CHRIS RICE COOPER BLOG is ART and HUMANITY Framed In The PhotoFeature Story

CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper/fiction writer, poet, photographer, painter. CRC Blog is an INCLUSIVE & NON-PROFIT BLOG acknowledging ALL voices, ALL individuals, ALL political views, ALL philosophies, ALL religions including Islamism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Agnosticism, Atheism. She has a B.S. in Criminal Justice & completed her workshops required for her Master’s in Creative Writing. She lives in St. Louis. CRC website http://chrisricecooper.com/

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

#64 Backstory of the Poem "Shiprock" by Terry Lucas

Chris Rice Cooper

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

*The images in this specific piece are granted copyright privilege by: Public Domain, CCSAL, GNU Free Documentation Licenses, Fair Use Under The United States Copyright Law, or given copyright privilege by the copyright holder which is identified beneath the individual photo.

**Some of the links will have to be copied and then posted in your search engine in order to pull up properly

***This is the sixty-fourth in a never-ending series called BACKSTORY OF THE POEM where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific poem and how the poet wrote that specific poem. All BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links are at the end of this piece.

#64 Backstory of the Poem

“Shiprock”

by Terry Lucas

Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing

this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form?

The idea for “Shiprock” technically began while I was a student at New Mexico State University taking a creative writing (poetry) class under Keith Wilson. However, the poem had actually begun in my subconscious as a nine-year-old boy in 1959. My family moved from southern Illinois to northwestern New Mexico. I could see the actual peak of Shiprock from my backyard, even though it was 35 miles away. It rose some 1600 feet above the desert floor, tinged in the blue that affects all geological features in the distance. This peak, however, had gotten its name in English because it appeared to be a ship shrouded in fog, sailing across the high desert sands. Also, one time my father borrowed his friend’s MGA, and drove my mother and I across the desert (off-road) to the base of the rock. I’ll never forget that experience either, how it kept growing in our field of vision until it loomed above us, reminding me of pictures I’d seen of Mt. Sinai, where God appeared to Moses. Shiprock (Tsé Bit ’a’i in Navajo) was a sacred mountain and had several creation and apocalyptic oral traditions about it—the most popular that the rock was the tail of a giant bird that had brought “the people” down from the north, and would return at the end of the world. All of that background was in my subconscious when I picked up my pen to write the poem's first draft.

Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I wrote the first draft of the poem entitled "Shiprock" while seated at my desk (a library table I purchased for $2 at a school auction), in my apartment in Deming, New Mexico in the early 1970s. I was newly married and the only apartment we could afford was a service station that had been converted into an apartment. The former grease pit became the living room, a storage room the bedroom. The pumps and the island separating the two lanes where cars had pulled in to fill up were still out front. The office of the filling station remained intact and was where I studied for classes as I worked on my bachelor's degree in Philosophy and English Literature. We had to keep our doors locked or tourists would walk into our house looking for an attendant to pump gas. With coyotes yipping outside (we were at the edge of town), one night I conjured an image that my best buddy in high school took of Shiprock at dusk with the full moon rising, and I began writing the opening lines to the first draft.

What month and year did you start writing this poem? Definitely the spring semester of 1971 - probably January or February because the poem was part of my first batch of poems I showed Professor Wilson.

How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough draft with pen markings on it?) I can only estimate the number of drafts - somewhere between 50-100. I began submitting it to journals over 40 years ago. The first draft is gone, as well as most of the early drafts.

The oldest one I have left is a draft returned by Poetry in 1985 - rejected, of course. I was so naive when I began sending out work. I sent to top tier journals like The New Yorker, Ploughshares, Poetry, Agni, and all the other top tier journals. (I've attached a photograph of the 1985 draft, which is nothing like the final version.)

Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of his poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? As I've indicated in my answer to the previous question - yes, there were many lines in early drafts that didn't make the final cut. The entire first stanza was replaced with another. Also, other stanzas were added between the remaining early stanzas.

What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? Among other things, the poem is about the intersection of cultures and their stories, and how new ones do not have to drown out the older ones. Also, for writers, this poem is a success story of how never to give up on a poem or to quit sending it out into the world. It took over 40 years for the poem to be published after its first draft was written.

Has this poem been published before? And if so where? The poem was first accepted and published by Lisa Hase-Jackson in 2012 in an online journal called 200 New Mexican Poems (2012). The journal celebrated the bicentennial of New Mexican statehood, and was of two journals selected by the New Mexico Bicentennial Committee as an official activity of the celebration. It was also published in Dharma Rain (Saint Julian Press, 2016)

Anything you would like to add? Poets and writers need one another. I am grateful to Christal Cooper for featuring "Shiprock" in her terrific blog. I am indebted to scores of mentors and editors, and to hundreds (thousands?) of readers, without whom much of my larger body of work would not exist, or would not be available through the many fine presses and journals that have so graciously published it. Most of all, I would like to thank my partner, Janet. Without her, neither my writing life nor my personal life would be capable of sustaining the creative spark necessary for success at the level they have attained.

SHIPROCK

Tsé Bit ’a’i

Cutting your way through dust storms, waves

Of sand blow over your prow, settle on foils of stone,

Wash down the ribs of your hull to crystal sea.

The Navajos say you sailed from the north,

A great bird saving their people from the flood,

Crashing into the desert, burying all

But your wings and tail: sole cremains of salvation.

What is it that makes a man or woman

Set out on foot for you? Your jagged masts that reach

For gibbous moon? Ancient lens of atmosphere?

The old ones still believe the blood

Will return to petrified feathers,

Carry them away when the flood returns.

Grasses and sedges with no names, abandoned

Frames of cars and trucks, a valley of dried bones

That will never rest, that will never rise again?

Shiprock! Cry out from beneath the desert;

Call your brothers and sisters from the flood.

The overwhelming flood of sand

Is all that will mark their graves.

Sand enough to stem the flood.

Terry Lucas is the author of two full-length poetry collections: Dharma Rain (Saint Julian Press, 2016) and In This Room (CW Books, 2016). His two prize-winning chapbooks are Altar Call (San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival, 2013), and If They Have Ears to Hear (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2012). He has received numerous other writing awards, including the 2014 Crab Orchard Review Feature Award in Poetry, and six Pushcart Prize nominations. Terry is a guest lecturer for Dominican University of California’s low-residency MFA program in creative writing, and a free-lance poetry coach. His current projects include a memoir entitled Flight, and an in-progress third poetry collection.

www.terrylucas.com.

BACKSTORY OF THE POEM LINKS

001 December 29, 2017

Margo Berdeshevksy’s “12-24”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem.html

002 January 08, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “82 Miles From the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake Café”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem.html

003 January 12, 2018

Barbara Crooker’s “Orange”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/a-new-crc-blog-series-backstory-of-poem_12.html

004 January 22, 2018

Sonia Saikaley’s “Modern Matsushima”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-fourth-installment-of-new-crc-blog.html

005 January 29, 2018

Ellen Foos’s “Side Yard”

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/5-backstory-of-poem-sidewalk-by-ellen.html

006 February 03, 2018

Susan Sundwall’s “The Ringmaster”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/6-backstory-of-poem-susan-sundwalls.html

007 February 09, 2018

Leslea Newman’s “That Night”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/7-backstory-of-poem-that-night-by.html

008 February 17, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher “June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/8-backstory-of-poem-june-fairchild-isnt.html

009 February 24, 2018

Charles Clifford Brooks III “The Gift of the Year With Granny”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/02/9-backstory-of-poem-gift-of-year-with.html

010 March 03, 2018

Scott Thomas Outlar’s “The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/chris-ricecooper-caccoopaol.html

011 March 10, 2018

Anya Francesca Jenkins’s “After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/11-backstory-of-poem-after-diane.html

012 March 17, 2018

Angela Narciso Torres’s “What I Learned This Week”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/12-backstory-of-poem-series-angela.html

013 March 24, 2018

Jan Steckel’s “Holiday On ICE”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/13-backstory-of-poem-jan-steckels.html

014 March 31, 2018

Ibrahim Honjo’s “Colors”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/14-backstory-of-poem-ibrahim-honjos.html

015 April 14, 2018

Marilyn Kallett’s “Ode to Disappointment”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/04/15-backstory-of-poem-ode-to_14.html

016 April 27, 2018

Beth Copeland’s “Reliquary”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/04/16-backstory-of-poem-reliquary-by-beth.html

017 May 12, 2018

Marlon L Fick’s “The Swallows of Barcelona”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/05/17-backstory-of-poem-swallows-of.html

018 May 25, 2018

Juliet Cook’s “ARTERIAL DISCOMBOBULATION”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/05/18-backstory-of-poem-arterial.html

019 June 09, 2018

Alexis Rhone Fancher’s “Stiletto Killer. . . A Surmise”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/06/19-backstory-of-poem-stiletto-killer.html

020 June 16, 2018

Charles Rammelkamp’s “At Last I Can Start Suffering”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/06/20-backstory-of-poem-at-least-i-can.html

021 July 05, 2018

Marla Shaw O’Neill’s “Wind Chimes”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/21-backstory-of-poem-wind-chimes-by.html

022 July 13, 2018

Julia Gordon-Bramer’s “Studying Ariel”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/22-backstory-of-poem-studying-ariel-by.html

023 July 20, 2018

Bill Yarrow’s “Jesus Zombie”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/23-backstory-of-poem-jesus-zombie-by.html

024 July 27, 2018

Telaina Eriksen’s “Brag 2016”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/07/24-backstory-of-poem-brag-2016-by.html

025 August 01, 2018

Seth Berg’s “It is only Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/25-backstory-of-poem-it-is-only.html

026 August 07, 2018

David Herrle’s “Devil In the Details”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/26-backstory-of-poem-devil-in-details.html

027 August 13, 2018

Gloria Mindock’s “Carmen Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/27-backstory-of-poem-carmen-polo-lady.html

028 August 21, 2018

Connie Post’s “Two Deaths”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/28-backstory-of-poem-two-deaths-by.html

029 August 30, 2018

Mary Harwell Sayler’s “Faces in a Crowd”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/08/29-backstory-of-poem-faces-in-crowd-by.html

030 September 16, 2018

Larry Jaffe’s “The Risking Point”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/09/30-backstory-of-poem-risking-point-by.html

031 September 24, 2018

Mark Lee Webb’s “After We Drove”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/09/31-backstory-of-poem-after-we-drove-by.html

032 October 04, 2018

Melissa Studdard’s “Astral”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/32-backstory-of-poem-astral-by-melissa.html

033 October 13, 2018

Robert Craven’s “I Have A Bass Guitar Called Vanessa”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/33-backstory-of-poem-i-have-bass-guitar.html

034 October 17, 2018

David Sullivan’s “Paper Mache Peaches of Heaven”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/34-backstory-of-poem-paper-mache.html

035 October 23, 2018

Timothy Gager’s “Sobriety”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/35-backstory-of-poem-sobriety-by.html

036 October 30, 2018

Gary Glauber’s “The Second Breakfast”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/10/36-backstory-of-poem-second-breakfast.html

037 November 04, 2018

Heather Forbes-McKeon’s “Melania’s Deaf Tone Jacket”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/37-backstory-of-poem-melanias-deaf-tone.html

038 November 11, 2018

Andrena Zawinski’s “Women of the Fields”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/38-backstory-of-poem-women-of-fields-by.html

039 November 00, 2018

Gordon Hilger’s “Poe”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/39-backstory-of-poem-poe-by-gordon.html

040 November 16, 2018

Rita Quillen’s “My Children Question Me About Poetry” and “Deathbed Dreams”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/40-backstory-of-poems-my-children.html

041 November 20, 2018

Jonathan Kevin Rice’s “Dog Sitting”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/41-backstory-of-poem-dog-sitting-by.html

042 November 22, 2018

Haroldo Barbosa Filho’s “Mountain”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/42-backstory-of-poem-mountain-by.html

043 November 27, 2018

Megan Merchant’s “Grief Flowers”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/43-backstory-of-poem-grief-flowers-by.html

044 November 30, 2018

Jonathan P Taylor’s “This poem is too neat”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/44-backstory-of-poem-poem-is-too-neat.html

045 December 03, 2018

Ian Haight’s “Sungmyo for our Dead Father-in-Law”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/045-backstory-of-poem-sungmyo-for-our.html

046 December 06, 2018

Nancy Dafoe’s “Poem in the Throat”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/046-backstory-of-poem-poem-registering.html

047 December 11, 2018

Jeffrey Pearson’s “Memorial Day”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/47-backstory-of-poem-memorial-day-by.html

048 December 14, 2018

Frank Paino’s “Laika”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/48-backstory-of-poem-laika-by-frank.html

049 December 15, 2018

Jennifer Martelli’s “Anniversary”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/49-backstory-of-poem-anniversary-by.html

O50 December 19, 2018

Joseph Ross’s “For Gilberto Ramos, 15, Who Died in the Texas Desert, June 2014”

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/50-backstory-of-poem-for-gilberto-ramos.html

051 December 23, 2018

“The Persistence of Music”

by Anatoly Molotkov

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/51-backstory-of-poem-persistence-of.html

052 December 27, 2018

“Under Surveillance”

by Michael Farry

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/52-backstory-of-poem-under-surveillance.html

053 December 28, 2018

“Grand Finale”

by Renuka Raghavan

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/53-backstory-of-poem-grand-finale-by.html

054 December 29, 2018

“Aftermath”

by Gene Barry

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/12/54-backstory-of-poem-aftermath-by-gene.html

055 January 2, 2019

“&”

by Larissa Shmailo

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/55-backstory-of-poem-by-larissa-shmailo.html

056 January 7, 2019

“The Seamstress:

by Len Kuntz

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/56-backstory-of-poem-seamstress-by-len_6.html

057 January 10, 2019

"Natural History"

by Camille T Dungy

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/57-backstory-of-poem-natural-history-by.html

058 January 11, 2019

“BLOCKADE”

by Brian Burmeister

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/58-backstory-of-poem-blockade-by-brian.html

059 January 12, 2019

“Lost”

by Clint Margrave

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/59-backstory-of-poem-lost-by-clint.html

060 January 14, 2019

“Menopause”

by Pat Durmon

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/60-backstory-of-poem-menopause-by-pat.html

061 January 19, 2019

“Neptune’s Choir”

by Linda Imbler

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/61-backstory-of-poem-neptunes-choir-by.html

062 January 22, 2019

“Views From the Driveway”

by Amy Barone

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/62-backstory-of-poem-views-from.html

063 January 25, 2019

“The heron leaves her haunts in the marsh”

by Gail Wronsky

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/63-backstory-of-poem-heron-leaves-her.html

064 January 30, 2019

“Shiprock”

by Terry Lucas
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2019/01/64-backstory-of-poem-shiprock-by-terry_29.html

Sunday, January 27, 2019

#14 INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION: Brian L Tucker's POKEWEED: AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA

Chris Rice Cooper

caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

**Some of the links will have to be copied and then posted in your search engine in order to pull up properly

***The CRC Blog welcomes submissions from published and unpublished fiction genre writers for INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION. Contact CRC Blog via email at caccoop@aol.com or personal Facebook messaging at https://www.facebook.com/car.cooper.7

****Brian L Tucker’s POKEWEED: AN ILLUSTRATED NOVELLA is the fourteenth in a never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt. All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece.

Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? Pokeweed: An Illustrated Novella

Fiction genre? Ex science fiction, short story, fantasy novella, romance, drama, crime, plays, flash fiction, historical, comedy, movie script, screenplay, etc. And how many pages long?

This on is difficult genre to label. It’s an illustrated, historical, YA, coming –of-age novella and clocks in at 119 pages.

Has this been published? And it is totally fine if the answer is no. If yes, what publisher and what publication date? Yes. It was published on September 20, 2018 with Black Rose Writing.

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? Beginning date July 2016. Finish line: March 2018 (publication acceptance letter)

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? Pokeweed began in an odd format-staring with PowerPoint and adding text as the idea developed. Eventually, the file became too large and I moved it over to Word and began shuffling the lengths of chapters around. Then, the idea for illustrations brought appropriate gaps for each scene. I wrote most of Pokeweed on Saturdays at a great coffee shop in the Red Bank neighborhood (near downtown Chattanooga) called The Meeting House.

What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? Coffee was the main fluid I consumed while working on this book. The ‘bottomless” option at The Meeting House is best - $4 for all day, local coffee delivered right to the table. Also, I listened to a lot of the ‘Blues Roots Rock’ playlist on Spotfly as I typed. It being a “western” of sorts, this music really helped me get into the scene better.

What is the summary of this specific fiction work? Pokeweed is a post-Civil War story concerning the life of Ezekiel “Z” Snopes as he seeks to avenge his sister’s death during the bloody spat known as the French-Eversole Feud of eastern Kentucky

Can you give the reader just enough information for them to understand what is going on in the excerpt? Ezekiel “Z” Snopes sister is gone, gunned down by feudists. But, he laments not being able to help her that fateful day. He seeks solace of any kind and is unsure of how to attain it.

Please include the excerpt and include page numbers as reference. The excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer.

Sissy’s grave was no longer yellow with goldenrods. The cool weather,

and the first frost, withered and coaxed the plants to sleep. I visited her on

a Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She was six feet below but felt a million

miles. The Sumner Place grew quiet, and I was glad winter came next. I

knew I should assume caretaker next spring. Sissy deserved that much—a

clean burial plot.

“What was it you said that day, Sissy? Before you…?” (page 18)

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? This happens just before Z Snopes makes a decision that will impact him for the rest of his life. Much like his journey, I felt I was with him while he was struggling to rectify those who’d wronged his family.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. None that I can think of. These were originally added to a Powerpoint drive and I was trying to keep the word count as low as possible. In some ways, I worried that I wouldn’t have enough detail added in the first draft.

Other works you have published?

Swimming the Echo (2017, eLectio Publishing)

WHEELMAN (2015, Vox Dei Publishing)

Baptisms & Dogs: Stories (2014, CreateSpace)

Anything you would like to add? Thank you for reading my words. If you know of teachers looking for historical fiction to share with their middle grad/high school classrooms, be sure to share Pokeweed. It’s one I’m delighted to see/hear of going into the school systems.

Brian L Tucker is from Monticello, Kentucky. His previous novels, Swimming the Echo and Wheelman, were featured on NPR, his story collection, Baptisms & Dogs, was a finalist for the Linda Bruckheimer Literature prize, and one copy currently sits inside Washington D.C.’s historic Marine Barracks Center House. Brian holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Bluegrass Writers Studio (EKU ’12). Visit him at

BrianLTucker.com

INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links

001 11 15 2018 Nathaniel Kaine’s

Thriller Novel

John Hunter – The Veteran

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/001-inside-emotion-of-fiction-nathaniel.html

002 11 18 2018 Ed Protzzel’s

Futuristic/Mystery/Thriller

The Antiquities Dealer

https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/11/002-inside-emotion-of-fiction-ed.html

003 11 23 2018 Janice Seagraves’s

Science Fiction Romance