Verbatim - LSUA and CENLA Celebrate National Poetry Month

Jerry Honigman

An Alexandria native, Jerry Honigman moved to Los Angeles in 1977 to pursue a career in music. He formed the band, The Romeos, and by 1979 had secured a recording contract with CBS/Columbia Records. After years of writing and recording, Honigman returned to Louisiana and earned a law degree in his early forties. A recovering attorney, he continues to write and has had many songs placed in television shows and movies. He is now doing freelance content writing and is currently working on a compilation of stories about his days in California.

Regarding this particular piece, Honigman says he was living in North Hollywood in ’78 and working on the material for the Romeos’ first album and keeping up with the goings-on back home through the entertainment section of the Advocate and the cultural paper, “Gris Gris.” As he explains, “Everything was Louisiana-centric, bordering on Louisiana cliché. So, one day, I took all the images associated with our wonderful state and sorta turned them on their heads.”

• Going Home to Die in Louisiana

Alecia Lewis

In addition to creating poetry, Alecia Lewis has worked her magic on stage, behind the scenes, and front of house for various local theater groups. She also serves as a board member and front of house coordinator for City Park Players front of house coordinator and is a board member. She is the production administrator for Safety Management International.

• The Artifact

Dr. Thomas Smith

Thomas S. Smith, Sr., Ph. D., an independent K-16 educator, grant writer, tutor, and author, retired from a 33-year career in the Avoyelles Parish Public Schools in central Louisiana and 7 years as full-time faculty at Baker College of Auburn Hills (MI). He was a high school teacher of English and social studies; assistant principal at Hessmer High, Riverside Elementary, and Bunkie High; principal at Lafargue High and Bunkie Middle; and district office English/Social Studies Resource Teacher/Grants Coordinator. He served as an adjunct for Northwestern State University, LSU at Alexandria, Central Texas College, Baker College of Clinton Township (MI), MaComb Community College (MI), University of Phoenix (MI), Madonna University (MI), and Baker College of Auburn Hills (MI). Smith holds a BA in Social Studies/English Education from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, a MEd in School Administration from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, a MA in American History from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and a PhD in education curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. He has presented at Louisiana education state conferences, Michigan education state conferences, regional education conferences. and national education conferences. Smith has self-published eight books—the JUST A PIECE OF RED STRING historical (Civil War) fiction seven-novel series and THE O’SUILLEABHAIN MANUSCRIPTS, a collection of many genres (including poetry). He has two works on Amazon’s Kindle Vella—COSMIC VISITANTS, a novel about space visitors, and THE PARAPROSDOKIAN SHOP, a Lovecraftian and Serling-ish related story collection still in progress.

• Paige . . . Baby . . .

Chester Mealer

Chester Mealer has lived in central

Louisiana for over thirty years, originally from California.

• The Rose of Mexicali

Timberly Deville

• This is Just a Poem

Greg Hall

• Say Stay

Shelley Jinks Johnson

Shelley Jinks Johnson is a poet, entrepreneur, and performer from Alexandria, LA. A 2022 Bread Loaf Writer's Conference contributor, her background is in business start-ups and brand building while juggling various creative pursuits.  Her work grapples with themes of death, acceptance, self-discovery, and how to find meaning in life after loss. She has discovered that living a life of creativity is the best way of building a life of value rooted in joy and gratitude. 

• Thrum Song
• My Problem with Job, Part 1

Muse Watson

Alexandria, Louisiana native Muse Watson is an established stage actor and veteran screen performer with a host of widely varying characters to his name, ranging from the hook-wielding killer in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" (1997), to the gentle, cat-loving con in the Fox television suspense drama "Prison Break" (2005). From the good ole boy, Hank, in the Julia Roberts drama "Something to Talk About" to the quick to shoot mentor Mike Franks in "NCIS". Fifty five movies and over fifty five episodes of TV and Muse is going strong. His theater credits include Hamlet in "Hamlet", Stanley in "A Streetcar Named Desire", Pale in "Burn This", Cervantes in "Man of La Mancha", and directing "Ain't MisBehavin". Muse also gave an unforgettable performance with Jennifer Love Hewitt as a special guest on Saturday Night Live. Muse and his wife and daughter now divide their time between their home in Berea, Ky. and their "hide-out" in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.

• Spring

James Harmon Clinton

James Harmon Clinton is the pen name for an elusive public policy wonk practicing a medieval dark art he refers to as "economic development." His poetry is similarly shady despite weak links in the publishing industry allowing his work to slip through sub-surface cracks and into what might be called "print" (or not). He is the father of four sons (not seven as has been rumored in song), a four-time grandfather, and the spouse of a red-headed woman who knows how to get a dirty job done. Touch him for good luck.

• Safeway Cart
• American Motors

Beverly Easterling

A native of Kansas City, KS, Beverly Easterling is a lyricist and poet living in Alexandria, LA with husband, Gray Easterling. Her collaborations with composers Robert J. Powell, Mark Schweizer, Arlen Clarke are favorites at St. James Music Press. Her work is published in Voices Found, the hymnal for Women’s Ministry in the Episcopal Church.

• Catahoula Drive By
• Seeking

David Atwood

David Atwood is a native New Orleanian, poet, and voice actor living in Alexandria, LA with his wife, writer Christee Gabour Atwood. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from LSU and has worked in radio in Baton Rouge, Atlanta and currently in Alexandria. His first chapbook of poetry “Find Your Way Home” was released in 2010, his second, “Catfish Bones and Cajun Ghosts,” in 2016 and “Instamatic” in 2022. Atwood has also been published in The Louisiana Review, The Raven Review, Delta Poetry Review, Louisiana Literature, The Aquila Review, Belle Journal, Verbatim, MockingHeart Review, and The Stillwater Review.

• The Bridge Builder
• The Flower You Know

Mary F. Striegel

Mary F. Striegel is a retired art conservation scientist from the National Park Service. Since the age of seven, Mary has written and performed poetry. She was part of the Los Angeles Poetry Ensemble from 1989 to 1995 with Ann Braeff, Ellyn Maybe, Gwynne Garfinkle, and Christa Polkinhorn.

• Meteorite
• The Great American Elm

Carolyn Breedlove

Carolyn Breedlove edited and annotated A Glorious Day: The Journal of a Central Louisiana Governess, 1853-1854. Her poems have appeared in Comstock Review, Wisconsin Review, New Millennium Writings, and Maple Leaf Rag, among others. Finishing Line Press published a chapbook of her poems, Just Following the River. The critic and author David Ulin selected an excerpt from her unpublished novel set in 1970s Los Angeles as “Best in Show: Literary,” in the Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s 2019 Critical Mass competition.

• O Fish
• Event Horizon

Faith Tupper

Faith Tupper has been a teacher in Rapides Parish for ten years. She attended Louisiana State University at Alexandria, where she earned her Bachelors of Arts in English with a minor in Secondary Education and was a member of student government as well as Sigma Tau Delta. Upon graduating, she began her teaching career at Rapides High in Lecompte, Louisiana, where she filled many roles in addition to being an English teacher. In 2014, she was a recipient of the Belfer Award for Educators given by the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. In 2015, she was named the Alexandria Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year. In 2016, she was a recipient of the Golden Apple Award as well as named Teacher of the Year for Rapides High School.

She earned her Masters in Educational Leadership from Northwestern State University in 2017 and was a member of the Louisiana Honor Society Phi Kappa Phi. In 2019, she began teaching at her alma mater Pineville High School, and is where she currently teaches and has been a top 5 finalist for Teacher of the Year for 2022 and 2023. She currently serves as a Task Force Team Member for Rapides Parish School Board. Beyond teaching, Faith spends her time with her husband and their 3 children whether it’s taking trips or attending one of the kids’ ball games or finding adventure in the backyard.

• An Old-Fashioned Two Moms
• The Look

Jennifer Earnest-King

Jennifer Earnest-King is a lifelong resident of Louisiana and is a graduate of LSUA. She has worked for the Rapides Parish Library for fifteen years. She has been published in the Southwestern Review and the Jongleur. Her writing is sporadic at best.

• This Part No Longer Fits

Thomas S. Smith, Sr., PhD

Thomas S. Smith, Sr., PhD, is an independent K-16 educator, grant writer, tutor, speaker, and author, retired after serving 33-years as an educator in Avoyelles Parish Public Schools and 7 years as a full-time education faculty member at Baker College of Auburn Hills in Michigan. Smith earned a BA from UL-Monroe, a MEd and MA from LSU, and a PhD from the University of New Orleans. He has presented at Louisiana and Michigan education conferences, plus regional and national education conferences.

Smith has self-published ten books—seven in the JUST A PIECE OF RED STRING novel series, THE O SUILLEABHAIN MANUSCRIPTS, COSMIC VISITANTS, and THE PARAPROSDOKIAN SHOP. He is a Goethe Institut Inter Nationes Trans-Atlantic Outreach Program Fellow, a United States Institute of Peace Summer Institute for Secondary Teachers Fellow, and a Council for Basic Education’s Independent Study in the Humanities Fellow. Smith was selected as the Rapides Parish Library Cenla Author of the month of September in 2023.

• After the Funeral

Jeanni Ritchie

Jeanni Ritchie is a freelance journalist and author from Alexandria, Louisiana. A former educator, she is a graduate of Bolton High School and LSU. She has four grown children. Her love of teaching and all things juvenile spurred her to get a Master’s Degree in Education while living in Oklahoma.

Promoting mental health positivity, heritage preservation, and equal rights for all citizens, she strives to use her voice for change. Writing from the intersection of community, faith, and pop culture, she is also a Tiktok creator and can be found at tiktok.com/@jeanniritchie. She is a lifelong theatre fan, pizza aficionado, arts- in-education supporter, and perennial Peter Pan. If she’s not at her desk writing, she’s likely on a playground swing or crossing something off her bucket list.

• Spring

Lafe Jones

Lafe Jones is the Vice President of Louisiana Central, the regional economic development organization for the 10-parish central Louisiana region. He brings more than 35 years of business planning, marketing, and management experience to the organization.

Lafe Jones grew up in Avoyelles Parish and later attended LSU of Alexandria before transferring to LSU-Baton Rouge where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in mass communication. He earned an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 1997 and was named a Senior Practitioner of the Southern Public Relations Federation in 1998. He also won the Public Relations Association of Louisiana (PRAL) state Professional Achievement Award that same year. Jones is an avid country music fan, enjoys great art, theater, literature, and movies, and is married to Evelyn Jones. They live in Alexandria and have two grown children and two granddaughters.

• 13 Pictures

Kate Hodnett

Kate Hodnett is a Cenla native and an LSUA alumni. She has had nonfiction short stories published 4 separate times in the National Best-Selling Book Series "Chicken Soup for the Soul." She was voted as one of Louisiana's Best Emerging Poets for 2 consecutive years through ZPublishing House.

• the Letter to my Therapist
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• The Great Migration

F.E. Sterling

After 35+ years working in the Mental-Health field, as a MS Behaviorist-Psychologist, F. E. Sterling threw in the towel and retired. During those rewarding years, most every word he put to the page was, by necessity, scientifically based—until another necessity required that he employ a different language to address what Behaviorists rarely talk about the inner workings of the “black box”. Since then, he’s had works published in New Voices In Poetry and Prose, Mobius, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken and Louisiana Review.

• Mabinogion Appended
• Field of Dreams

Mary F. Striegel

Mary F. Striegel is a retired art conservation scientist from the National Park Service. Since the age of seven, Mary has written and performed poetry. She was part of the Los Angeles Poetry Ensemble from 1989 to 1995 with Ann Braeff, Ellyn Maybe, Gwynne Garfinkle, and Christa Polkinhorn.

• My Wandering Man
• The Artist

Richard Moriarty

Richard Moriarty is 86 years old, still working every day, as a manager for the same employer with whom he has been employed for now going on 65 years. [The oldest tenured employee in the history of the firm.
He has been awarded every honor that a person could possibly achieve in business: Who’s Who in Government, Who’s Who in Finance & Industry, Who’s Who in America, the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award [with special citation], and twice received the Charles Dunbar Public Service Award, as well as the Service Above Self award from the Lecompte Rotary Club. In addition, elected the Senior Warden of St. James Episcopal Church in Alexandria.

• The Goodness of God

Billy K. Craig

Billy K. Craig is a lifelong resident of Rapides Parish, living between Pineville and Kolin. He started writing poetry and songs around the age of 15. He also dabbled in art, painting, and drawing and ended up detailing steel (drafting structural steel for commercial buildings).
His current influences are Billy Collins, Kay Ryan, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Charles Butkowski. His older influences are Emily Bronte, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Percy Bysshe Shelly, and Robert Frost.

• IN A CATS EYE
• ONCE WE