Missouri Writers Hall of Fame inducts Susan Croce Kelly - another KHS65 STAR

 

Yet another member of KHS65 shows our class to be one top-notch group of aging baby boomers yet again!!!  We just ROCK!  Thank you Susan for always being smart, creative and such a great credit to us in Kirkwood and in Missouri! Best wishes for all you do!!!

On Sept. 30, journalist and Route 66 historian Susan Croce Kelly will be inducted into the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame during a special online edition of the organization’s annual Quill Gala. The award will be presented during a virtual ceremony that will feature a live roundtable discussion with Kelly. Kelly is the prize-winning author of two important books of Route 66 history: “Route 66: The Highway and Its People,” and “Father of Route 66: the Story of Cy Avery,” both published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Today her work is focused on Ozarks history and culture: she is managing editor of OzarksWatch Magazine, published by the Ozarks Studies Institute of Missouri State University, and she is working on final edits on “Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks,” a biography of long-time twentieth century reporter Lucile Morris Upton, which will be published by the University of Arkansas Press. “We are proud to recognize Susan for her storytelling career and her contributions to the written word,” says Randy Berger, president of Missouri Writers Hall of Fame. “Her work will stand as an inspiration to a new generation of writers who will use their talents to tell the stories of our region. We are honored to celebrate her legacy and her ties to Missouri.”

 This year’s event will be broadcast live on Zoom at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 30. Viewers can join at this link (https://missouristate.zoom.us/j/94190328635), which will also be available on Missouri Writers Hall of Fame’s Facebook page. The Quill event raises funds for college scholarships for talented high school seniors. This year’s event is free to view and donations are encouraged. Donations can be made during the broadcast, or any time, at this link: https://cfozarks.org/writers You can also donate by mailing a check to Missouri Writers Hall of Fame at 411 N. Sherman Pkwy., Springfield, MO 65802. For more information, please contact Randy Berger at randybergerpr@gmail.com or 417-818-0494.

 About Missouri Writers Hall of Fame: Established in 1994, Missouri Writers Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit organization that encourages writers of all ages. Proceeds from various events fund college scholarships for talented high school seniors and recognizes students in grades 5 through 12 for their writing skills. To fulfill its mission, the volunteer board of directors each year selects a Missouri professional writer to receive the Quill Award for making significant contributions to the written word. Past Quill Award recipients include young adult authors Sandy Asher and Kate Klise; producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason; children’s author and poet David Harrison, songwriter Johnny Mullins and novelists Daniel Woodrell and Ridley Pearson. ###

Alan Yount says Happy Birthday so eloquently!

 Alan sent me this one and I copied it so I could put it out here, then read the next one he sent and was so shocked by his recent brush with death I forgot that not long before his near-fatal heart attack, he'd celebrated his 74th birthday!  I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do, me who basically hates poetry, as I've posted before, BUT his nearly always pulls at my very limited poetry strings!  Thanks Alan!!!

.

Happy Birthday, Finally
……………..“For My Seventy-Fourth”
……………..“June 6, 2021.”

it still seems
……………..amazing to me

I try to play
……………..the trumpet everyday

and can still make it
……………..to high “c.”

*****

awhile back
……………..I had my old horn

professionally cleaned
……………..& worked on.

it’s so good to play on it
……………..looking forward.

it seems now there is
……………..no more old arthritis in the slides

and the sticking values
……………..are all fixed.

*****

I now feel I still have
……………..some more notes to play!

and feel, also for sure
……………..now I have

just a few more poems
……………..to play & sing out high, like high “c.”

.Postscript: A very sincere birthday wish. My hope, is a wish for a lot
of people, who survived the virus era. Those that made it both mentally and physically. And now the wish is, they all feel a lot better, finally!.

by Alan Yount

Poet Laureate Alan Yount, aka Yount the Count, honored by his son after serious illness

 

Poems by Alan Yount and Arlan Yount

September 16th, 2021

.

photo from PxHere

.

___

.You Almost Did Not: Come Back

…………….For The Memory Of Miles Davis Playing Trumpet
Around St. Louis, Early On

.a strange caribbean woman
………….kneeled down
very close to me,
………….in my hospital recovery bed.

she seemed very animated
………….also even sensory
she gradually came closer
………….as she put her face next to mine.

was she possessed
………….she was shaking
as if on
………….a séance.

“I have heard,”
………….she said
“and have seen …”
………….“you came back,”
“for sure …”
………….“I can feel it so … real.”

“this is something,”
………….“I know.”

*****

.she said
………….“the rumor has it,”
“that you,”
………….“came back to life,”
“for some reason.”

she said with emphasis
………….“that you came back,”
“from the dead.”

I said
………….“I believe,”
“that has been said,”
………….“a couple of times before.”

.*****

.she said, quite emphatically
………….and again forcefully
“you should do something,”
………….“to change your life.”

“you go,”
………….“make a difference,”
“upon,”
………….“your return.”

.

*****

.

“you owe,”
………….“all of us,”
“this one thing,”
………….“from you.”

she said, for example
………….“find a trumpet song,”
“to play out”
………….“from your soul.”

“that is just your own trumpet,”
………….“sounding out,”
“above the heights of the city’s rooftops,”
………….“from the city,”
“from all of us in st. louis,”
………….“ we all know so well.”

.

by Alan Yount

..___

..A Tool Of Reconstruction

See my son
The fortune of bliss
Capturer of light
Alone and dismissed

My structure of being
A heart rupture – equip
A new mode of understanding
Alone and dismissed

Symphony and orchestra
My band’s melodic attempt
Salvation please save me
Act on a whim

Capture his essence
Capture his light
Don’t you dismiss me – because of the fright you put in the night
Now pick up and play the trumpet, if it is alright

.

by Arlan Yount

.

Editor’s Note:

In addition to being a published poet of note for over 50 years, Alan Yount plays trumpet and has led his own dance band. During the summer of 2021, he had an aortic tear and other health complications that required emergency open heart surgery. During the experience he had a dream of Miles Davis.

Shortly after receiving Alan Yount’s poem, I received a poem from his son Arlan, who is not a poet but was moved to write “A Tool Of Reconstruction” after his father’s health crisis. He hopes the poem will help inspire his father to continue playing his trumpet.

.

.

___

.

.

Alan Yount has published poetry for over 50 years. His poems have appeared in WestWard Quarterly (featured poet for summer, 2018). Big Scream, Spring: the Journal of the E.E. Cummings Society, and Waterways. He has been in three anthologies: Passionate Hearts, Sunflowers.and Locomotives: Songs for Allen Ginsburg. Alan was one of 31 poets, along with Gary Snyder and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Also Chrysalis Reader. Alan plays trumpet and has led his own dance band.....

Arlan Yount has a degree in psychology and is currently furthering his education. Writing poetry and short stories illuminates his time as a leisurely passion while also focusing on the fitness, health and psychological well-being of himself and others as a behavioral-fitness coach. He currently resides in Columbia, Missouri and be reached at arlanyount@gmail.com or on Instagram at arlanyount