary heart of Taos. Series readers are paid a small fee. Contributors to publications like Chokecherries and Storied Recipes are paid in books. Additional funding is continually sought . So what does this have to do with eggs?

Last night a writer friend of SOMOS gave Annie and I each a half dozen fresh eggs from her hens. We didn't know we'd both been given this gift until we met up at the end of the readings, handbags and egg cartons in hand. In unison we said this is how we pay our poets. Not a bad deal - fresh eggs - almost as good as cash. But, eggs aside, if you, as a reader of this blog, love words, stories, poetry, contact SOMOS: somos@somostaos.org and become a member ~ or donate whatever you can afford. It's not just about Taos (writers are invited from all over the nation and beyond) it's about keeping the collective literary heart beating.

dear lady violet
There is often a connection (in my mind) between poetry, story and knitting. I started a new project (late at night after the readings) using a pattern called Lady Violet's Dinner Gauntlets. According to the designer, Kristen Ashbaugh Helmreich, they were inspired by Dame Maggie Smith's character on Downton Abbey, Lady Violet Crowley. That character is probably every DA fan's favorite. She's mine. The yarn is from Kimberley at Cat Mountain Fiber Arts in Colorado. Superwash merino, bamboo and so soft (yarngalleryonline.com). The hand-dyed color is so DA!

I may not incorporate the side ruching and optional extra frills on these mitts. I'd rather go with a more Lady Violet no-nonsense approach. She just doesn't seem the frilly type, nor am I. And I am working on sharp verbal comebacks.

This is my explanation,
my best or unique verse
my all, filling my nothing.
     (Elizabeth Bishop, excerpt from The Table)