Tag: Marc Harshman

W.Va. Students To Read ‘Fallingwater’ In All 55 Counties This Week

West Virginia authors Anna Egan Smucker and Marc Harshman, the state’s poet laureate, wrote a children’s book titled, “Fallingwater: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece.”

A home built directly into the mountains, just over the state line in Pennsylvania, has become one of the most famous houses in the world. It’s known as Fallingwater and was designed by the master architect Frank Lloyd Wright. 

West Virginia authors Anna Egan Smucker and Marc Harshman, the state’s poet laureate, wrote a children’s book about the house called Fallingwater: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece. It tells the story of how Wright’s career was nearly done. There was even a rumor going around that he was dead. But then Edgar Kaufmann, of Kaufmann Department store fame, asked him to build him a home. 

This story is, of course, about more than the building of a house. It’s about creativity and imagination. Those are the story lines that make it perfect for a children’s book. 

West Virginia Public Broadcasting is featuring the story in the Mountain Readers Become Leaders program to celebrate and foster a love of reading in children across West Virginia. The program launched this week.

Harshman and Smucker knew they wanted to tell the story, but it took them several attempts to decide just how to tell it. 

“As I recall, and we were just chatting,” Harshman said. “We discovered that we both had this passion for the house known as Fallingwater. We came at it from different angles, but we shared this love of the house.”

Smucker remembers it the same way. 

“We just happened to be talking on the phone one day, and I don’t know who brought up that they had just visited Fallingwater,” she said. “But then the other one said, ‘Well, I had too.’ And so I thought, ‘Is that a possibility for a book? And if so, should we try to work on one together?’”

Smucker and Harshman had traveled in the same literary circles for a while but this was the first time they worked together. They described three tries on the manuscript before they found the perfect way to tell this story. 

“I don’t know who wrote the very, very first draft, but whoever it was, would have written it, and sent it by electronic email to the other one,” Harshman said. “Let’s say Anna wrote the first draft, she sent it to me and I would tweak whatever she had written, add some things, maybe subtract some things, send it back to her. And we must have exchanged easily 50 or 60 versions. And there were dramatic differences.”

Smucker explained that the original versions of the book started out with a fictional child character. 

“The first story, we had created a fictional character Daniel, whose father is employed as one of the workers to build Fallingwater,” Smucker said. “It got so confusing that we just had to throw that story away, even though we’d worked on it for a while. So then we created another fictional character, Amelia, whose father also worked at Fallingwater. But Amelia dreamed of flying. That story is in this third story, that is the book Fallingwater. So finally, we’ve realized that the main character was the house. So we threw out our fictional characters and focused on the house.”

There were some parallels between what Smucker and Harshman did and the work between Wright and Kaufmann. In the case of the architect and the client, Wright spent nearly a year visiting the proposed construction site for the house before he even started to draw up plans. 

“I think Frank Lloyd Wright’s whole thing was, a building of any sort should look as if it had grown right out of the ground that it was situated on,” Smucker said. “And it does seem like his very first visit to Bear Run he looked at that outcropping. And it almost seems like right away he knew that was the heart of the house. And it turned out that that rock is the hearth of the house.”

For Harshman, the relationship between the two men speaks to the creative process in general. 

“Speaking for myself, it is important to work hard, as I’m quite sure Wright did throughout his career, but also important to leave space for the dreaming time,” Harshman said. “Imagine that vision. Just to look out the window, and let things ferment for a while. The dreaming portion of the creation was essential, but Wright was also a genius. And so where it might have taken someone years of sketching, he did a lot of dreaming, and then could condense that in just a matter of hours into the rough draft on his blueprints and, and thus, the house emerged on paper.”

More than 400 copies of the book Fallingwater: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece have been sent around the state and volunteers are reading it in classrooms in every county in West Virginia this week. An estimated 18,000 children will hear the story in person. 

ZMM Architect and Engineers donated the books for the project. Adam Krason is one of the principals of the firm and he said just about anyone with an interest can become an architect. It’s a mixture of hard work and creativity. 

“When I graduated from high school, I had an interest in art and I had an interest in math,” Krason said. “And for some reason, that combination leads people to say you should be an architect or an engineer.” 

Krason said he admires Wright for his ability to adapt his work and to deliver what his clients wanted. 

“His career was very interesting in that he was able to design buildings, not only throughout the country, but throughout the world,” he said. “And one thing I appreciate about Frank Lloyd Wright is, although he’s associated very often with a prairie style of house, from his early career, there was no defined style when we talk about an architect really delivering the vision of his client. I mean, Fallingwater has nothing to do with the Guggenheim. And if you look at his prairie style houses, or the work he did in Japan, there might be some similarities, but in every case, he really made an effort to design what his client wanted. And that’s what I really appreciated about Frank Lloyd Wright.”

Classrooms and libraries can visit the Mountain Readers Become Leaders page at wvpublic.org to watch members of the West Virginia Public Broadcasting staff and the book’s authors read Fallingwater: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece.

Tax Cuts And State Poet Laureate Talks Career On This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, the biggest story to watch at the West Virginia Legislature this week will be proposed tax cuts. Last Friday, WVPB‘s Chris Schulz and Curtis Tate sat down with Leah Willingham from the Associated Press for a reporter roundtable on The Legislature Today.

On this West Virginia Morning, the biggest story to watch at the West Virginia Legislature this week will be proposed tax cuts. Last Friday, WVPB‘s Chris Schulz and Curtis Tate sat down with Leah Willingham from the Associated Press for a reporter roundtable on The Legislature Today.

Also, in this show, Marc Harshman has published more than 15 books and served as West Virginia’s poet laureate for 10 years. His latest poetry collection is called “Dark Hills of Home.” Inside Appalachia Producer Bill Lynch recent spoke with Harshman about poetry and his long tenure as the poet laureate.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

A KY Comedian Ducks A Flying Bottle And A Talk With The WV Poet Laureate

For working comedians, mean-spirited hecklers are part of the job. But what happens when someone gets angry enough to throw a beer? And, West Virginia poet laureate Marc Harshman had his own experience with an intimidating gig. We also hear some advice for people caring for aging relatives. You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

For working comedians, mean-spirited hecklers are part of the job. But what happens when someone gets angry enough to throw a beer?

And, West Virginia poet laureate Marc Harshman had his own experience with an intimidating gig.

We also hear some advice for people caring for aging relatives.

You’ll hear these stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.

In This Episode:

Kentucky Comedian Ducks A Heckler And Catches Fame

Catching a break in comedy can take years, decades — sometimes never. Usually, stand up comedians slowly work their way up from open mics and local bars — to the grind of touring on the club circuit.

But getting a spot on a late night talk show? That could be a career launcher — leading to a better spot on club shows, national tours and — every once in a while — real stardom.

Kentucky comedian Ariel Elias recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! — but not in the way she expected. She went viral after a video emerged of a heckler in New Jersey chucking a beer at her.

It missed Elias’ head by inches. What happened next ensured her place in standup history. Elias picked up the can — and chugged the rest of the beer.

WFPL’s Stephanie Wolf recently spoke with her.

More Questions About Elder Care Answered

Caring for aging parents is hard — especially here in Appalachia. There’s not always support for caregivers who provide the day-to-day needs of loved ones. Inside Appalachia Executive Producer Eric Douglas is exploring issues around elder care.

He recently spoke with Teresa Morris of the West Virginia chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. 

West Virginia Poet Laureate Looks Back At 10 Years

Marc Harshman is West Virginia’s poet laureate. Harshman has published more than 15 books over his career, many of them for children. His 2017 book “Believe What You Can” won Appalachian Book of the Year. Producer Bill Lynch recently spoke with Harshman about his long tenure, his current collection, “Dark Hills of Home,” and what it was like when he found out he was chosen to follow Irene McKinney as West Virginia poet laureate.

Miss West Virginia Champions Appalachian Agriculture

Miss West Virginia Elizabeth Lynch finished as third-runner up in the Miss America competition. Lynch used the moment to promote Appalachian agriculture. WVPB’s Shepherd Snyder spoke to Lynch about her advocacy.

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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by The Company Stores, Mary Hott, Paul Loomis and Montana Skies

Bill Lynch is our producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.

You can send us an email at InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

You can find us on Instagram and Twitter @InAppalachia.

And you can sign-up for our Inside Appalachia Newsletter here!

Inside Appalachia is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

W.Va. Poet Laureate Talks Poetry And Literature In Appalachia

Poetry is not just about Shakespearean love sonnets. It is about the close observation of the world around us. And it is a big part of Appalachian culture.

Marc Harshman is West Virginia’s poet laureate and an advocate for poetry and Appalachian literature. He spoke with Eric Douglas about what poetry means to West Virginia.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Douglas: Tell me about poetry’s significance in West Virginia, in Appalachia, as an art form.

Harshman: The same time I was appointed poet laureate in 2012, there was a new laureate, appointed for the entire nation of Canada. He wrote, “Poetry has existed since the beginning of humanity, our ancestors gathered around the fire and tried to communicate with mysteries bigger than themselves.” That’s still what we do with poetry. We write with the hope that there’s someone at the other end of our poem.

And that strikes me as so quintessentially Appalachian, if we just change those words slightly and broaden it to storytelling, because we have always been a people in this region that is in touch with a place where we tell stories about ourselves, about our history, to try to make sense of life. And that seems so in tune with what the Canadian poet said that we write with the hope there’s someone there at the other end, we write, to communicate with mysteries bigger than ourselves.

Douglas: Sometimes people will hear the word poetry and they think it will be so dense and obscure that they don’t understand it. To me poetry in Appalachia is the stuff of songs, is the stuff of murder ballads, is the stuff of storytelling, is the stuff of that oral tradition.

Harshman: Along with that comes a keen attention to the little everyday things. Wendell Berry, who has written as persuasively as anybody I know about what it means to live in this region we call Appalachia, has said that the regionalism he adheres to is simply defined as local life aware of itself. And that seems to me, so very true.

Louise McNeil, former poet laureate of West Virginia, said once in her wonderful book, which I recommend to everybody called The Milkweed Ladies, it’s a book of her reflections on this region, that “there were the triangular prints of the rabbits,” or I love this, “the little field mice tracks like delicate lace woven across the snow.” That’s someone who lives in a particular place. That’s not fancy language. That’s not anything anybody can’t understand. But it is close observation, it is paying close attention.

That is what I think the best poetry, and let me expand that, the best literature out of our region does, is pay amazingly close attention to place, close attention to voice, some of the characters and some of our novelists and short stories from the region are just amazing. The way they capture voice for these people

Poet Laureate Marc Harshman
West Virginia poet laureate Marc Harshman reads a poem published in the New York Times last winter.

Douglas: Let’s discuss regional literature in the bigger picture. What’s the effect of Appalachian regional literature?

Harshman: Our state, as small, relatively, as West Virginia is, we have more players on the national stage, it seems a disproportionate amount, in all the best ways. There’s just an amazing wealth of writers of all stripes who are really writing at the top of their game. They’re being published by some of the finest presses in the U.S.

We have everything from a remarkable cabinet maker, cabinetmaker poet, writing poems that are being published by one of the finest university presses in the country. In this generation, we had a steel mill worker winning the Terrence De Pres Prize. We have a young woman raised on a farm south of Parkersburg, who’s writing, translating, doing photography, is fluent in all the languages of Northern Europe, including Faroese and Icelandic. We have another woman who’s an internationally recognized theologian who’s also publishing books of poetry abroad and in the U.S., another who’s a champion fiddler.

There are two young people, both out of Marshall County, who have published major books on the national stage. And not to mention all the amazing people staffing some of our best colleges and universities.

It’s such a diverse range of voices. And we can expand that easily to the, to the broader Appalachian stage.

Douglas: The thought I had as you were running through that list is that these are people who work with their hands and do things and write poetry.

Harshman: But you’ll notice I did say many fine folks from the universities and colleges because some of those people who make their living working with their hands have nonetheless also interacted with the superb teachers in our universities.

This story is part of a series of interviews with authors from, or writing about, Appalachia.

May 18, 2012: Harshman Named West Virginia's Poet Laureate

On May 18, 2012, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin named Marc Harshman of Wheeling the state poet laureate. He succeeded the late Irene McKinney, who’d served in the post since 1994. Harshman is the ninth person to serve as poet laureate since the position was established in 1927.

Harshman is a storyteller, children’s author, and poet. His first book of poetry, Turning Out the Stones, was published in 1983, and his 1995 work, The Storm, was named a Smithsonian National Book for Children. He co-wrote another book, Red Are the Apples, with his wife, Cheryl Ryan Harshman, and he wrote Rocks in My Pocket with the late Doddridge County storyteller Bonnie Collins.

Harshman taught for many years, first at the college level and then in grade schools. For a time, he taught fifth and sixth grade at Sand Hill School in Marshall County, one of the last three-room schools in the state. He continues to visit schools and present workshops about writing.

Marc Harshman performed A Song for West Virginia, his first major commission as poet laureate, for the state’s 150th birthday celebration in 2013.

Q&A: W.Va. Poet Laureate on Winning the Blue Lynx Prize

West Virginia’s poet laureate Marc Harshman won the 20th Annual Blue Lynx Prize. Winning the national poetry competition led to the publication this year of his latest compilation of poetry entitled “Woman in Red Anorak.” Harshman spoke from his home in Wheeling.

Q: What is the Blue Lynx Prize?

The competition has been going on for several decades. I believe the press started in New England. Christopher Howell, a fine American poet himself, is the editor and director of the press and the prize. I submitted this manuscript probably 18 months ago. And the prize was, I think, initially announced late last year and publication and happened this autumn.

Q: Tell us a little bit about “Woman in Red Anorak.”

This has been a very interesting experience, to have this collection of poems come out. As you know, I had a book out from WVU just two years ago, give or take, and my collections usually don’t come this quickly. And I was doing a reading in Charleston from this new book “Woman in Red Anorak” maybe in October, and I realized suddenly, I’d never had this experience. Even though they’re my poems, I’m thinking, ‘Who wrote these? They’re so new.’ Most of the poems in my previous poetry collections have been around a while — I knew them inside and out, and I had read them before. Many of these I’d never read aloud before, and they were still very new to me. On the one hand, quite frankly, it was a little unsettling, on the other hand, it was really exciting.

As I have gotten older, I think I understand the process behind my writing poems. I realized that a certain poet or a couple of poets will get under my skin, and I know they will just drive the writing for weeks and months on end.

If you were to read Tomas Gösta Tranströmer — who’s the Swedish poet who’s been under my skin for a couple of years now, and whose influence I feel in this work — I don’t know if anybody else could tell I was reading Tranströmer. But I know that he inspired at least stylistically, tonally some of these poems. Several of these poems owe a debt — a personal debt anyway — to this great Swedish poet.

Already.mp3
Hear Marc Harshman read "Already" from his book "Woman in Red Anorak."

Q: Can you tell us more about the inspiration of Tranströmer within this poem?

That’s hard. You’re trying to suggest the story but without over telling it. Trying to give the mood. There’s a sense of foreboding in the poem and yet there’s something also light-hearted and delightful. You know something has gone horribly wrong in the human sphere, but for the mice — hey this is a gravy train! Here’s this sill, we chewed in, we’re going to get into the house, there’s abandoned birthday a birthday cake and it’s all ours!

I don’t know what the final resolution is for somebody reading this, but it gave me pleasure.

And I like discovery. I want a poem to be something that makes one make someone go, ‘Oh, that’s curious. That’s interesting.’ And that can that can be to the dark side of things or to the light side of things. Or in this case, maybe even a little of both.

Violets.mp3
BONUS: Listen to Marc Harshman read his poem "Violet" from "Woman in Red Anorak."
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