Whoo, 23! Here we are. Thank God. Or dog, depending on your perspective. I hope you’re off to an excellent start. I made a lasagna for family and friends last night, and I just did my first (mini) workout of the year. AND I’ve spent a few minutes working toward my next collection of poems. This holiday break has been really good this year. I’ve completed my first (and hopefully the hardest) year of full-time teaching with elementary students. It was extremely challenging, and I’m still amazed that I survived. I do love my job, and I’m thankful to have it, but…

Or, I love my job, and I’m thankful to have it. There we go. In addition, it requires I get an additional master’s degree. Which I have started, but I’m taking this upcoming semester off to complete that next book of poems. The combination of age and the demands of teaching and being a student have brought focus to my, our, limited time to reach our goals. Intention.

I hope to share updates with you over the next few months. It’s going to have many dark poems. I both love them and fear them. Perhaps that’s as it should be.

Happily, my husband, Sam Schmidt, will have a new book by the end of this year, Dark Bird. I look forward to updating you about that as well. And I hope to see you at his readings. We’re going to plan ourselves a book tour – at least on the East Coast of the US. But we might be able to get to the West Coast as well. Perhaps you know of a venue/reading series to suggest? Lots to look forward to. See you soon.

Virginia

I love the fall to be honest. It’s just been astonishingly busy and challenging. I’m enrolled in a teacher certification/Master of Arts in Teaching program which is quite demanding on top of still being a first-year classroom teacher. So I haven’t been able to write any poetry for quite a while. Next semester I won’t be a student myself, so I’m hoping to do a lot of writing.

Happily, questions for water was named a Distinguished Favorite in the social-political poetry category by Big Apple Book Awards. More about that soon.

Both Sam and I will be reading and discussing poetry on November 9th, 6pm, Hereford Public Library in northern Baltimore County. Stop in if you’re nearby. It’s both odd and wonderful to be able to do this in person again!

Hello!

Yes, it’s been a while. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Gave a presentation to the Baltimore Ethical Society about using my writing to address things I cannot comprehend or change, another to the North Baltimore Chapter of the Maryland Writers Alliance about editing poetry, read as part of The Wilde Poetry Series, hosted numerous First Friday readings, and attended several in-person reading events.

Plus a whole lot of mom-things, family-things and teacher-things.

I’ve written several new poems in response to seeing the criminal destruction of Ukraine and its people. But I haven’t written about events in Uvalde, TX, and I don’t know if I ever will. As a mom, and now as an elementary school teacher, those events are my worst fears. Seeing the images of the children running from the school, one of them looked so much like a student I have now, whom I adore. It magnified the horror of seeing any child run for their lives.

My own son went to his first school dance this week. For him, Covid eliminated what I think of as normal high school experiences. I was anxious all night about the students’ safety. He’s going to his second dance this week, and I don’t expect to worry any less.

Ann Bracken recently interviewed me about my book, questions for water. You can read it on her blog: https://annbrackenauthor.com/interview-with-ginny-crawford/

And I interviewed her about her new book, Once You’re Inside, Poems Exploring Incarceration Enjoy this peek into her compelling book.

Virginia Crawford: Your book, Once You’re Inside: Poems Exploring Incarceration, is powerful in so many ways. One thing that makes it so powerful is the immediate intimacy – moments described that allow the reader to experience them too as well as the significant things you learn about people’s lives.

How often do you visit prisons and how do you structure your time with the men? How do you help them write?

Ann Bracken: Thanks for your kind words about my work, Virginia. I’m glad the poems could bring alive some of the people and situations I encountered while working in the prisons. I volunteered at several prisons from 2015 to 2018, and while I am no longer volunteering inside, I serve as a partner/penpal to four men in prisons across the United States. 

When my partner, another professor at the University of Maryland, and I worked with the men, we had a “check-in” period where the men could talk about the past week, concerns they had, or share what they’d been reading and writing. Then we spent the rest of the allotted 90 minutes on reading, writing, and discussion activities. The source material ranged from poems to short stories to plays and movies. The topics of the literature ranged from current politics to income inequality, parenting, and personal growth. My partner and I helped the men write either by sharing prompts to spur ideas or by offering critique and suggestions for how to improve their work. The men had a say in the topics we covered and were involved in establishing protocols for how the group worked. 

VC: In terms of reading/writing/sharing, can you describe a moment or experience that you feel was a high point or a very significant point when something magical or transformative happened?

AB: I can think of several high points where magical things happened. The first event was when I attended the Literary Day of the Arts as a new volunteer. Several of the men in the writing group presented their stories and poems, and several other men sang and played original songs and displayed their drawings and paintings. The art was truly amazing in its beauty and technique—what was most impressive was that nearly all of the men were self-taught musicians, writers, and painters. Their art provided them with solace and a profound means of expression.

I worked with incarcerated women a few times, and those were heartbreaking experiences. The first time I facilitated a writing group with some of the women, they told me, “We never knew we were special,” and “You’re the first new person we’ve seen in seven years.” Many of the women were mothers and quite young—under 25. That first visit was especially poignant because it was right after Mother’s Day and only a few of the women had been able to visit with their children.  

Lastly, one day we read The Velveteen Rabbit with the men and they were as transported and moved as any young child I’ve ever seen. That book became a touchstone for all of them. 

Virginia: If you were able to do whatever you wanted with your writing group, what would that be? A special reading event? An anthology of their work? Something else?

Ann: I would love to publish an anthology of the men’s work, but in Maryland, I was prohibited from doing that in my capacity as a volunteer. In an ideal world, I’d also like to be able to help them make a video and share how they’ve changed and matured during their time inside, as well as all the ways they can see themselves contributing positively. Nearly everyone I met wanted to come home and give back to their community in some way. 

Virginia: “Elevator Rules” describes an experience of waiting for the elevator and seeing several men and chains already inside. There’s the moment of question – do I get on and enter whatever is happening with these particular people in this particular moment or wait for another? The speaker enters and says they’re going to the basement. That moment of acknowledgement – something is going on and I’m still going to get on the elevator, going to the basement, into the lower realm so to speak, can you say a little about that?

Ann: Oh, I remember that day so clearly, and I remember my split-second decision. I didn’t want to let any fear overtake me, and I did have a sense that I’d be fine. But going into the lower realms—the school is in the basement of the prison—how’s that for a metaphor? I was more struck by the courage of the men in surviving the awful conditions in prison than I was gripped with fear for my safety. 

Virginia: Going into prisons, you probably see and hear difficult things quite frequently. How do you see what you see and know what you know and continue?

Ann: Honestly, I’m in awe of many of the folks I’ve met in prison. Many of them committed some kind of crime, plea bargained (90-95% of people who are incarcerated never have a trial), and they’ve spent half their lives in prison. Really, no matter what people have done, 15 years of your life is a hefty price to pay. I hold to Brian Stevenson’s philosophy when he says something like, “We’re all more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” 

The people I’ve worked with, and continue to work with as a penpal, all express deep remorse for what they’ve done. Many of them are quite gifted and creative—we need them to come home. They’re polite, insightful, and determined.  I believe they’ve grown in spite of the prison, not because of anything the prison provides. 

Ideally, I’d like to see us focus our energies on what we need to do to prevent people from choosing violence. We could teach mindfulness to young kids as a way for them to self-regulate, a skill everyone needs in order to respond to things rather than to simply react. I’d like to see us increase rec centers in the city and teach kids how to garden. When you connect people to the community and nurture their roots, they are more likely to grow into productive, peaceful citizens. 

Virginia: Thanks, Ann. I appreciate your answers and admire your courage and kindness. Congratulations on your a great book!   

Website: https://annbrackenauthor.com

To purchase my books:  https://annbrackenauthor.com/paypal/

Or https://bookshop.org/books/once-you-re-inside-poems-exploring-incarceration/9780578867687

It’s starting off with a bang for me. Monday I start a new full-time job, Thursday I’ll be part of the Putney Library event, and Friday I’ll host Naomi Shihab Nye for the Maryland Writers Alliance First Friday Reading Series! What a week it will be.

And you? Starting or finishing reading or writing a book? Let me know below.

Putney Library Event: Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87610139843?pwd=QWpYSmk0Z3FXbUlyYjFjYXdMTFZsQT09

First Friday Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvd–hqD8qH9wqroozp6AkVVxIPg6jxfar
To receive call-in information for the meeting, be sure to register in advance at the above zoom link.

Beginning on Friday, November 5th, I will host the Maryland Writers’ Alliance First Friday Open Mic. You’ll hear the wonderful and varied work of Maryland writers and hopefully a few others from around the country. And I’m really looking forward to hearing from all of you as well. There’s always time to ask questions of our featured presenters and share some of your work too.

AND Ann Bracken has a new book coming out that I can’t wait to read! We’re going to interview each other about our new books and share the interviews on our blogs. So keep an eye out for those! 

I’m very happy to have another event to share, a virtual poetry fest with The New England Poetry Club. There will be 3 hours of poets sharing work! I’m looking forward to hearing and meeting some new people. You can sign up here: https://nepoetryclub.org/nepc-fall-poetry-fest-2021/

Since losing my job in January, I’ve been doing some on-line teaching. Specifically English as a foreign language. And I really enjoy it! So much so that I decided to get a TEFL/TESOL Certificate! Hopefully I will be teaching very soon.

Which also means I haven’t been writing very much. Self-discipline, I know. How do you do it? Promise yourself a reward? a treat? or maybe the reward is having new work. Hmmm. There’s something to that.

So let me know how you do it. Or your favorite prompt. Or your favorite writing spot. I’d love to hear from you!

Virginia

To the West Coast! But you can see me here on Wednesday!

Hope you are keeping cool and healthy.

Virginia

https://calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/celebrating_the_2021_poetry_contest_finalists_with_little_patuxent_review#.YPLYbuhKg2w