The Brainerd Writers' Alliance

A year ago I met a couple of the members of the Brainerd Writers' Alliance, and I was pleased when they invited me to be one of the judges in their annual contest and to offer a workshop prior to this year's awards ceremony. Meeting the entire group yesterday was at once heartening and humbling. BWA is an impressive group. Many of the members are well published, all are talented, thoughtful, and entirely supportive of one another. I was reminded of the stories we hear of famous writing clubs from the past, ones like the Kalem Club attended by H. P. Lovecraft.

On Saturday morning I led a discussion of the murky concept of "voice" in poetry and narration. In the afternoon, awards were presented and some of the writers mentioned read their entries. The M. C. was Candace Simar, whose new novel Abercombe Trail is quickly gaining attention.

In the afternoon, a poem by Roy C. Booth and two narrative poems by Naomi Phillips were honored. Naomi's "Marriage" deals with the many years of a marriage flawed by a fundamental misunderstanding, and "A Crystal Ball" describes a scene in a nursing home, reminding us of how much more there is to do in helping the elderly end life with dignity.

In the category of memoir, award winners Bev Abear and Luke Anderson read there works. Bev's piece, "Time to Make the Call," offered a dramatic picture of how a family of deep religious faith dealt with the death of a loved one, while Luke Anderson's "Polio" described his own encounter with that disease in childhood. I was moved by Luke's piece because it brought me back to my childhood. As my mother finished nursing school, I lived for a time with a grandfather who was a small-town doctor. Polio was a constant presence, both in talk at home and in our knowledge of the child down the block who had died, of someone's cousin in the next town who struggled about on crutches, and of the cruel possibility of a shortened life in an iron lung. Luke evoked those days and reminded us of the great gratitude we owe to medical science for ridding our own children of the haunting specter of polio.

Fiction awards went to Roy C. Booth (again) for a chapter in a novel in progress, "The Loyal Sailor and the Titan," and to Judy Merrit for a chapter of her developing novel, "Ghost Dance." I regret that my weakening hearing and Judy's soft voice conspired to edit some of her presentation, but what I heard had a haunting beauty. I'm glad she has agreed to email it to me.

I came home with Candace's novel and with an anthology edited by Charmaine Pappas Donovan (and others). Candace's Abercombie Trail deals with nineteenth-century immigrant life on the Great Plains, while County Lines contains poems by residents of each of Minnesota's 87 counties. I look foreward to reading these and will probably say more about them later.

BWA is everything a writing group should be, packed with talented people who are at ease with (and supportive of) one another. Not an easy mix to find. I hope to get over to Brainerd from time to time. It's 100 miles away, but hey, Roy also drives 100 miles to participate, which is more testimony to the great things happening there. If he can do it, I can.