The Note
Dale Wisely
About every two or three weeks, someone sends a submission to Right Hand Pointing addressed to Howie Good, sometimes Dale & Howie. Or Dale, Laura, & Howie. Maybe John Sharp gets mentioned. Lots of people think Howie is one of our editors. He's not. But, we're glad to have his name associated with RHP, even if somewhat erroneously. His work has appeared many, many times on this website over 10 years. And, he has guest-edited a number of issues for us.
Including this one! So, thanks again to Howie, for editing another issue and for making some great picks.
All of us the editorial team hope you, our readers, enjoy these 18 poems.
Shortly after 9/11, my wife and I felt desperate to see our oldest daughter, who at that time was a college student in North Carolina. It's one of those things that can't be explained. It's not that we thought she was in any particular danger in North Carolina, or that we were in Alabama. It was just a time to want to have the family in the same space, and were separated by a few United States.
On a weekend that September, we tossed the two younger daughters in the minivan and headed to Charlotte. Other than it being good to have everyone together, I don't remember much about the weekend. We all piled up on a couple of double beds in a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express. We watched a bunch of famous singers and musicians perform on television on a telethon related to the 9/11 attacks.
There were a lot of songs that could have done it that night. Springsteen singing "City of Ruins." Sting's "Fragile." But, for reasons I don't really understand and don't need to, this is the performance that I watch and listen to from time to time. After Madrid. After Nigeria. Aurora. London. Charleston, SC. Beirut. Paris. Mali. What am I forgetting? Now we live in a time when we forget some. And that adds to our sorrow.
