Friday from the Archives: Two poems accompanying “Weymouth: A Writer’s Place—From Thomas Wolfe to Tom Wolfe” by Bertie E. Fearing from NCLR 3 (1994)
NCLR enjoyed attending the biennual North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last month, held at the beautiful Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines.
Bertie Fearing wrote a brief overview of Weymouth’s history for our 1994 issue. “Since 1979, Weymouth Center has also been a retreat for writers in residency – reflecting “the spirit of the lively literary life” of the Boyds, “who entertained the literary stars of their time at Weymouth” (Weymouth Center). The first Weymouth Center writer-in-residence was Guy Owen, who was joined that first week in 1979 by Agnes McDonald and Betty Adcock. Since then, hundreds of writers from across North Carolina and the nation have come to visit and to write – to partake of the tradition, peace, beauty, and inspiration that is Weymouth.”
She also included two poems, published by Weymouth, by two acclaimed NC poets: “Late Snow” by Mary Kratt (Charlotte) and “Summer Night” by Ellen Turlington Johnston-Hale (Durham).
Summer Night
When sleep won’t come,
sit outside on terrace stoop,
hear the tree frogs
sing midnight cacophonies,
accompanied by cricket chorus
and soft percussions –
willows sweeping,
rustled by a restless wind.
When sleep won’t come,
walk around this sprawling house
on gentle paths
and watch a radiant half-moon
climbing, climbing slowly up
through the branches of a pine
to the top, then pulling free
like some glowing, graceful dove.
When sleep won’t come,
find a place by pillared porch,
listen, then, for the ghosts
of Thomas Wolfe, Paul Green, the ones
who walked by night when sleep came hard,
and watched this moon,
this Weymouth moon.
Read both the essay and the poems on Gale Cengage or purchase a copy of the 1994 issue.
