2ndandChurch.com 2ND & CHURCH Where America’s Writers Read Issue 3: 2013 Weightless: Dr. Rhea Seddon PHYSICIAN, FORMER ASTRONAUT GOES IN DEPTH WITH KORY WELLS The Writer’s Loft THE LITTLE WRITING PROGRAM THAT COULD – AND HAS – FOR A DECADE IN THIS ISSUE The Slaughters: A Literary Partnership Cheekwood: And Her Seven-Story Treehouses Featured Bookshop: Reading Rock Books Les’ is More: Songwriting Dos & Don’ts 2ND & CHURCH 2ND & CHURCH LEFT Photo by Gayle Edlin 2ND & CHURCH Issue 3: 2013 Editor-in-chief Roy Burkhead Fiction editor In this issue Roy Burkhead Poetry editor by Roy Burkhead Alvin Knox 5 A word from the editor 6 Welcome to 2nd & Church Creative director 7 From the Poetry Editor by Alvin Knox Kristy Galbraith Dye 8 How We Become by Bill Brown Factotum 8 Entering the Dark by Rebecca Cook Gayle Edlin 8 The Perfume of Leaving by K.B. Ballentine 9 In Lightning Bugs by Tess Melete Columnists Chuck Beard 9 A poem of questions by Bill Brown Charlotte Rains Dixon 11 Bookends and Beginnings by Chuck Beard Gayle Edlin 12 Literary Treehouses Les Kerr Renaud Rousselot de Saint Céran 14 Welcome to Space by Dr. Rhea Seddon 17 Her Amazing Journey by Kory Wells Contributors 21 Lofty Writers & Poets Engage Middle Tennessee by Amanda Moon 2nd & Church is excited to bring to its readers another collection 22 The Writer’s Loft by Charlotte Rains Dixon of wonderful writers and poets. 25 The Technical Truth of Creative Writing by Gayle Edlin For a complete list of this issue’s 27 Le Petit Prince by Renaud Rousselot de Saint Céran contributors, check out their bios on page 60. 29 To Write from the Heart by Les Kerr 30 A Talk with Jaden Terrell Photographers 32 Reading Rocks Dickson by Suzanne Craig Robertson Gayle Edlin Terry Price 34 Scenic City Poets Abound by K.B. Ballentine 35 Paired Poets at the Corner by Michael Turner Web banner photo 37 A Vagabond Comfort by Christine Dano Johnson Kim Miles 39 A Literary Heritage by Christine Dano Johnson Contact 41 Meeting Michael Morris by Julia Watts For questions regarding 43 Man in the Blue Moon: A Review by Julia Watts 2nd & Church and submissions, please contact us at: 45 A Literary Landscape by Kate Buckley 47 Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge September 1966 by Terry Price 2nd & Church 49 Honky Tonk Girl: A Review by Maggi Vaughn P.O. Box 198156 Nashville, TN. 37129-8156 50 Transcendent Literature by Roy Burkhead [email protected] 52 Declassified: 2012 Tour by Roy Burkhead http://2ndandchurch.com 54 A Summer’s Tale by Amira Ahmetovic 56 A Writer’s Best Friend by Roy Burkhead 59 Nashville Shakespeare Festival: 2012-2013 by Roy Burkhead 60 Meet Our Authors © 2013 2nd & Church. All rights revert to authors. 2ND & CHURCH 3 2ND & CHURCH 2ND & CHURCH LEFT The Tennessee Theatre on Gay Street, Downtown Knoxville (Photo by Gary R. Johnson) bottom Space Shuttle clears the tower (Photo courtesy of NASA) A word from the editor I ’ll never forget the day I saw the space shuttle Challenger explode, or so I thought way back then. It was January 28, 1986, and I was doing jumping jacks on something called, “the grinder,” the concrete-asphalt area at the Naval Training Center (NTC) in Orlando, Florida where we boot- campers did our morning calisthenics workouts. Recruits were under surveillance, and anyone not in motion was verbally…encouraged to begin again. Halfway through the workout, we witnessed the shuttle’s launch, in the east, from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. When it exploded and came apart, we all stopped for a moment, but we were urged aggressively to restart. It wasn’t until later in the day that we under- stood what we had witnessed. In President Reagan’s speech, he said, “We mourn seven heroes…We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers… We’ll with her experiences being married to an astro- novelist Gary Slaughter and his wife Joanne continue our quest in space. There will be more naut (Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson), and with a whole show us how true literary partners behave for shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, lot more. (And for all you agents and editors success. more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers out there, Dr. Seddon is wrapping up final edits The Writer’s Loft over in Murfreesboro is still in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our on her manuscript, and a full book proposal is nurturing writers and poets a decade after its journeys continue.” available upon request.) arrival, and our feature story on Reading Rock It’s been nearly three decades, and often I’ve 2013 is going to be exciting. In addition to Books may just prompt you to head to Dickson, questioned my memory of that cold morning. Dr. Seddon’s wonderful words, we have two Tennessee. And while you’re on the road, keep Memory can often be deceitful and unreliable. more issues this year. Issue 4 will be in June, and going to Knoxville and Chattanooga. Literary Sometimes the memory was clear; other times, it’s our Journalism in Tennessee issue featuring treasures from both cities are included in these it seemed like an old movie that I saw once or a Middle Tennessee journalist John Egerton, and pages. dream. I began to question my recollections of Issue 5 is our Ernest Hemingway issue, and it And no issue of 2nd & Church can be com- the details. Could I have even been able to see hits stands on August 1. plete without some coverage of the Nashville that far away? A comprehensive table of contents for each Shakespeare Festival. This is a large issue full of After talking about the event with former issue is available on our website. In addition to surprises, including a little something special astronaut Rhea Seddon, she reminded me that the literary stories and poetry that you’re accus- at Nashville’s Cheekwood. And before you put I was only about an hour from Cape Canaveral’s tomed to finding in our pages,I ssue 5 begins down this issue, please note our subscription launch site and reassured me that if the day was an expansion of sorts with literary news from page. That’s right! We are now offering readers clear—which it was—then I could have seen La Crosse, Wisconsin; Los Angeles, California; the chance to subscribe! the shuttle’s ascent. Portland, Oregon; Mobile, Alabama; and Wrapping up this issue, I’m reminded of Yep: I remember. Like I said, I’ll never Louisville, Kentucky. all the organizations and individuals who forget the day I saw the space shuttle But that’s the future. Now, it’s time for our continue to support us: a big thanks to eve- Challenger explode. third issue. ryone! We appreciate everything a great deal. It’s fitting that Dr. Seddon’s new book is a Since we last published, we’ve added a Thinking about future issues and plans to come, memoir entitled Weightless: One of America’s location where local readers can grab some I can’t help but give a backwards glance to First Female Astronauts Finds Her Space. She’s copies of 2nd & Church. That literary hotspot is Dr. Seddon’s words and to some of those by allowing us to print an excerpt from her story, East Side Story bookshop, and its owner, Chuck President Reagan, as well: and she’s answering questions that deal with Beard is our newest columnist covering the “The future doesn’t belong to the faint- her being one of NASA’s first female astronauts, local writing and poetry scenes. Award-winning hearted; it belongs to the brave.“ 2ND & CHURCH 5 2ND & CHURCH Welcome to 2nd & Church 2nd & Church is a literary journal by, for, and • Reading Rock Books (Dickson, TN.) engaged, entertained, and provoked? And in about writers and readers. We publish several • The Arts Center of Cannon County turn, how do those writers engage, entertain, issues a year, and readers may download a (Woodbury, TN.) and provoke via their words and phrases? free digital copy and/or purchase a traditional • Winder Binder Gallery & Bookstore These are some of the questions our editors paper copy by visiting us online at http:// (Chattanooga, TN.) seek to answer when selecting work for publica- www.2ndandchurch.com. Own an iPad? If so, tion in 2nd & Church. then do you have the MagCloud app? It’s free Our mission and allows you to download all sorts of FREE O ur goal is to be inclusive of many different Submission guidelines publications, including 2nd & Church! Fire it up types of writers and writing: creative nonfiction, We welcome unsolicited manuscripts, but and search for us. It’s fast, free, and easy. technical writing, literary fiction, W4C, poetry, the expectation is that the work will support As part of our public service mission, we translation, and commercial fiction. our mission. Send up to six poems and/or about make a limited amount of complimentary cop- In addition, 2nd & Church includes brief news 1,000 words of prose. For work over 1,000 words, ies of each print run available at the following and feature stories that explore the creative query first. locations: writing life. We will consider novel excerpts, but the • East Side Story Books (Nashville, TN.) What does it mean for a writer or reader to selection of material must be able to stand • Knox County Public Library (Knoxville, TN.) live a life of fine arts, especially in the 21st cen- alone — be self-contained.