Local sonneteer publishes first collection

Betsy Hughes shares with us this sonnet from “Breaking Weather;” this poem also appeared in the locally published magazine “Mock Turtle Zine” (issue 8).

WITNESS (Moore, Oklahoma, 2013)

By Betsy Hughes

I saw a horse uplifted, fly,

Its moving hooves no longer touching ground

But pawing air, then terror in its eye

Impaled upon a fence as it was downed.

I heard a house confront tornado force,

Complain and groan, collapsing in the yard;

Pried open, twisted — there was no recourse —

Each pane of window shattered into shard.

I felt the helpless heartbeat of the school,

Where backpacks still hung safely in the hall

While students learned how Nature could be cruel

And children’s dreams were crushed beneath the wall.

Still haunted by these images of hell,

I must bear witness and live on to tell.

It happened to be the first snowy day of this season when I chatted with local poet Hughes Hughes about her recently published collection of sonnets, “Breaking Weather.”

The collection organizes her 65 sonnets into four sections, Hughes says, “all with a weather theme — actual weather, and then weather as a symbol of psychological ideas, the arts, and mortality. For example, in the second section, one of the sonnets is about a tree laden with snow, and the question of whether or not the branches will bend or break under the burden.”

Her collection was the 2013 winner of the national Stevens Poetry Manuscript Competition sponsored by The National Federation of State Poetry Societies. The collection was published earlier this year by NFSPS Press. Learn more about the society and how to obtain copies of her collection at http://www.nfsps.com/publication.htm.

Hughes, who resides with her husband in Oakwood, says she grew up all over the east coast because her family moved often due to her father’s work as a minister. A few years after graduating from Vassar College, Hughes moved to Dayton in 1964 with her husband James Hughes; he was one of the founding faculty members of Wright State University. Hughes began teaching English that year at Miami Valley School and retired 30 years later in 1994. She also earned her master of arts degree from the University of Dayton in 1969. The couple’s two children grew up in Oakwood and now reside in Columbus and Marietta.

After retirement, Hughes began focusing on writing poetry. She says she’s written about 200 sonnets since retiring.

“I’ve always been attracted to the sonnet form,” Hughes said. “Even at Vassar, I was teased that perhaps I was being haunted by the spirit of Edna St. Vincent Millay, a great sonneteer, because I admired her work so much. As a teacher, I certainly enjoyed teaching sonnets. As a poet, I love the challenge of embracing an idea within the discipline of a form. If you read sonnets aloud, you’ll find that the iambic pentameter rhythm sounds very natural.”

Occasionally, Hughes writes in free verse, and says her husband, also a poet, prefers to write in free verse.

“We have spirited discussion about form versus free verse, and we’re always exchanging ideas about types of poems,” she said.

She and her husband have moderated courses in literature, creative writing and the arts for UD’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Hughes belongs to the Wright Library Poets in Oakwood and the Poetry Circle of Dayton.

She says it’s important for anyone interested in writing sonnets to “read, read, read other sonneteers — both the classical ones and the modern ones. Really learn the form… and fall in love with it!”

Hughes is currently at work on sonnets for a new collection which she says will focus on birds, bird imagery, and birds as symbols.

Upcoming literary events:

• Tuesday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m., Books & Co. at The Greene — Bestselling author Richard Paul Evans will introduce his latest novel, "The Mistletoe Promise."

• Saturday, Dec. 6, 2-4 p.m., 2nd & Charles in Town & Country Shopping Center, "Suspense Unwrapped" Authors' Panel — Five area authors will share the twists and tangles of their thrilling Young Adult novels — Mindee Arnett, Jody Casella, Liz Coley, Kristina McBride and Natalie Richards. The panel will include a book signing, a question-and-answer session, and more.

• Congratulatory shout outs to several local writers: