William Spillman, winner of the Roanoke Valley Pen Women's Poetry Contest in 2009, was the guest speaker at the group's May 2010 meeting.
Spillman spoke about the writing process and how he learned to write better poetry through study and persistence. He also read a number of his poems.
Members in attendance included Mary Tousman, Peggy Shifflett, Margaret DuBois, Elena DeRosa, Gail Lambert, Ethel Born, Becky Mushko, Beth Rossi, and Anita Firebaugh.
Margaret DuBois and Becky Mushko.
With permission, the group is pleased to present Mr. Spillman's award-winning poem:
Garden of Stones
By W. B. Spillman, Jr.
This is a garden of stones
whose shadows never touch,
not the long shadows of winter,
not the small shadows
of summer noon.
It began as Japanese,
but its plan decays
as western thoughts intrude.
The wind likes this place
and its unexpected confusions.
I sit on the largest stone
and arrange my thoughts
like the notes of a flute,
no meaning, only emotion.
Twilight joins me.
After awhile,
The world loses color.
