Allegheny Echoes: writing class

At the fish hatchery. I wondered if this might have been the site of an old mill, because there was a millstone nearby.

I spent three afternoons with the creative writing class. I took that workshop two years ago and it was excellent. The way Allegheny Echoes is structured, afternoons are open to attend any workshop of your choice. On Tuesday afternoon Sherrell Wigal led a workshop that led to some creative writing by focusing on a day of the week, a time of day, a body part, and an adjective. Sounds odd but it was very effective.


View from the graveyard in Pocahontas County.
Wednesday the group went to local sites-the fish hatchery, the graveyard where oldtime music legends the Hammons family are buried...

I liked this poem on a gravesone for a man who died in 1875. "Rest, father, rest, a quiet sleep, while friends in sorrow o'er thee weep."

Hamlin chapel. Date was 1832, I believe. It's no longer in use, but in the back some restoration work was being done to the foundation. You can see the dirt that's been dug out on the left. That's Kirk Judd, creative writing class instructor, in the photo.

I jotted down impressions and thoughts that will develop later into poems. What was important to me was soaking in the atmosphere, feeling the places and the history behind them. I am usually fairly quiet during such times because talking interferes with the process somehow.

The handrail with its moss and the lock on the door seemed symbolic to me. The unused handrail could be interpreted as loss of faith or passage of time, and the lock on the door--old churches used to have no locks. Locking up religion? Locking out people? Holding onto the past? These are the kinds of thoughts that often lead to poems.