Wildacres Day 4

Wildacres Day 4

Wednesday, July 3, 2013, was a rainy day in Little Switzerland. There have been rain showers every afternoon for the last four days, but last night, while we were having our evening readings, the rain settled in with a steady downpour. It rained hard all night, and it still raining this morning at 9:30, while I am trying to do my morning writing.

At the readings last night, about 20 people read, I think. I recited my “New Poem,” and several people complimented me on it. The highlight was when one of the last readers got up. He had been taking notes, and he created a poem made up entirely of quotations form the previous readings. He pieced the quoted together so that they made sense, but not in the way the phrases had in their original context. Each of us reacted when we heard our own quotes or a familiar phrase form a previous reading. Sometimes a single work—like “naked”—would be enough to remind everyone of the original piece. We were all laughing, cheering or applauding by the end of his presentation.

During the breakfast announcements, one of the organizers announced that this is towel-exchange day and also “casual sex Wednesday.” I think he was kidding.

Today I plan to finish Chapter 11 and also Chapter 12. Let’s see if I can do that.

Afternoon update: Yes, and I started Chapter 13 as well. Of course these are extremely short chapters by design, roughly 1,000 words each. All I am doing is editing, rearranging and expanding on material I previously prepared as handouts for class.

In this lovely old guesthouse, there is a large living room with picture windows featuring mountain vistas. The whole house is in the style of Western ranch houses with pine paneling. Above the living room there is a balcony with two bedrooms, occupied these two weeks by Will and I. Will is 67 but looks a little younger than that. He still lives near where he was born in Western North Carolina. He said he has been to many retreats here at Wildacres—mostly in retreats for singer-songwriters. It turns out, one of his instructors right here at Wildacres was Carrie Newcomer, my all-time favorite singer-songwriter.

Will and I have a lot in common, including military service during the Vietnam War that did not include combat, and names. He is James William Wilson, and I am James Williamson Kershner, so the first 12 letters of our names are the same. And, of course, we are both writers. First and foremost, we are writers.