News! and Granny on the News

Two things to tell you about: poetry and radio.

1. My poem, 'The Old Road" was selected for the Poetry on the Move project by Mountain Lines bus line in Morgantown, WV. The company put seven new buses into service on March 25th and decided to celebrate by putting at least two poems on each new bus. I think this is such a neat idea. I love encountering poetry and short stories in unexpected places; just wish more businesses would consider something like this. You can read about the project by clicking on the "Poetry on the Move" logo on the lower right side of their webpage.

Here's my poem:

The Old Road

It used to be right there
between the houses on the hill,
the old road to Morgantown
buried under lawns and driveways.
Its faint path

just by that tree, do you see
the sunken track with the fences
lining its sides with straight wire lines?
You’d need to know how it was
to see it now.

You’d need to remember
how the wagons lined up to get into town
on market days, filled with cattle or corn
or maybe just a family
all dressed up,

looking for excitement
on the streets of a small country town,
Saturday morning before the banks closed
and the stores and courthouse
were still open.

Men in faded bib overalls on the corner,
tobacco juice flowing rich
in dusty churning air
while kids ran after the wagons
fading into time,

leaving only the memory of a road--
all the noise and bustle gone, replaced by
cars with air conditioners and closed windows
traffic lights and signs that point the way
to where the old road was.

2. Second piece of news: I'll be on West Virginia Public Radio tomorrow (Friday) morning around 7:30 am, talking about my new CD, Beyond the Grave: Ghost Stories and Ballads from the Mountains. I was interviewed by Beth Voorhees, the host of Inside Appalachia.

Beth said that tomorrow morning will be a short clip of the interview, and the whole interview will air Saturday morning at 6:00am and again Sunday evening at 6:00pm. Did you know you can stream WVPR over the internet?