Mt. Pleasant Scribblers meet at Presbyterian Church

The regional writers’ group, Mt. Pleasant Scribblers, met on a frigid Monday, January 20, 2025, at 1:00 in the gathering space of the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church, 902 S. Walnut Street.

Martha Wiley challenged each member to write a poem to share at a Poetry Slam. This would be all in fun, but we would invite an outside “judge.” The party would have an old-time beatnik theme. Those present agreed that April would be a good month to try this. She started by reading her latest poem about inspiration, “Grab It by the Tail Feathers.”

Kathy Wiley had written a sonnet to go with a Susie Kropa commissioned painting that Kathy has hanging in her home. Susie went with Kathy to a childhood sanctuary, Daisy Creek, to begin sketching for the finished work. The poem celebrated warm childhood memories.

“History of My Life in Scars,” by Marilyn Vincent cataloged the scars from cuts, accidents, and surgery. Damage after a fall in Jerusalem was the climax for her trip to the Holy Land. All of these were reminders of her life-events.

Rita Davis shared “What Can I Get in 15 Minutes,” written after her phone call to a friend from Los Angeles. As fires raced along, pushed by the Santa Ana winds, her friend wakened at 4 AM by a pounding on the door. Everyone in the house had to evacuate ahead of the flames. They were given the message to be up and out in 15 minutes. Rita also passed around printouts of lists she found on the web of items people might like to consider putting in a GO BAG. Important documents and irreplaceable items could be grabbed in an instant.

Suzy Pool read three pieces for the group.“The Calling” was her pondering how bringing her children to church, complete with cascading Cheerios, may have been some of her purpose in life.“Once upon a Time” was a short remembrance of a grandma. The poem written for January of this year at the historical museum described the travels a steamer trunk that came across the ocean with an immigrant.

Claudia Streeter gave each person a copy of everyone’s personal writing history. This can be kept with our recent anthology. As much as we love the past, she challenged us all to think ahead to the rest of 2025 and what will be new.

Martha finished the meeting by asking people to listen to a reading from “Don’t Topple Over.” We expect this book to be published by MowTomorrowBooks in the spring. It will be part of the “Kids on the Move” series available on Amazon.

Scribblers are pleased to welcome new members who are interested in being part of a group, sharing efforts in the craft of writing. The meeting will be in the gathering space of the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church, 902 S. Walnut at 1:00 PM, Monday, February 17.

For more information, contact Karen Osborne, 319-367-5586.