What’s Your Mission

Most of the mission statements I have read recently fall flat. They fail the smell test. Organizations spend phenomenal amounts of time constructing mission statements, and so should individuals, if Steven Covey is to be believed. They invest great energy in being very precise about what they do, as a good mission statement should. They sometimes devolve into a discussion of how they will do it, which is not really a mission, but a method. They fail at this important task because they lack passion. Its one thing to state a goal, but are you prepared to rally the troops and motivate yourself to march forward. State what you do, and you are stating the obvious. Begin with why. Begin with what makes you passionate about this mission.

Emerson

The earth laughs in flowers. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Christmas Papers

This piece is copyright 2008 by Ray Zimmerman and will appear in the soon to be released anthology,
Southern Light.

Christmas Papers

I was older when I noticed
the same color and pattern
on the Christmas paper.
Each year a pattern
graced a smaller package.

Christmas morning emanated
excitement and opening
packages with scissors,
carefully cutting tape,
so as not to rip the paper.

I was older when I noticed
my mother’s hands,
ironing on Christmas night.
She ironed the same towel
again and again.

Under the towel
Christmas papers
lost their creases,
regained smooth surfaces.

Her hands rolled the paper
we could not replace. Choosing
between gifts and new paper,
she chose gifts.

Murder Mysterty

I just received this announcement from Becky Wooley:

Dear Ones, My publisher is telling me that I need people to request that my book,

"Non-Prophet Murders," be made available as an ebook.

You can do this by going to Amazon.com, entering my name or the name of my book

and clicking on the question about ebooks under the cover picture. (You aren't buying anything,

you are just requesting that it be made available.)

Also, I need you to pass this email on to anyone who might want to read my funny, murder mystery.



I am available to speak for book talks, ladies' days, and book clubs.

I will supply posters and news releases.

I can travel up to 200 miles from Chattanooga, OR appear via SKYPE.

Please do send this on to many, many people.

Thank you!

Becky Wooley
www.facebook.com/BeckyWooley1

Becky is the author of the humorous clerical crime novel, "Non-Prophet Murders: A Grit and Grace Mystery." Signed copies are available from the author. Unsigned copies can be ordered from Amazon.com, Christianbook.com or Wipfandstock.com. "Non-Prophet Murders" should be available as an ebook in April of 2011.

New Voices

This time around, I will be starting "New Voices" at 6:00 so those who are interested can attend another spoken word event in St. Elmo later that evening. You are invited to read. - Ray

Confirmed Readers thus far include Finn Bille, N.L. Diwan, Jim Pfitzer, Ray Zimmerman, Christyna Jensen

New Voices
Pasha Coffee House,
3914 St. Elmo Avenue,
6:00 to 8:00 PM
Saturday, December 18, 2010
At New Voices, hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word. Hear music by The Undoctored Originals, including Dr. Jim Woodford, Keyboards, Dr. Bob Vogt, Saxophone, Billy Lowry, Drums, Ian Kibby, Euphonium, and Jack Gaillard, Congas. This event includes readings by Chattanooga area writers. Past participants have included Ray Zimmerman, Finn Bille, Jim Pfitzer, Bruce Majors, N.L. Diwan, Mary Wier, Julie Alexander, K.B Ballentine, E. Smith Gilbert, and others. Contact: znaturalist@yahoo.com

New Voices

Pasha Coffee House,
3914 St. Elmo Avenue,
6:30 to 8:30 PM
Saturday, November 20, 2010
At New Voices, hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word. Hear music by The Undoctored Originals, including Dr. Jim Woodford, Keyboards, Dr. Bob Vogt, Saxophone, Billy Lowry, Drums, Ian Kibby, Euphonium, and Jack Gaillard, Congas. This event includes readings by Chattanooga area writers. Past participants have included Ray Zimmerman, Finn Bille, Jim Pfitzer, Bruce Majors, N.L. Diwan, Mary Wier, Julie Alexander, K.B Ballentine, E. Smith Gilbert, and others. Contact: znaturalist@yahoo.com

Confirmed Readers for November 20
Ray Zimmerman
N.L. Diwan
Mike Riello
Jim Pfitzer
Mary Wier
Bob Dombrowski
Christian Collier
Marcus Ellsworth
Travis Kilgore
Tobiah Tillman
Scottie Allman
John Mannone
John C. Mannone, nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize in Poetry and once for the Rhysling Poetry Award, has over 150 poems and short fiction publications in literary and speculative poetry journals, including Abyss & Apex, Skive, Mobius and Pirene’s Fountain. He teaches poetry online at To Write Well and is the poetry editor for a literary fantasy magazine, Silver Blade. When not writing poetry, he does astrophysics research and is a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador for the Great State of Tennessee. Visit his interactive website/blog, The Art of Poetry: The world of poetry, the music of words at http://jcmannone.wordpress.com.

The Writing Life

The Writing Life
Annie Dillard
ISBN 978-0-06-091988-7
Edit mercilessly. Annie Dillard makes this point early in her short book of advice. Comparing the construction of a book to that of a house, she points out that the portion you must cut may have been the point of the whole story, the wall that must go may be a load bearing wall. All the writer can do is take out her hammer, knock out the wall, and duck.
Dillard makes other important points, such as avoid interesting work places. They will distract you from the work.
In an odd interlude near the middle of the book, a typewriter erupts like a volcano. That metaphor may well be the whole point of her book.
If you want to write, buy this book. Read it again and again.

The Magic Bridge

The Magic Bridge
Herbert Barks
ISBN 1-884327-05-3
Anyone contemplating a new venture or facing life changing circumstances should read this book. The author had served as headmaster of a private school for 17 years when he faced a major illness. As an ordained minister he had served three congregations and attended the sick and dying. He was present at the death of beloved colleague.
As he faced each crisis, he realized the truth in the words of a former student and valued friend, “Your teacher has arrived.” From this simple phrase, he gathered strength to face, and learn from, adversity. He also emphasizes wilderness as a sanctuary and teacher.
Throughout the book, Barks weaves the Russian folk tale of the Firebird. A character known only as the Hunter finds a feather from this magnificent bird. The find sets him on a series of quests which cause him to learn his ultimate destiny, a destiny greater than he imagined.

New Voices

Pasha Coffee House,
3914 St. Elmo Avenue,
6:30 to 8:30 PM
Saturday, November 20, 2010
At New Voices, hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word. Hear music by The Undoctored Originals, including Dr. Jim Woodford, Keyboards, Dr. Bob Vogt, Saxophone, Billy Lowry, Drums, Ian Kibby, Euphonium, and Jack Gaillard, Congas. This event includes readings by Chattanooga area writers. Past participants have included Ray Zimmerman, Finn Bille, Jim Pfitzer, Bruce Majors, N.L. Diwan, Mary Wier, Julie Alexander, K.B Ballentine, E. Smith Gilbert, and others. Contact: znaturalist@yahoo.com

Confirmed Readers for November 20
Ray Zimmerman
N.L. Diwan
Mike Riello
Jim Pfitzer
Mary Wier
Bob Dombrowski
Christian Collier
Marcus Ellsworth
Travis Kilgore
Tobiah Tillman

Early Winter

Early Winter
Bill Brown

He is sixteen years old when his father dies in his arms. His brother returns from Vietnam, but a close friend does not. Young neighbors serve in Iraq. Villagers rebuild after a bombing. He is surprised to find his grandmother’s portrait hanging on the wall of a Cracker Barrel, next to old time memorabilia. A neighbor tells of a cave with ancient burials, but no one is able to find it.
These are but a few of the characters inhabiting Bill Brown’s book, Late Winter. Add the quiet beauty of the Tennessee hills and you understand why Brown is an acclaimed poet, why he has five books to his credit. Read this book immediately.

Ballistics

Ballistics
Billy Collins

The title poem sets the tone for this latest contribution from the former Poet Laureate of the United States. Collins speculates as to what book may have been the victim in Edgerton’s famous stop action photograph. We see the bullet piercing the cover of a book, but the title is not discernable. Typical of his often used dry humor, his list of possible volumes seems to be a suggestion of various books he would not miss, would suggest sacrificing.
Collins concludes that the book in the picture must be a work of poems, a book by a fellow poet of whom he is not fond. He imagines the bullet piercing the author’s photograph adorned with that “…special poet’s hat he loves to wear.”
Collins writes poetry that is, above all, accessible. He is perhaps unique in having achieved commercial success as a contemporary poet. If you have friends who believe they don’t like poetry, have them try reading Billy Collins. His work could be a gateway for them.

Manifest

Manifest
The Camp House 4127 Williams Street
Friday, November 12
Manifest is a monthly showcase to highlight local artists. At the first showcase, regional blues musician Mark “Pork Chop” Holder will give a one hour performance. Poets Sourne Korvid, Marcus Ellsworth, Anthony Pollard and Christian J. Collier will read.

The Speakeasy

The Speakeasy Open Mic
The Office at City Cafe
Every Wednesday
Sign in 8:00 PM
Readings begin 8:30
With the change of venues, The Speakeasy has dropped language and content restrictions. Admission at The Office is limited to those 21 years of age and older.
For full information contact: thespeakeasypoetry@gmail.com

The speakeasy is now webcast.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thechattanoogaspeakeasy/2010/10/28/the-chattanooga-speakeasy

Congratulations Marsha Mathews

Marsha Mathews’ poem, “Pastor Visits Parishioner” was selected as a finalist in the Fall 2010 Rash Awards, sponsored by the Broad River Review and Gardener-Webb University, with poet and editor Keith Flynn of the Ashville Review judging. Her poem “Blue Flowers” just came out in Child of my Child (Gelles-Cole Literary Enterprises). Marsha presented “Heartbeats: A Series of Poems” at La Lesche, a local literary group on October 11. Her first book of poems, Northbound Single-Lane was recently released by Finishing Line Press. It is available from Amazon.com and also at Winder-Binder Gallery and Books in North Chattanooga.

New Voices, November, 2010

Pasha Coffee House,
3914 St. Elmo Avenue,
6:30 to 8:30 PM
Saturday, November 20, 2010
At New Voices, hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word. Hear music by The Undoctored Originals, including Dr. Jim Woodford, Keyboards, Dr. Bob Vogt, Saxophone, Billy Lowry, Drums, Ian Kibby, Euphonium, and Jack Gaillard, Congas. This event includes readings by Chattanooga area writers. Past participants have included Ray Zimmerman, Finn Bille, Jim Pfitzer, Bruce Majors, N.L. Diwan, Mary Wier, Julie Alexander, K.B Ballentine, E. Smith Gilbert, and others. Contact: znaturalist@yahoo.com

Confirmed Readers for November 20
Ray Zimmerman
N.L. Diwan
Mike Riello

Trust

Trust

A friend of mine is adamant
Thinks it highly important
we keep the words "in God we trust"
emblazoned on our currency.

I hate to disillusion him
but God has done quite well
for several millenia
without our endorsement.

God will undoubtedly do so
long after we all have departed.

Poems by Ray

Wind

It rattles 'round my brain.
A freight train it roars
up canyons, mows down trres,
yet autumn leaves remain.

Presentation

Local author to speak at Northgate Branch of the Public Library, at 11:00 am, Saturday, Oct. 23





RAY ZIMMERMAN, Poet, Writer, Essayist, Storyteller, Educator and Naturalist, will be the featured speaker on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 11:00 am at the Public Library's Northgate Branch, in honor of Friends of the Library Week.



Zimmerman, former president of the Chattanooga Writer's Guild, and organizer of spoken word events in Chattanooga, is a favorite in our city. He will read some of own poems, as well as poems by other authors, a short prose piece, and talk about developing the craft of writing.



Come and be delighted by his gentle spirit, wise words, and humorous observations



Refreshments provided by: Friends of the Library

Pine Tree Tops

Quoting A Poem from Gary Snyder

Pine Tree Tops
in the blue night
frost haze, the sky glows
with the moon
pine tree tops
bend snow-blue, fade
into sky, frost, starlight.
the creak of boots
rabbit tracks, deer tracks,
what do we know. - Gary Snyder

New Voices

Pasha Coffee House,
3914 St. Elmo Avenue,
6:30 to 8:30 PM
Saturday, October 16, 2010
At New Voices, hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word. Hear music by The Undoctored Originals, including Dr. Jim Woodford, Keyboards, Dr. Bob Vogt, Saxophone, Billy Lowry, Drums, Ian Kibby, Euphonium, and Jack Gaillard, Congas. This event includes readings by Chattanooga area writers. Past participants have included Ray Zimmerman, Finn Bille, Jim Pfitzer, Bruce Majors, N.L. Diwan, Mary Wier, Julie Alexander, K.B Ballentine, E. Smith Gilbert, and others. Contact: znaturalist@yahoo.com

Confirmed Readers So Far include:
Christyna Jenson
Mary Wier
Christian Collier
Bob Dombrowski
Finn Bille
N.L. Diwan
Dean Mobley
Marcus Ellsworth
Ginnie Strickland Sams
Travis Kilgore
and others

New Voices October 16

Had a great reading Sunday at Winder Binder with the Southern Lights poets. This is the first time Bill Brown has read in Chattanooga in a while.

Now I am ready for more poetry, Saturday, October 16 with New Voices and the Undoctored Originals at Pasha Coffee House in St. Elmo. 6:30 to 8:30.

Oil

Reposted by popular request.

Oil
Ray Zimmerman
7/5/2010

B.P. Drills for you.

Dick Cheney gave them money,
a few million or so
of taxpayer dollars
to assure America’s
energy future.
Denied they were at the meeting

Sarah Palin said
drill baby drill,
you betcha!

So the earth bleeds
oil into the Gulf
killing fish and fishing
directly or by fear.

Insinuation – don’t you dare
eat that shrimp, marinated
in the earth’s blood, in
ancient microbes under pressure
to give up
their energy stored for
our rainy day.

So the earth bleeds
killing fish and fishing
scaring investors into selling
all those condos on the beach
for pennies on the dollar
saved for their rainy day.

Their retirement goes up in flames
flaming tar balls
on the beach,
scaring tourists into staying
far away.

Put that vacation money away
save it for your rainy day.

The governors say
we need the revenue
from oil wells
with tourism going away.

Keep on drilling.

With fishing up in flames,
keep on drilling.

We need jobs
on the oil rigs.

Keep on drilling.

I say no,
stop the drilling,
but I keep driving
my truck,

reports of dead pelicans
on the radio as
I keep driving my truck.

Reports of broke fishermen
on the radio
dead fish washing ashore
still life with sand
painted by an artist,
his oil on canvas rendering
of oil on fish
of oil on beach as
I keep driving my truck.

Acclaimed Poet to Read in Chattanooga

Acclaimed Poet to Read at Winder Binder

Bill Brown, author of five collections of poetry and recipient of numerous awards will lead off the Southern Lights Poetry Reading at Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store, Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 2:00 PM .



Winder Binder is located at 40 Frazier Avenue on Chattanooga ’s North Shore



Southern Lights:

Seven regional poets share the power of the spoken word:



Bill Brown grew up in Dyersburg , Tennessee .

•Five collections of poetry
•Three chapbooks
•Author of a writing textbook with Malcolm Glass
•Wrote and co-produced the Instructional Television Series, Student Centered Learning, for Nashville Public Television.
•Graduate degrees in English from the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College and George Peabody College
•Directed the writing program at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville
•Part time lecturer at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
•Scholar in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference
•Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
•Two Fellowships in poetry from the Tennessee Arts Commission


Penny Dyer has published work in numerous literary journals.

•2007 Oberon Poetry Prize
•2006 Louisiana Literature Prize for Poetry
•Pushcart Prize nomination for “Summer Storm, 1963”


Bruce Majors has published in several literary journals.

•Author of The Fields of Owl Roost
•First finalist - 2005 Indie Excellence Book Awards.


Rebecca Cook writes poetry and prose and has published in many literary Journals

•Two-time Pushcart nominee
•Writer’s residency at Dairy Hollow Writers’ Colony in 2005
•Margaret Bridgman Scholar in fiction at the 2009 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
•Chapbook of poems, The Terrible Baby, available from Dancing Girl Press
•The Terrible Baby has been translated into Romanian, poems to be published in Romanian literary journals.


Ray Zimmerman is a former president of the Chattanooga Writers Guild.

•Second Place in the 2007 poetry contest of the Tennessee Writers Alliance
•Chapbook, Searching for Cranes favorably reviewed in Bloomsbury Review


Helga Kidder received a BA in English from the University of Tennessee and an MFA in Writing from Vermont College .

•Co-founder of the Chattanooga Writers Guild and leads their poetry group
•Poetry and translations have been published in many journals and anthologies
•Chapbook Why I Reach for the Stars, was a finalist in the Firewheel Chapbook competition


E. Smith Gilbert is a pseudonym.

•Published in the United States and Great Britain
•Currently involved in documentary film

Signs

Signs

Clouds promise rain.
Cuckoo sings his promise too.
All signs fail in dry weather. - Ray Zimmerman

Red Star

Red Star

I awaken
beneath Antares glare.
You are still gone. - Ray Zimmerman

The Armchair Birder

As previously appeared in "The New Writer"


The Armchair Birder:
Discovering the Secret Lives of Birds
John Yow
ISBN 978-0-8078-3279-0
Very occasionally, I read a book, or a passage from a book and say, “I wish I had written that.” The Armchair Birder by John Yow is such a book.
Mr. Yow is a skilled observer. He filled his book with first hand accounts of his observations of 40 common birds observed at his home in rural Georgia or on short trips away from home. Woven into this framework of observation are narratives from famous North American bird observers such as John James Audubon and Arthur Cleveland Bent. These accounts echo his own observations, complimented by reproductions of Audubon’s classic illustrations.
There is one thing his book is not. It is not a guide to bird identification. Yow picked 40 birds easily identified and took the study much further by examining the lives, behavior, and folklore of each species. The Armchair Birder is a delightful read which will motivate readers to further their own investigations.
Reviewed by Ray Zimmerman
http://znaturalist.blogspot.com

Meacham

Meacham Workshop
The semi annual Meacham Writers’ Workshop is hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and Chattanooga State Technical and Community College. Notable writers from across the nation participate by giving readings of their published work and by leading workshops for emerging writers. Area writers can submit manuscripts for review and evaluation. For details, see
http://www.meachamwriters.org/

library book sale

As published in "The New Writer"

Library Book Sale
The Summer Book Sale to support the Chattanooga – Hamilton County Public Libraries will take place at Eastgate Town Center, August 7 -14. Readers can pick up some bargain used books, and support the libraries at the same time. Sale hours are Monday – Saturday, 9 am, to 7 pm and Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM.

Poet Laureate

This piece previously published in The New Writer

W. S. Merwin Named Poet Laureate

On July 1, James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, announced W.S. (William Stanley) Merwin will be appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. Merwin has published more than 30 volumes of poetry, essays, and translations. He has twice been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He is also an avid conservationist, having worked to preserve the winter habitat of Monarch Butterflies in Mexico and numerous endangered plants found near his home in Hawaii.
The Librarian of Congress appoints the Poet Laureate after consulting poets, critics and other persons in the literary world. The Laureate has an office at the Library of Congress and serves a one year term, though several have been appointed to additional terms. The current Laureate, Kay Ryan, is now serving her second term.
The office of Poet Laureate was first established as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1937. In 1986, the title was changed to Poet Laureate and Consultant in Poetry. Robert Penn Warren was the first to serve with the new title.

coming events

Ray Zimmerman and Friends
Olde Towne books
Tuesday, July 13 7:00 to 8:00 PM
3213 Brainerd Road
Chattanooga, Tn 37411
(423) 475- 7187

New Voices:
Pasha Coffee House,
3914 St. Elmo Avenue,
6:30 to 8:30 PM, (July 17)
The third Saturday of each month.
At New Voices hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word.

New Writers Alliance
Sunday, July 18, 2:00 - 3:00
Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store, 40 Frazier Avenue
on Chattanooga’s North Shore
An afternoon of local writers sharing their work Participants include Bruce Majors,
Rebecca Cook, E. Smith Gilbert, Jenny Sadre-Orafai, and Ray Zimmerman


Speakeasy Open Mic
Mudpie Restaurant
12 Frazier Avenue
Every Monday
Sign in 8:00 PM
Readings begin 8:30
The Speakeasy is a weekly poetry/spoken word open mic hosted by Christian Collier. Contact thespeakeasypoetry@gmail.com

The Chattanooga Writers Guild
Bicentennial Library
7:00 PM
The second Tuesday of each month Programs vary, but frequently feature writing and/or marketing tips.
http://www.chattanoogawritersguild.com

oil

Oil
Ray Zimmerman
7/5/2010

B.P. Drills for you.

Dick Cheney gave them money,
a few million or so
of taxpayer dollars
to assure America’s
energy future.
Denied they were at the meeting

Sarah Palin said
drill baby drill,
you betcha!

So the earth bleeds
oil into the Gulf
killing fish and fishing
directly or by fear.

Insinuation – don’t you dare
eat that shrimp, marinated
in the earth’s blood, in
ancient microbes under pressure
to give up
their energy stored for
our rainy day.

So the earth bleeds
killing fish and fishing
scaring investors into selling
all those condos on the beach
for pennies on the dollar
saved for their rainy day.

Their retirement goes up in flames
flaming tar balls
on the beach,
scaring tourists into staying
far away.

Put that vacation money away
save it for your rainy day.

The governors say
we need the revenue
from oil wells
with tourism going away.

Keep on drilling.

With fishing up in flames,
keep on drilling.

We need jobs
on the oil rigs.

Keep on drilling.

I say no,
stop the drilling,
but I keep driving
my truck,

reports of dead pelicans
on the radio as
I keep driving my truck.

Reports of broke fishermen
on the radio
dead fish washing ashore
still life with sand
painted by an artist,
his oil on canvas rendering
of oil on fish
of oil on beach as
I keep driving my truck.

more poetry

Ray Zimmerman
and Friends
Olde Towne books
3213 Brainerd Road
Chattanooga, Tn 37411
(423) 475- 7187

Join a few area poets to hear their work.
Tuesday, July 13
7:00 to 8:00 PM
Innovative verse on the cutting edge.

New Writers Alliance

New Writers Alliance

Sunday, July 18, 2:00 to 3:00 PM
Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store
40 Frazier Avenue
Chattanooga’s North Shore
An afternoon of writers reading their work for your listening pleasure.

Bruce Majors http://www.new-works.org/8_4johnson/roost.htm

Jenny Sadre-Orafe http://www.jennysadre-orafai.com/

Rebecca Cook http://www.meachamwriters.org/writers/rebecca-cook.htm

E. Smith Gilbert

Ray Zimmerman http://createhere.chattablogs.com/archives/2009/01/chattanooga-spo.html

North Chattanooga

In view of the recent oil spill, I am reposting a poem I wrote several months ago.

North Chattanooga

Chicken wrap and fries
Six ninety-eight
All the lard you can eat
Fries clogging arteries
Of drivers as they clog
Traffic arteries burning
Oil and gas

Lawyers argue in Washington
Claiming their clients have
Already paid enough for
Letting a drunk run
Hard aground in
Prince William Sound
Oil polluting ocean water
Instead of Chattanooga Air
Where drivers burn oil
To get to Coolidge Park

A dragon kite flies mimicking
Fixed wing vultures though
The wooden slats give it a
Bat like appearance flying
Above pigeons and a gorgeous
Redhead throwing a Frisbee
Over her boyfriend’s Head
Beaning an innocent pigeon

The Park comes alive as lawyers
Prowl the sterile halls of justice
In Washington, stop to wash
And sanitize their hands
But can’t remove the oil
Of Prince William Sound as
It sticks to the money
In their wallets


They argue to limit damages
Paid to Alaskans twenty years
After the ship in the Sound
Ran aground killing herring
Killing the fishing economy
For twenty years as young men
Reach middle age and middle

Aged women reach retirement
But can’t sell their commercial
Fishing license with the economy
Gone to hell and who can tell
Them to switch to tourism
Since the oil killed the whale

New Voices

New Voices: Where hot improvisational jazz meets the power of the spoken word: Pasha Coffee House, 3914 St. Elmo Avenue, the third Saturday of each month, 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

Meet The Undoctored Originals. They improvise transition music between speakers and continue improvising during the intermission. Their improvisations show changing rhythm patterns, melodic phrases and real time synergy that takes the audience to new realms. The instrumental interplay with spoken words culminates in an astonishing conclusion.

The Undoctored Originals include Dr. Jim Woodford, Keyboards, Dr. Bob Vogt, Saxophone, Billy Lowry, Drums, Ian Kibby, Euphonium, and Jack Gaillard, Congas. The June 19 event will include special guest Dr. Rich Fastiggi on guitar.
Participating Writers from the Chattanooga area have included Bruce Majors, E. Smith Gilbert, Veronique Bergeron, Julie Alexander, Mary Wier, Bob Dombrowski, Ray Zimmerman, N.L. Diwan, Ninian Williams, Mike Bodine, and others.

Rubbyat

Awake, for morning in the bowl of night
Hath flung the stone that puts the stars to flight
and low the Hunter of the Est hath caught
The Sultan's turret in a nose of gloden light

Omar Khayyam of Ancient Persia
This is the first of 88 Stanzas

A special place

A Special Place
Ray Zimmerman
© 2010

There is a special place in Hell
For people who design
Online forms.

The single mother, whose
public terminal shut down,
just before she completed
the unemployment application,
will dance on your fingers
as you dangle from a cliff,
from which you never fall.

If you designed a phone system
to intentionally prevent
the caller from speaking
to a human, you will forever
push buttons, that lead nowhere.

Para Español, marke el dos.
Lo siento mucho,
no habla español.

To obtain credit
for time spent in Purgatory,
press three.
If you have lost
your travel visa for Heaven,
press four.

Your call is very important to us.
Please be patient.
All demons are busy assisting
other Hell bound customers.

Bumper Sticker

I recently saw a bumper sticker that read, "Socialism: a good idea until you run out of other people's money." By this definition, most financial endeavors in our society are socialist enterprises. Think of it, banking, finance, insurance, and the stock market all involve generating profits or loss (mostly loss these days) by taking unwarrented risks with other people's money.

quotation

When Facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
- Sinclair Lewis

read around Tennessee

Read Around Tennessee
Saturday, April 17, 2:00 to 4:00 PM
Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store
40 Frazier Avenue
Chattanooga’s North Shore
Sponsored by
Tennessee Writers Alliance
Chattanooga Writers Guild
Check Winder Binder on Facebook
Join us at Winder Binder for readings by area authors. Thanks to Winder Binder Gallery and Book Store for hosting us. Faux Bridge Festival by Winder Binder takes place the same day. Contact Ray Zimmerman, znaturalist@yahoo.com or 423-315-0721 for additional information about Read Around Tennessee, Chattanooga venue, or New Voices Poetry Readings.

Confirmed Participants in Read Around Tennessee – Reading in this order

Sybil Baker’s linked short story collection, Talismans, will be published by C & R Press in Fall 2010. She teaches literature and writing and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and will be reading from her novel The Life Plan http://www.sybilbaker.com/home.html


Penny Dyer is the recipient of the 2007 Oberon Poetry Prize, and the 2006 Louisiana Literature Prize for Poetry. Her work also appears in Original Sin: The Seven Deadlies Come Home to Roost, SouthernReader, Poems Niederngasse, SouthLit, Arsenic Lobster, Dogwood, Oberon, and Narrative. Penny writes in several genres, and is at work on a poetry collection, Awaiting the Fall of Babylon, and a novel, How Sweet the Sound. Her poem “Summer Storm, 1963” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.


Bruce Majors grew up in East Tennessee, graduated from Tennessee Technological University, and is retired from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). He has published poems in Arts and Letters, Homespun Magazine, The Distillery, NCPS Pinesong, River Poets Journal, Number One, and other literary journals. His book, The Fields of Owl Roost, is an autobiographical collection of loosely related poems that has been said to capture the eccentricity of our imperfect world. It was named first finalist in the 2005 Indie Excellence Book Awards.

Jenny Sadre-Orafai’s first chapbook, Weed Over Flower, was chosen for publication by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming in: Wicked Alice, can we have our ball back?, Literary Mama, Poetry Midwest, Boxcar Poetry Review, slant, Caesura, Gargoyle, ouroboros review, H_NGM_N, and other fine journals. Sadre-Orafai’s prose has appeared in Rock Salt Plum, in the Seal Press anthology, Waking Up American, and in the All Things That Matter Press anthology Contemporary American Women: Our Defining Passages. She currently serves as poetry editor for JMWW and is Assistant Professor of English at Kennesaw State University. : www.jennysadre-orafai.com


Rebecca Cook writes poetry and prose and has published in many literary journals including New England Review, Northwest Review, New Orleans Review, Wicked Alice, Midwest Quarterly, Story South, and Quarter After Eight. A two-time Pushcart nominee, she was awarded a writer’s residency at Dairy Hollow Writers’ Colony in 2005, and she was a Margaret Bridgman Scholar in fiction at the 2009 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Her chapbook of poems, The Terrible Baby, is available from Dancing Girl Press. Poems from The Terrible Baby have been translated into Romanian and will appear in several Romanian literary journals in 2010. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

E. Smith Gilbert has published in the United States and Great Brittan. His works appear regularly in Poetica and in TPQ Online.

Becky Wooley knows where the bodies are buried! She is a minister’s wife and former church secretary with journalism experience and writing credits in four states. She and her husband, Bruce, have attended or ministered to seven Universities and fifteen congregations of the Church of Christ and have been affiliated with five Christian schools. She will be reading from her latest murder mystery, "Non-Prophet Murders", a clerical crime novel and satire in which Grit and Grace, two young members of a progressive, Christian fellowship, solve the murders of three ministers.

Ray Zimmerman was the subject of a feature article in the September, 2008 issue of Blush magazine. His poetry chap book Searching for Cranes received a favorable mention from Contributing Editor Jeff Biggers in the November – December issue of Bloomsbury Review. Ray’s nonfiction has appeared in Envirolink magazine, Hellbender Press, and Legacy: The Journal of Interpretation. His photographs have appeared in the Photographic Society of America, PSA Journal, Tennessee Conservationist, and Cappers. He is a former president of the Chattanooga Writers Guild and won Second Place in the 2007 poetry contest of the Tennessee Writers Alliance. He read his winning poem, “Glen Falls Trail” at the Southern Festival of Books at Legislative Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee, ten days after undergoing coronary bypass surgery. He has organized poetry readings at Pasha Coffee House other Chattanooga venues.


N.L Diwan taught 4th grade in Dalton , Georgia and foreign language exploratory in the 6th, 7th, & 8th graders …Spanish, French and Latin respectively at Rossville Middle School .She has traveled to India 7 times each time for several months. She has also traveled to Italy and England. She has the honor of being born in Chattanooga where natives seem to be an endangered species. My dad was born here and so was her daughter and grandson. Her family is listed in the first families of Tennessee.

Ben Fischer grew up in the Northeast, but went to school in Texas and lived in Austin and Houston for ten years before moving to Chattanooga last year. He has published fiction and poetry in places like Black Dog Magazine, The Claremont Review, and Short Stories Bimonthly.

Bob Dombrowski is an artist with a history extending through sound explorations and performances to installation of outdoor sculpture. He is currently focused on writing as well as sculpture. Several of his artist’s books are archived in the Museum of Modern Art, as well as Poet’s House in NYC.
He has performed in venues where he read his poetry, throughout the eastern United States. He has been published in volumes of writings such as “Emerson at Harvard”; “Help Yourself”, and “The Spirit in the Words”. He also currently writes for an online journal, IPSFeatures.com.

Desert Notes

"The land does not give easily. The desert is like a boulder: you expect to wait. You expect night to come. But you expect some-time it will loosen into pieces to be examined." - Desert Notes, Barry Lopez

Later the author goes on to say:
"Your confidence in these finely etched maps is understandable, for at first glance they seem excellent, the best man is capable of; but your confidence is misplaced. Throw them out. They are the wrong sort of map. They are too thin. They are not the sort of map that can be followed by a man who knows what he is doing. The coyote, even the crow would regard them with suspicion."

Read this years ago, and recently re-read it. Desert Notes and the companion volumes River Notes and Field Notes are the work of a master craftsman.

Equinox

Written especially for the Equinox performance of New Voices Poetry and The Undoctored Originals (Jazz Improv Band), Chattanooga, TN. http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=dsbQaOF_ Awo

March 20, 2010
Ray Zimmerman

Equinox

Equinox is the sun
Stretching toward zenith
Reaching zenith
But not here.

Equinox is the red fox
I saw beside Scenic Highway
Walking about
The last night before spring.

The chorus frogs
Wind up their serenade.
Spring began for them
Two months ago.

Equinox is the bull
Fleeing Orion in the east.
The hounds join the chase.
The Twins look on.

Equinox is a tadpole
Hatching from an egg,
The sun spinning out
Cosmic dust from beginnings.

Red maples reach full bloom.
The forest seems to blush.
Bloodroot spreads white blossoms,
Oozes red sap when bruised.

I seek the crescent moon
Already beyond the horizon,
Fill with joy,
Howl my lament.

Hiking

A brief segment from my soon to be published book.

I remember the words of Edward Abbey in Beyond the Wall. “The more often you stop, the more difficult it is to continue. Stop too long and they cover you with rocks.”

It appears to me that I have been a pretty tame environmentalist. I have not taken much action to preserve wild lands, nor have I done much to raise awareness. I need to preserve the lands I love – no more sentiment without action. I have stopped too long and need to get going before they cover me with rocks.

I think of how small and powerless I am compared to the giant government, indifferent to conservation and frequently complicit with business and industry in despoiling the natural environment. I think of how small I am compared to the developers and giant corporations, with their wealth. I wonder what I can do with my small resources.

Thinking these thoughts I heard the piercing call of a red tailed hawk and looked up to see the great raptor pursued by a kingbird. The kingbird is no larger than a blue jay or a mockingbird but it controls its territory, it chases away the bigger birds. Lord, give me the strength to be a kingbird.

The Levee Revisited

The following piece is an excerpt from my article, The Levee Revisited, which appeared in Hellbender Press some years ago. It is also included in my soon to be published book, Guardians and Other Sightings.

The kingfisher I normally see at this marsh is strangely absent from view today. I am surprised by its absence, since I see the bird on nearly every trip here.

On my return trip, walking back toward the parking lot, I heard the rattling call of the kingfisher from the willows across the water. The bird was present, but in hiding, revealed only by its unique call.

Then it lifted from the cover and flew across the water, low. It was hunting for a fish dinner. I saw the kingfisher stop and perch on a fence that ran right into the water.

The bird perched only briefly. Then it was up high, hovering over the marsh like a miniature osprey, preparing to descend and deal death to the fish below.

Only the hovering is like an osprey through. The kingfisher is not a raptor like the osprey or bald eagle. They grasp their victims in the talons of their feet and barely wet their feathers. The kingfisher hovered and dropped. The descent ended with its whole body immersed in the water. Then it emerged, with no fish in its beak, and flies across the water.

Not easily discouraged, the bird is hovered and dropped again and again. Finally it moved to the trees across the marsh, perhaps with meal in beak, though I really couldn’t tell from my vantage point.

As I left the Marsh, the bird hovered over the water yet again. I am uncertain as to whether it failed in its last attempt, or is simply hungry for more fish. In either event, the marsh will provide a feast for kingfisher, heron, egret, and duck. It provided a physical feast for the birds and a psychic feast for me as I left, happy with the day’s observations and discoveries.

As the march of progress continues to assault the natural environment the question remains, will we preserve the unique beauty of this wetland and its bird species both resident and migratory, or will they become only one more monument to “progress.”

Guardian

Excerpt for "The Guardian," first section of my unpublished book, Guardians and Other Sightings.

The guardian has a thick body, like the biceps of a body builder. Her body is filled with membranous eggs without shells. They hatch when expelled, snakes born alive.
The young snakes will have a rattle, just like mom. They will shake their rattle as a warning. Beware their presence as you stop to admire a pink lady’s slipper orchid or a Catesby’s trillium with delicate, lavender, recurved petals. The guardians may be there, just off the trail saying, “Don’t tread on me.”

New Voices Poetry

New Voices Poetry includes talented local poets and writers as well as improvisational jazz by the Undoctored Originals.
It all takes place in the St. Elmo Living Room, in the same building as Pasha Coffee House, Blacksmith's Restaurant, and Asher Love Gallery. Food and Drink are readily available at the coffee house and restaurant.

Saturday, March 20, 2010
6:00pm - 9:00pm
3914 St. Elmo Ave. Chattanooga, TN 37409

Refuge - an Unnatural History

“Tolerating blind obedience in the name of patriotism or religion ultimately takes our lives.
When the Atomic Energy Commission described the country north of the Nevada Test Site as ‘virtually uninhabited desert terrain,’ my family and the birds at Great Salt Lake were some of the ‘virtual uninhabitants'." – Refuge, an Unnatural History, Terry Tempest Williams

Williams and her Utah family are among the group of unfortunate people known as Downwinders. See http://www.downwinders.org

Thoreau

Quote from Walden:

I plan to build me a house which will surpass any on the main street in Concord in grandeur and luxury, as soon as it pleases me as much and will cost me no more than my present one. – Walden, or Life in the Woods, Henry David Thoreau

The Guardian

From "The Guardian" as published in Feed Your Brain.

Introduction:

The Guardian

The Guardian moves in circles, round and round, beside the road. She is not coiling, not preparing to strike, just circling. Is she injured by a passing car? Is she warming up, absorbing heat from the pavement? Is she preparing to give birth?

I stop the car but don’t get out. I don’t want to meet the guardian. I have no wish to uncurl the scaly body and take an accurate measurement of the guardian’s length. I have enough woodsman’s knowledge to have a healthy respect for the power of a mature timber rattlesnake.

What the Ants are Saying

it wont be long now it wont be long
till earth is barren as the moon
and sapless as a mumbled bone

dear boss i relay this information
without any fear that humanity
will take warning and reform


archy



- excerpted from Don Marquis, “What the Ants are Saying” as it appeared in The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel. (1935)

The Creation

The Creation:
An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
Edward O. Wilson, 2006
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
New York
ISBN 978-0-393-33048-9 pbk

"Pastor, I am grateful for your attention. As a scientist who has spent a lifetime studying the creation, I have done my best here to brief you and others on subjects I hope will be more a part of out common concern. My foundation of reference has been the culture of science and some of secularism based on science, as I understand them. From that foundation I have focused on the interaction of three problems that affect everyone: the decline of the living environment, the inadequacy of scientific education, and the moral confusions caused by the exponential growth of biology. In order to solve these problems, I’ve argued, it will be necessary to find common ground on which the powerful forces of religion and science can be joined. The best place to start is the stewardship of life."
So begins Chapter 17, the final chapter, of Edward O. Wilson’s book, The Creation. Wilson wrote the book as a letter to a Southern Baptist preacher, and has no fear of directly referring to both their differences. He begins with a reference to his own early experiences in the faith, his departure from it, and their common roots as southerners.
Within the framework of this unique approach, Wilson describes subjects already known to his readers: the importance of nature as our home, the destruction of nature by habitat loss, invasive species and other causes, and the love of nature (Biophilia). The Creation is a book long appeal for science and religion to find common ground and save the natural world.

Ham and Rye

It seems like half the times I visit Bicentennial Library there are fire trucks outside Patton Towers. This morning there were several, and it was the real deal. They were evacuating the building with tall ladder trucks. I didn't think of the second stanza of this poem as prophetic, but it appears to be so.

Ham and Rye

I went to the deli a gleam in my eye
said "Give me some ham and put it on rye."
They said "we've got whole wheat and foccacia for to die
but don't get upset sir, we ain't got no rye."
Ham and Rye.

Sirens are screamin' headed downtown
one day Patton towers will burn to the ground.
I'm still sittin' here hangin' around
Pour me a whiskey and I'll drink it down
Ham and Rye.

Recipe for Love

From my chapbook, Searching for Cranes

Recipe for Love

Take two marginally sane people
Place in an extra large mixing cup
Add vodka, sugar and lemon juice
Set fire to vodka
Add ice, quickly
Serve shaken.

Wolf Moon

The mountain wrapped in snow
The city glow of lights below
The orange pumpkin moon
floats above the skyline.
I look up, howl.

Ed Abbey

Reincarnation
Ray Zimmerman
(Previously published in the Earth First! Journal and Hellbender Press)

An old black vulture landed in a tree
overlooking Chickamauga Creek;
gave me a sidelong glance.

I thought of Edward Abbey,
critic of government agencies,
professor, and park ranger.

Abbey is buried in an illegal grave;
a cairn of stones to cover
his remains.

His friends saw to his request,
wrote on one stone,
“Edward Abbey, no comment.”

The nemesis of Glen Canyon Dam
didn’t want a memorial,
got one anyway.

He always said he’d come back
as a vulture next time,
just seemed fitting.

I looked up into the oak,
said “Hey there Ed,
looks like a good day for flying.”

Abbey didn’t say a word
just gave me that sidelong glance,
the old buzzard.

Technology Blues

Technology Blues

In heaven there's a thousand tiny cell phones
In heaven there's a thousand tiny cell phones
They ring all the time so you're never alone
In heaven there's a thousand tiny cell phones

In heaven there's a thousand cpu's
In heaven there's a thousand cpu's
They've each got a mouse and a keyboard too
In heaven there's a thousand cpu's

When I get up there and see all that
When I get up there and see all that
I'm askin' St. Peter for a baseball bat
When I get up there and see all that

Equal Rights

Equal Rights

With politicians now for sale
and corporations spending
there'll be no end to larceny
or all the rules they're bending.

Could growing corporations
someday get the vote
or even hold an office
with all that loot they tote?

So vote for Goldman Sachs
and bar the courthouse gates
when Enron is the preisdent
of these United States.

Corporations now are people
and they have equal rights
the Supreme Court said its so
resolving all the fights.

Kennedy wrote the opinion
that surely sealed our doom,
turned the voting booth into
a high priced auction room.

Justice Roberts and Alito
went along for the ride.
Clarence Thomas cast his vote
upon the rising tide.

Justice John Paul Stevens
is a true American hero
but his dissenting opinion,
it just counts for zero.

That old man Ronald Reagan
is smiling from the grave,
says bury freedom beside me.
Her virtues you won't save.

Senator Mitch McConnell
is a coal company whore.
When King Coal pays him off,
he just asks for more.

McConnell liked the ruling
and so did all his cronies.
When it comes to saving freedom,
They're just a bunch of phonies.

Alexander Hamilton created
corporations with his pen
but Franklin didn't like it
don't go there said old Ben.

Vice President Aaron Burr,
he wasn't all that bad.
In a famous duel he killed
the corporation's dad.

The Gospel of Nature

The Gospel of Nature
Is a short booklet by John Burroughs, an early American Naturalist. This is an excerpt from Chapter 3.

I do not know that the bird has taught me any valuable lesson. Indeed, I don not go to nature to be taught. I go for enjoyment and companionship. I go to bathe in her as in a sea; I go to give my eyes and ears senses a free, clean field and to tome up my spirits by her “primal sanities.”

Three Degrees

From my Cape Cod Days chapbook.

Three Degrees at Race Point

Its was three degrees, but
they were three good ones
when I coaxed my car to start.

I drove the frozen wasteland
empty and desolate as only
a tourist town in winter can be.

We walked half a mile
across the frozen breakwater,
cold water on either side.

Falling in could mean hypothermia;
perhaps death before rescue
from the cold Atlantic water.

Perhaps the tide would come in
stranding us at the Race Point Light.
We might not come home.

The adventure took us onward,
the point of the whole thing
being a snowy owl seen out there.

It was at Race Point,
the far end of the Cape,
beyond the breakwaters and roads.

The bird had sense enough to fly
further South than usual,
sense enough to keep warm.

It was the coldest winter in years.
Having more sense than me,
The owl got the point.

We arrived at Race Point
and missed the point,
the snowy owl that is.

The owl abandoned Cape Cod to us
and to a short earned owl
an unusual sighting in its own right.

The short eared owl was not
a lifetime achievement for me,
or for my friend.

My friend’s wife had warned us
not to go and wrung her hands at
our impending death and doom.

She said “I always thought
you bird watchers were crazy,
and now I know for sure.”

Christmas Day

Christmas Day

So the sun has run its course,
turned to northward once again.
Winter chill is in the air.
Southbound cranes give rattling call.

Solstice gone and Christmas here,
I greet the winter chill with cheer,
feel reborn as icy winds
massage my skin restore my strength.

When the stars break through the clouds,
aimless ships set loose by wind,
horizon reddened by the moon,
Bracing winds restore the soul.

Earth National Park

Earth National Park
Poems by Dennis Fritzinger
Poetry Vortex Publishing
Crescent City, California

if I knew how to do it
I’d arm all the bears
so there’d be bear militias
in the mountains somewheres

So begins the poem “Support Your Right,” a personal favorite from Earth National Park. In this short volume of poetry, Dennis Fritzinger introduces numerous nonhuman protagonists such as “Mother Vulture,” “Angry Red Squirrel,” and “Ambassador Frog.”
Most common of all are the bears. A Black Bear with a pilfered radio listens to the traffic, spying on the humans. A human in a restaurant eats blackberry jam and turns into a bear. The bears in “Support Your Right” tote guns and protect the wilderness from humans.
Several of the poems are polemics on direct environmental action, while others are statements of the author’s earth centered philosophy. These two threads are interwoven with the poems written from the animals’ various points of view. Each of the three threads compliments and amplifies the other to make a unique whole.
Earth National Park is a delightful collection of poems by Dennis Fritzinger, moderator of the Warrior Poets Society list serve on Yahoo Groups and editor of the Warrior Poets Society page in the Earth First! Journal. From the introduction, “A New Pledge,” to the final poem “The Yellowstone Fire,” Dennis emphasizes his philosophy of nature knows best.