Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

Our post for March is coming to you a couple of days behind schedule. February’s shortened days tend to catch us all by surprise.

This year’s Associated Writers and Writing Programs Conference takes place next week in Boston, and there will be many local poets and writers in attendance, myself included. The big draw for me is the keynote presentation: a conversation between Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott, and the closing reading with Ann Carson. In between is a dizzying array of workshops, readings, and panels. Sonoma County poet Iris Dunkle and WordTemple goddess Katherine Hastings and I will be part of a panel presentation on Amy Lowell and her poem about  women writers called “The Sisters.”

Meanwhile, right here in Sonoma County, we have another amazing month of readings, workshops, and events every bit as engaging as what AWP has to offer, without the trouble of flying across the country and back. The March calendar is brimming with celebrations of Women’s History Month; local, national and international writers; as well as Emily Dickinson, the author for this year’s National “Big Read.” Here are a few highlights, followed by one of Dickinson’s haunting and enigmatic lyrics called “One Sister.”

Saturday, March 9, 1:00-3:00 p.m. “Big Read.” David Templeton on stage interviewing Tom J. Mariani, Margo Van Veen—our two UUCSR Writers Poet Laureates—and guests on the subject of Emily Dickinson and poetry.

Saturday, March 9, 6:30 to 11:00 p.m. KWTF Celebrates International Women’s Day. Art, Music, Poetry, and Food. Arlene Francis Center, 99 6th St., Santa Rosa.

Wednesday, March 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m. The Sitting Room Book Group will be reading Lyndall Gordon’s recent biography of Dickinson, Lives Like Loaded Guns. 2025 Curtis Drive, Penngrove.

Thursday, March 14, 1:30 p.m. The Enigma of Amherst: Nineteenth Century woman Twentieth Century poet. A Symposium moderated by Sonoma County poet Pat Nolan, at the Guerneville Regional Library, 14107 Armstrong Woods Rd.

Saturday, March 23, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Tea With the Poetry of Emily Dickinson: An Afternoon of Reading and Writing with Iris Dunkle. 2025 Curtis Drive, Penngrove.

One Sister have I in our house (14)

by Emily Dickinson

One Sister have I in our house –
And one a hedge away.
There’s only one recorded,
But both belong to me.
One came the way that I came –
And wore my past year’s gown –
The other as a bird her nest,
Builded our hearts among.
She did not sing as we did –
It was a different tune –
Herself to her a Music
As Bumble-bee of June.
Today is far from Childhood –
But up and down the hills
I held her hand the tighter –
Which shortened all the miles –
And still her hum
The years among,
Deceives the Butterfly;
Still in her Eye
The Violets lie
Mouldered this many May.
I spilt the dew –
But took the morn, –
I chose this single star
From out the wide night’s numbers –
Sue – forevermore!

See more of Emily Dickinson’s poems at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/

Terry Ehret
Sonoma County Literary Update Co-editor

To download a pdf of most of the pages on this site, click here.