Poet to have book signing next week

Part-time Sanibel resident will have a book signing of her newly released fifth book of poetry, “Simply Sanibel Poems,” next week.
Lorraine Walker Williams will make an appearance from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, at MacIntosh Books, 2300 Palm Ridge Road.
“This is a book that I dedicated to Sanibel because for the last two and a half years I have been writing a weekly poetry column for the Santiva Chronicle online,” she said of “Poetry Place.” “I wanted to kind of pull together a lot of my poems about Sanibel because it is truly a unique island. I tend to write about the ecology of the island, the joy of living here and seeing anything from a bobcat to an alligator.”
With Walker Williams also residing in Denver and San Francisco, it gives her a perspective on her island writing.
“When you go to edit and begin to chew on some of these things, if you are some where else it is kind of like a lens that brings you directly to it,” she said.
Before Walker Williams dipped into serious writing in 1997, she was a teacher coordinator of gifted and talented programs in New Jersey where she was given a grant for being a governors teacher award winner in 1986. The grant money was dedicated to the Writer in School program, which continues in New Jersey.
“They come into the school for a week and get their stipend through this grant program. I met some really exciting writers, one of whom was J.C. Todd out of Philadelphia,” she said.
In 1997, the poet invited Walker Williams to a village of writers in South France.
“That was a life changing experience because I was with writers for an entire week. We were in a village removed from everything. We would workshop in the morning, write in the afternoon and get together over dinner and share things,” she said.
When she returned to the states, Walker Williams traveled to Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center after receiving a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation grant for metrical poetry, which exposed her to a new style.
“I loved it. It really changed my life. So, I reapplied the following year and received my second grant and that was in poetry editing. It was literally the toughest thing I have ever done in poetry in my life,” she said.
With early retirement from education in 2000, Walker Williams set a goal for herself to write every day.
“I like to call myself an organic writer because I write in a journal with a pen,” she said. “I need to feel that scratching across the page. I’m very good at letting things flow. I love the idea of mining what you have on the page because there is something always there. The poem might begin in the middle of the page, or later, but you have something to work with.”
When Walker Williams began wintering on the island, she realized there were five writers groups and became involved immediately. Within one year, an idea blossomed.
“With the help of some very good people on the island, I started ArtPoems and BIG ARTS was the first place that we had our first show,” she said. “We had ten poets and only five artists.”
Now Walker Williams is president of the board. ArtPoems just celebrated 10 years.
“The idea is the creative process for an artist and poet is extremely similar. You have the initiation of an idea, the incubation, then you have kind of testing of where is this going to take me, and then maybe some playful things. It takes about two and a half three months for the process to evolve,” she said.
The poet brings five poems and the artist brings five pieces of work that is followed by a random drawing between the artists and poets.
At the conclusion, ArtPoems is brought together in a performance.
To view all of her other books, visit www.lorainewalkerwilliams.com.
“I take my inspiration from a lot of different places. Something will stick with me. Something will happen and stay with me. Or sometimes it’s a line that comes to me when I’m biking, or walking. What I love about poetry is you can truly write it anywhere,” she said.