07.10.08
Meeting a fellow poet and mentor.
Today I had the good fortune to meet a good friend for the first time, Christine. I first met Christine Klocek-Lim last summer online at Poets org. Christine was the Administrator of the Poetry Forum, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets for three years. In August of last year, she sent me a message asking if I would like to become a Moderator for the 101 Poetry Workshop Forum. To say I was blown away would be an understatement – humbled to say the least. After thinking long and hard about it, I decided to accept.
Over the past eleven months, we have become friends and have talked about meeting for lunch, but something always came up, and we had to cancel. Christine invited me to her house, and after a tour of her home, we sat down for a lunch of tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil salad, served with a light balsamic vinegar dressing, and brewed iced tea. It was a perfect light meal for a comfortably warm summer day, and before I realized it, I had eaten three servings.
After lunch, we moved to her large covered deck overlooking her side and back yard. In large wooden barrels placed in the sun, zucchini, peas, green beans, parsley, and tomatoes grew. For the next three hours, we sat and talked about our lives, writing, poetry, and how they influenced and were influenced by each other. You can read Christine’s online poetry journal at Autumn Sky Poetry.
We both realized how similar our lives have been, and I gained a much deeper respect and admiration for her as a human being. During this time, Christine served fresh blueberries with home-made whipped cream. The blueberries were the sweetest I have ever eaten. I could have spent several more hours talking, but I had to leave at 4:30 to avoid the rush hour traffic on the major roads during my drive home.
During the hour long drive, I thought about poetry and what we talked about. I think there are a few poems brewing now, and I look forward to the time when they decide to reveal themselves to me.
Thank you, Christine, for a most pleasant visit.
O.P.W.
chrissiemkl said,
July 13, 2008 at 7:45 pm
O.P.W.,
The pleasure was all mine. Thank you so much for driving up and spending the afternoon with me. 🙂
-Christine