A Time to Read A Time to Write: A Poetry and Prose Anthology See samples of the work!
About the contributors

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 A collection of poetry and prose from 54 writers across the country.  The theme anything about reading, writing, or public speaking.


 


Upcoming Anthologies

 

About the book

This collection of poetry has been gathered from poets across the country, with a theme about reading, writing, or public speaking.

OMP Anthology, A Time to Read:  A Time to Write, came today, and it is beautiful, all the poetry and prose and the book feels good to hold, too.  Shelby S.

The anthologies arrived today and I have been reading--first the prose. Amazing how much can be said in such a limited space! Celia M.

Sample of the work:
A Student’s Lament
      Tom Davis

I’ve always liked Dickinson’s
“Success Is Counted Sweetest”
I’d think about those things
For which I’d the greatest need
And how marvelous it would be
If I could, put pen to paper and succeed

Then my English teacher assigned
These poems for us to read
Find the meter and alliteration
Note the similes and personification
Inversion to look for
Assonance to find
Consonance, metaphors 
And scheme of rhyme
Tell the mood 
Explain the theme
And then she asked,
“What does this mean?”

We finally finished
And I no longer cared
To achieve success
But what was worse
I didn’t even dare


TOM DAVIS’ publishing credits include Poets Forum, The Carolina Runner, Triathlon Today, Georgia Athlete, The Fayetteville Observers Saturday Extra, A Loving Voice Vol. I and II, and Special Warfare. He’s authored a collection of short stories, The Life and Times of Rip Jackson; a children’s coloring book, Pickaberry Pig; a how to book on writing a ranger patrol order, The Patrol Order; and an action adventure novel, The R-complex. Tom lives in Webster, NC.
Just Do It
Susan Snowden

SINCE I’VE STOPPED  procrastinating, my life runs like a well-tuned Porsche. Before that, my habit of putting things off caused chaos: checks bouncing like Silly Putty, the gas tank blinking empty in the middle of nowhere. Now I tackle tasks as soon as they crop up. 
      “Rewrite novel” topped my Saturday to-do list, so I got up at dawn. After coffee I paged through the manuscript, penciling in changes. On page 30 I glanced up and noticed that my bookcase was on a wall that was far too wide for it; it looked lost. I can swap it with the walnut table in the den, I thought. 
      I quickly switched them, but hit a snag: the bookcase blocked the intake duct for the furnace. I dragged it into the bedroom and tried it beside my reading chair. Not a good fit, so I shoved it out to the front hall. It looked great! 
      By then my stomach was growling, so I decided to dash out for a quick salad and be back at work in a flash. I stayed on schedule till I spotted the clearance sign at the lamp shop. When I got home with a handsome desk lamp and frosted globe for the hall light, it was five o’clock. Needless to say, I got right to the computer to insert the changes I’d made that morning. Lo and behold, my documents file was empty! 
      Who knows what happened; maybe lightning zapped my hard drive. Now I have to call the Geek Squad to come bail me out. I’ll do that first thing Monday, of course; people who procrastinate irritate me no end. 



SUSAN SNOWDEN’S work has appeared in more than forty literary journals and anthologies. Her novel Southern Fried Lies was published in August 2012 by Archer Hill. Based in western NC, Susan is also a freelance book editor (fiction and nonfiction). Visit Susan’s web site at www.snowdeneditorial.com


About the Authors 
~A~

Matthew G. Adams remains a true disciple of science fiction, and Doctor Who, especially. His work continues here in the Old Mountain Press Anthology Series following a year-long sabbatical. He continues to be inspired by life experiences.

Sandra Ervin Adams has rescued feral cats, likes genealogy, watches Doctor Who with her grown son, listens to jazz, reads about writers, artists, and Paris. She enjoys poetry readings, especially in New Bern, her favorite North Carolina town. Sandra lives near Jacksonville, NC.

JoAnna Arnold currently teaches high school French and Spanish and serves as an adjunct professor of French with South Georgia College. She is passionate about her mission work in Haiti and Costa Rica. This is JoAnna’s third publication with Old Mountain Press. She lives in Americus, Georgia, with her husband and three children..

~B~

Katherine Russell Barnes has been published in many magazines and anthologies including Crucible, Pembroke Magazine, Wellspring, Here's to the Land, Earth and Soul, Weymouth, and others. Her collection Treading Water was published by Old Mountain Press. She has served on the boards of the NC Poetry Society and The Poetry Council of NC. She lives in Wilson, NC. 

Fred Bassett is a retired academic who lives with his wife Peg in Greenwood, South Carolina, near their grandchildren. His poems have appeared in more that seventy journals and anthologies. His books include Love: The Song of Songs, The Old Stoic Faces the Mirror: A Life in Poems, and South Wind Rising: A Novel. He has just completed his second novel, Honey from a Lion, and is waiting to hear from his publisher.

Joann Bishop had two of her poems accepted last year by Barton Student Literary Journal. She is attending Barton College and will graduate soon. She plans on writing poetry and short stories as her ongoing project.

Stuart Burroughs works with visual art, poetry, and music. Her art hangs in many homes, and she has been a teacher. Her poems are in various anthologies including several NC Poetry Society’s books and OMP anthologies. A collection of her poems is listed with Amazon.com. Stuart lives in Chapel Hill, NC, where she also plays her piano program Music to Remember at several locations.

~C~

Jim Clark is the Elizabeth H. Jordan Professor of Southern Literature and Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina. His books include Notions: A Jim Clark Miscellany, Dancing on Canaan’s Ruins, Handiwork, and Fable in the Blood: The Selected Poems of Byron Herbert Reece. He has released two solo CDs of poems and music, and two CDs with his band The Near Myths.

Vicki Collins, who lives in Graniteville, SC, enjoys teaching literature at the University of South Carolina Aiken. She has had the honor of being published in several Old Mountain Press anthologies, as well as Kakalak, Barbaric YAWP, Windhover, and MoonShine Review.

~D~

Phebe Davidson is the author of twenty-some published collections of poems, most recently Waking to Light (Main Street Rag Publishing Co., 2012). She is a contributing editor at Tar River Poetry and a staff writer for The Asheville Poetry Review. She is still a recovering academic and still up to her neck in poems. She lives in Westminster, SC.

Mary Ann Davis is a retired English teacher who taught the gifted program at the Dooly County High School in Vienna, GA. She holds a BA degree in English and French and a Masters and an EdS in English Education from Georgia Southwestern University and the University of Georgia. She loves reading and writing and is the author of the book Mam Maw’s ABCs, a fun read about the letters of the alphabet. She currently lives in Vienna, GA.

Tom Davis’s publishing credits include Poets Forum, The Caroli­na Runner, Triathlon Today, Georgia Athlete, The Fayetteville Observers Saturday Extra, A Loving Voice Vol. I and II, and Special Warfare. He’s authored a collection of short stories, The Life and Times of Rip Jackson; a children’s coloring book, Pickaberry Pig; a how to book on writing a ranger patrol order, The Patrol Order; and an action adventure novel, The R-complex. Tom lives in Webster, NC.

~F~

Dena Ferrari is a regular contributor to OMP. Her poetry are featured in Westchester Community College of NY Phoenix (1975); placed several times in Fields of Earth, sponsored by the Writers’ Ink Guild; in Charles Weyant’s book, An Odyssey in Broken Rhythms and Ragged Lines (2006). Writers Alliance Poets World-Wide anthologies has many of her works. Dena’s own book, Poems From the Hearth (2010) shows diversified writing styles. She and her husband, Peter live in Vass, NC.

Ann Fogelman, a writer of memories in prose and poetry, was born in Reading, PA. Her work has appeared in The Noble Generation, That Thing You Do, Pets Across America, Boundless, Remember When and other anthologies and school publications. She is a member of Bay Area Writers League, Golf Coast Poets, Poetry Society of Texas and Osher Lifetime Learning Institute at UTMB, Galveston. Ann lives in Friendswood, TX.

~G~

James Gibson (Northville, Michigan) combined his love of the American West and his fascination with Native American culture to write the five novels of the Anasazi Quest series. He also wrote The Last Ride, a traditional western set outside Tucson, Arizona. All six novels are available at www.PentacleSPresS.com. The Anasazi Quest series is also available through Old Mountain Press, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Marian Gowan is author of Notes from the Trunk, published by Old Mountain Press (www.oldmp.com/mariangowan.htm). Her work has appeared in several regional publications and Old Mountain Press anthologies, as well as Christmas Presence, Clothes Lines and Women’s Spaces Women’s Places, edited by Celia Miles and Nancy Dillingham. She retired from western NY in 2001 to Hendesonville in the NC mountains. 

Phyllis Jean Green wishes to express deep gratitude to the editors and publishers who have helped give her writing wings. As for flight decks, Chapel Hill, NC, is hard to beat. 

~H~

Kerri Mai Habben lives in Raleigh, NC, where she is a writer, photographer, and historian. A graduate of Peace College and North Carolina State University, her articles, essays, and poetry have appeared in literary journals, the News and Observer, and other publications. She is currently at work on a collection of her essays.

MaXine Carey Harker and husband Berkley, have lived 57 years in the little one-stop-light town of Grifton, NC, reared 5 children who have produced grandchildren and great grandchildren in far-flung places. Published in national, state and local publications. She prefers non-fiction, sonnets, and haiku. Taught Writing for Publication for 30+ years at Community Colleges, now Rec Center in New Bern. MaXine is 83, her doctor tells her she is 65. 

Micheal Hewett is a research scientist and software developer who occasionally writes fiction. He lives in Palo Alto, CA.

Robert Hewett, Sr. resides in Louisville, KY with wife Martha. He writes in many genres, including for children. He has published 3 books. A book of story poems titled Down The Road We Came and a Novelette titled Thunderfoot about a Kentucky Thoroughbred. He plans to publish a two volume Old West Romance/Adventure story this summer. You can find him and some of his work on www.hubpages.com.

~J~

Arnie Johanson is a retired philosophy professor from Minnesota, now living in Durham, NC (summers in Minneapolis). His poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and he has published two chapbooks.

Jerry Judge lives in Cincinnati, OH with his courageous and pretty wife, Michele plus two imperial felines and a dog who trains Jerry and walks him twice daily. He’s the proud father of two grown sons, Nick and Devin. He has authored seven poetry chapbooks and has had several poems published in journals, online zines and anthologies. 

~K~

K.D. Kennedy Jr. has published three (3) books of poetry, short stories, and essays Our Place In Time, Waiting Out In The Yard, and For Rhyme Or Reason. He has published works in over twenty anthologies and periodicals. He has four (4) children who are (1) A Broadway Leading Lady (2) A President of a Corporation (3) A Real Estate Developer and (4) A Mother of four (4) grandchildren. He humbly gives thanks to his wife of 46 years, Sara Lynn.

Jo Koster teaches at Winthrop University, where the world is too much with her, late and still. Her new chapbook Nine Days’ Wonder will appear sometime before the Mayan Apocalypse. She and her cats Max, Neville, and Tippy live in the states of confusion and South Carolina.

~L~

Patsy Kennedy Lain lives in Hubert, NC, and has published works in several anthologies and magazines such as The Lyricist, Aunt Chloe, and The Dead Mule, an online magazine. She has also published children's stories in the local newspaper. Patsy was honored as an Adult Student in 2009 Eastern North Carolina’s Gilbert-Chappel Distinguished Poet Series. She was awarded gold medals and ribbons in the local Senior Games Literary Arts Competitions during the past 4 years, and maintains membership with the North Carolina Poetry Society. 

Blanche L. Ledford resides and writes in Hayesville, NC. Her work has appeared in The Nature of Things, I Wonder Why, Remember When, and other Old Mountain Press Anthologies. Blanche won this year's Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her collection of prose and poetry entitled, Planting by the Signs.

Brenda Kay Ledford’s work has appeared in The Nature of Things, I Wonder Why, Remember When, and other Old Mountain Press anthologies. She’s a member of North Carolina Writer’s Network and North Carolina Poetry Society. She received this year’s Paul Green Multimedia Award from North Carolina Society of Historians for her historical blog: www.historicalhayesville.blogspot.com. Brenda resides in Hayesville, NC.

Michael Hugh Lythgoe, an editor of Windhover, has poems in Slant, Spillway, The Caribbean Writer, The Santa Fe Review, Petigru Review, & an anthology of war writings. He teaches life-long learning classes at USCA. His collection, Holy Week poems, is available as an ebook online. He lives in Aiken, SC. He is an AF officer, retired, with an MFA from Bennington College.

~M~

Al Manning is a retired Naval Officer and a retired college instructor. He is on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Writer’s Network, and is the Chatham/Lee Counties representative for the network. Al lives in Pittsboro, NC.

Susan McKendree has written poetry and prose for much of her life. She especially loves to muse about the magical and mysterious process of writing. She has contributed to three previous Old Mountain Press anthologies and WNC Woman. Susan is also a collage artist and builds shrines. When not engaged in art or writing, she tends her organic garden and three magical and mysterious kitties who share her life and home. Susan lives in Weaverville, NC. 

Celia Miles, a native of Jackson County, retired from the NC community college system, lives, edits, and writes in Asheville, NC.

~N~

Jerome Norris is a long-retired Old Crock who lives with his still- gorgeous wife of fifty-two years alongside a pond in New Bern, NC. 

~O~

Beverly Ohler loves to write, although most of her career has been more involved in designing for the theater, teaching, producing festivals and creating visual art. Growing up in the Northeast, more of her life has been spent on the campus of Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC, where she a member of the Theater department. She has written four books, edited others and is included in several magazines and anthologies.

Martha O’Quinn lives in Hendersonville, NC. She writes creative non-fiction and poetry which has appeared in a number of regional publications, including OMP anthologies. Her writing is centered around family fact and lore and demonstrates her southern born and bred genealogy. 

~P~

Michael Potts, originally from Smyrna, Tennessee, is Professor of Philosophy, Methodist University, Fayetteville, North Carolina. His poems are published in several literary magazines and in a chapbook, From Field to Thicket. His novel, End of Summer, was published in 2011 by WordCrafts Press. He and his wife, Karen, live with their three cats, Frodo, Pippin, and Rosie, in Linden, North Carolina.

~R~

Edwina Rooker grew up in Warrenton, NC. She holds an AB in English from Duke University and a MSLS from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She taught English or worked as a media specialist in Southern Pines, Virginia Beach, and Warrenton. She retired to Bridgeton, NC, on the Neuse River. Her newspaper column, Observations, appears in the Warren Record.Today she lives at The Courtyards at Berne Village in New Bern.

Carmen Ruggero was born in Argentina, and has been a US resident since 1959. A fiction writer and poet, She co-authored a poetry anthology, Shaken & Stirred, and a short story collection, Kaleidoscope, published by BeWrite Books. Adventure Books of Seattle published her short story collection: Eighty-six Eggs. She joined Bewildering Stories as an author and review editor. In 2011, she became part of a writers group organized by her hometown newspaper, where she is a contributing author. Carmen lives in Crawfordsville, IN.

~S~

Dr. Lynn Veach Sadler, (former) college president, editor, poet, fiction/creative nonfiction writer, and playwright, is widely published in academics and creative writing. She has eight chapbooks and four full-length poetry collections published. One story appears in Del Sol’s Best of 2004 Butler Prize Anthology; a novel will soon join her novella and short-story collection. From Sanford, NC, she has traveled around the world five times and works fulltime writing and editing.

Susie Sadowski lives in Aiken, South Carolina. She is a retired school psychologist and technical writer. She is faithfully encouraged to compose by Mike Lythgoe, a fellow contributor to these Anthologies and a dear and respected friend. Susie plays piano, dabbles in painting, gardens non-stop, and believes in leprechauns and guardian angels.

Rishan Singh is a, prize-winning, South African poet who was born and brought up in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban in South Africa. His poetry has been published in numerous journals and books. He tutors students in Biological-related subjects. 

Susan Snowden’s work has appeared in more than forty literary journals and anthologies. Her novel Southern Fried Lies was published in August 2012 by Archer Hill. Based in western NC, Susan is also a freelance book editor (fiction and nonfiction). Visit Susan’s web site at www.snowdeneditorial.com

Nancy Sollosi lives in Jamestown, NC. During the day she balances the obligations of a demanding career with the joys of motherhood. She calls it her “gig”. She strives to keep it fun with a healthy, albeit twisted, sense of humor. By night she pursues her passion for the written word. It was July 2008 that this passion took flight. Since that Resurrection she finds peace and inspiration in things she had carelessly overlooked for over forty years.

Dorothea Spiegel of Gainesboro, TN, formerly of Hiawassee, GA, has had poems appear in several Old Mountain Press anthologies, and Writer’s Network and John Campbell Folk School anthologies. She will be 91 years old in February, but can still use her computer and her brain, so still writes occasionally.

Tonya Staufer found her way back to writing a few years ago. She is a real estate investment broker by day and a writer by night. She and her husband call Saluda, NC home. Her stories have appeared in Spirit of the Smokies, A Long Story Short, Western NC Woman, Moonshine Review, and numerous anthologies.

Shelby Stephenson’sFamily Matters: Homage to July, the Slave Girl won the 2008 Bellday Poetry Prize, Allen Grossman, judge. Shelby and Nin live in western Johnston County, near Benson, NC, where he was born in the plankhouse in the hedge behind the brick house which figures in “The Story of the Deep Freeze.” 

~W~

Elizabeth (Betty) Watson is pleased to be published with the rest of these authors in another OMP anthology. She now lives and writes in Greenville at The Woodlands and is taking another fiction writing course this fall at Furman University next door. She has published both prose and poetry and finds flash fiction a challenge. So few words to say so much. A good exercise for her.

Charles “Hawk” Weyantand his wife Johanna live in Fayetteville, NC, where he has been a member of Writers’ Ink Guild for thirty years. He read on Public Radio for ten years and his work has appeared in over twenty anthologies. His book An Odyssey In Broken Rhythms And Ragged Lines was nominated for a Pushcart Award. He is also a decorated, battle scarred veteran of three tours in Vietnam.

Earl J Wilcox is a baseball nut, who happens to write about the sport in addition to following the political scene. His political and satiric poems–numbering more than 100–appear regularly in journals such as THE NEW VERSE NEWS and The Centrifugal Eye. With his wife of 60 years, Earl lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Glenda S. Wilkins grew up on an eastern NC tobacco farm, and believed she’d never live beyond the county line. Decades later, she moved to Europe for almost a dozen years. Her poems are published in the U.S.A., Canada, Spain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Great Britain. Along the way, she has won several poetry awards. Today, she lives with her husband on an airstrip outside Winterville, NC. 

Wendy Wilson is a transplant to NC from NY via a 16 year layover in Virginia. She currently lives in Richlands, NC, and works in the public library there. Her children are often the inspiration for her poems and stories. An artist as well as a writer, Wendy’s preferred medium is clay when she is not using her pen. 

Barbara Ledford Wright a frequent contributor to Old Mountain Press anthologies includes The Nature of Things. Also, a special 150th publication for Clay County, and Cherokee County NC Civil War Sesquicentennial Souvenir Edition. Her writing includes stories about her family, and she has contributed several to journals and anthologies.

~Y~

C. Pleasants York, age five, discovered and delighted in words when she unearthed a dusty Underwood typewriter from a basement closet at her home on the corner of Woodcrest Drive and Willowbook Lane. On a desk built by her father, hunting and pecking, she painstakingly typed stories her mother had read to her and added embellishments and illustrations. Now a Sanford author of three books, she still hunts, pecks, embellishes, and delights in words.

Joseph Youngblood lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina with his family. His poems have been in several previous anthologies. Writing is a hobby, and he writes for pleasure about topics he feel deeply about.



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