Writers by the River

Donia S. Eley devotes much of her free time to causes throughout the New River Valley, among them the preservation and perpetuation of art, music, land conservation and Appalachian culture. She holds a post-bacc certificate and a graduate degree in Appalachian studies, and is the co-author of two books about Appalachian artist Willard Gayheart. Grace Toney Edwards is professor emerita of Appalachian studies and English and the founding director of the Appalachian Regional Studies Center at Radford University. For 27 years she served as the director of the Highland Summer Conference. Her life’s work has been the study of the Appalachian people and the mountains they inhabit, and has edited two books about Appalachia.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsviiiPrefaceGrace Toney EdwardsIntroductionDonia S. EleyPart I: InspirationGrace Toney EdwardsIn Memoriam: They Came, Left Gifts, and Now Are Gone 8Parks Lanier, Jr.Highland Summer Conference: The Beginning 19Jeff Daniel MarionThe Chinese Poet Reconsiders Time 25 • “Late Autumn the Chinese Poet Invites His Old Friend the Brier Out to the River to Sit a Spell” 29Loyal JonesWords from a Legend of Appalachia 30 • “Tintagel” 31Marilou AwiaktaOur Courage Is Our Memory 32 • “Dawn Birth” 33 • “Out of Ashes Peace Will Rise” 36 • “Parting Thoughts” 38 • “I Offer You a Gift” 43David HuddleHow and Why Radford University’s Highland Summer Conference Was More Than Just a Teaching Gig for Me 44 • “Where Do You Come From?” 47 • “What Can You Tell Me About Your Father?” 48 • “What About Your Mother?” 48 • “Art for Money” 49 • “What Are You Up To?” 49 • “Elrica” 50 • “Some Kitchens” 50 • “Inez” 51George Ella LyonReflections: Community, Generosity and Magic 53 • “All to Pieces” 55Bill BrownGift … Beyond Measure 56 • “The Talk in Floyd County” 57 • “Passenger” 59 • “Learning to Be Quiet” 60 • “Otter Dream for Geron” 61Rita Sims QuillenWriting in the Highlands of Virginia 63 • “A Woman Born to Farming” (After Wendell Berry’s “A Man Born to Farming”) 64Robert MorganExperience at Radford: Connecting with the Indigenous Roots 66 • Lost Lead Mine of the Cherokees 68Diane GilliamHow I Got to RU, and What I Found There 77 • “Said the Girl to the Boy” 79Part II: More InspirationRon RashWords from Ron Rash 82 • Reflection on Highland Summer Conference 82 • “Canning” 83Ricky CoxMy First Highland Summer Conference 84 • Where Are You Now, Marlos Perkos? 85Ruth B. DerrickFun, Terror and Gratification 91 • “The Sweater” 94 • “Taken” 95 • “Body Language—1918 Family Portrait” 95 • “Life Cycle” Four Poems in One 96George BrosiAppalachian Mountain Books and HSC 97Pamela DuncanIn the Blue Ridge of Virginia 101 • Real Life 102Grace Toney EdwardsYesterday’s Voices, Today’s Visions: The Power of a Teacher’s Influence 105Robert GipeWords from Robert Gipe 110 • The Hide-Behinds 110Richard HagueJesus of the Hills 114 • My Week 118Heidi HartwigerThere Is No Such Thing as Too Much Garlic 119 • An Incredible WOW Factor Woman 123Jeff MannHSC Memory 129 • “Country Kitchen—Christiansburg, Virginia” 131 • “Gay Redneck, With Baby Stroller” 132 • “Redneck Food” 133Karen Salyer McElmurrayConferencing 134Linda ParsonsA Grateful Confluence 139 • “Divine Rods” 140Dana WildsmithTeaching the Teachers 142 • “One Light” 144 • “Emergency Room” 145 • “Pitched Past Grief” 145 • “Elegy” 145Frank X WalkerContributions from Frank X Walker, a Kentucky Poet Laureate 147 • “Sweat Equity” 147 • “Ritual” 148 “Rock Paper Scissors” 149 • “Hoofers” 149 • “Wheeze” 150 • “Eclipse” 151Rick Van NoyReading the River 152Donald SecreastThe Highland Summer Conference Could Have Added Ten Years to My Writing Life 156Part III: The InspiredB. Chelsea AdamsThe Truth We Share 164 • “The Part Gone” 166 • “The Nineteenth Hole” 167Charles A. SwansonYou Made Me One of Your Own 169 • “Fraulein” 173 • “Old Work Shirt: Let Me Praise the Pansies” 173 • “Old Work Shirt, the Hand-Stitched Swans Most Gone” 174 • “Forward: Row-ing for O-hi-O” 174 • “Homeplace” 175Donia S. EleyFrom Long Dusty Roads and Tobacco Rows to a Selfie with Gurney 178 • “I Am From” 179 • “The Captain” 180 • “Sputnik” 181 • “Evening Light” 182Kevin StewartFrom a Montana Vantage Point 183 • Silenced 184Becky Dellinger HancockAPPALKIDS at HSC 192Rick MulkeyHomecoming 195 • “Concerning Whisky” 197 • “Cured" 198 • “An Explanation” 199Matt PraterLooking Back 201 • “Trieste” 202Sam L. LinkousRemembering Jim Wayne Miller—and More 204 • “Catching Supper” 205 • “Sacred Ground” 205 • Reflections 206Elizabeth McCommonYou Asked, and I Came 216 • Up On Locust Hill 217Teresa Stutso JewellFrom Hairdresser to Writer 219 • “The Plea of Brother Mountain” 222Luther KirkImpacts 223 • Opal Jean 224 • “Ain’t Never Went to the Ocean” 232 • “Witching Hour” 232 • “She Left” 233 • “Child of Appalachia” 233 • “My Soul” 233 • “Went to the Ocean” 234Tim ThorntonFor Those Two Weeks in That One Summer … I Was a Writer 235 • “Mom and Dad, 1958” 237Bonnie Roberts EricksonA Journey into the Heart 238Jim MinickWriting Community: Celebrating the Highland Summer Conference’s 40th Anniversary and More 242 • “When You Realize the Future” 244AfterwordTheresa L. BurrissAppendix: List of HSC Leaders, Readers and PerformersAbout the ContributorsIndex

“This book offers a great way to get a feel for Appalachian literature from the time it first became known as a sub-genre until the present because the Highland Summer Conference is one of the most vital anchors of the super structure of Appalachian literature.”—Appalachian Mountain Books