Sheyna Burt and Connie Moser Talk Arts Alive

For the Odd Instance at a Cocktail Party...

For the Odd Instance at a Cocktail Party When you Find Yourself Locked in Conversation with an Unnaturally Enthusiastic Hot Tub Cover Salesman, Having Nothing to Offer by Way of Related Small Talk,
and Otherwise Unable to Escape (… a Working Title)

There once was a great big black bear

who like most bears was covered with hair.

Despite his warm fur

a chilled wind would stir

him to shiver at winter’s cold air.

His diet consisted of grubs

and soft pinecone seeds that he loved.

His tummy was warm

yet he was forlorn

since he longed to soak in a hot tub.

One day he poked out of the woods

and beside a log cabin it stood:

Through a soft mist of steam

and the smell of chlorine

the bear’s dream was in reach! Life was good.

Paws propped on the tub, he looked down.

In confusion the bear wore a frown.

The water, he knew,

was supposed to be blue

but instead it was hard flat and brown.

First he nibbled a bit with his maw

then he reached out a tentative claw.

With a pull and a tear

this tenacious bear

sank in water clear up to his jaw.

The next day a man stared in wonder

at the marks on his brown hot tub cover.

“Not a bear…” thought he,

“Yet what else could it be?”

For the cover was quite torn asunder.

Our bear was no longer devoid

of the pleasure he often enjoyed.

He came night after night

soaking to his delight

keeping hot tub lid vendors employed.

                                                                                                                    ~ Dani Rogero

For National Poetry Month: A Poem by Cindy Brookshire

Ridge Walk

by Cindy Brookshire

Color kicks off the peak leaf season

On the Blue Ridge Parkway

Loosed from gated retirement communities

The ladies with their leisure jackets

The men with their plaid flat-fronts

Barely pause their luxury cars in caravans

at the crowded overlooks

To snap quick iPhone images

In their winding rush to line up for tables

at Milepost 176

Where water pleads over wooden wheel

And the buckwheat stacks and country ham

Call them back to Dan, Virginia

and Mabry Mill.

I think you miss the real mountains

When your feet never leave the asphalt

Don’t they remember boots hugging the trail?

Breaking the first step of morning

with dewy webs against cool skin?

Fighting loose rock to gain foot holds

Avoiding the stinging nettles,

Soaking sweat with bandanas,

Breath hot, straining

Ascending, twisting, pushing on

The lofty vista, and finally, the easy ridge walk

Spotting a deer – shh! – watching

With mutual respect as the wild thing

crunches brown against green

And leaps away

Majestic with muscular power?

I’d rather hike, my love

Pick blueberries, stir up pancakes,

Cook over a small fire

Sleep under the stars

Feel the mountains

Beneath me.

PW COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL and HYLTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TO PRESENT FREE ARTS ALIVE FESTIVAL on MAY 3

Free Annual Arts Festival Features Local Performances, Artists and Musicians of PW County

Prince William County Arts Council and the Hylton Performing Arts Center of Manassas, Va. are hosting their fourth annual ARTS ALIVE Festival, a free, family-fun event that features local, Prince William County dancers, singers, artists, and performances, on Sat., May 3 from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, at 10960 George Mason Circle Manassas, Va. Admission and parking are free. For a schedule of events, call 703-221-2150 or go to www.pwcartscouncil.org.

The ARTS ALIVE Festival features more than 30 indoor and outdoor events, workshops, displays, performances and children’s activities. Performances include: Gainesville Ballet, Showcase Dance, NOVA Youth Ballet, Asaph Dance Ensemble, Woodbridge Dance, Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra, Youth Orchestras of Prince William, Prince William Community Band, Manassas Chorale, Celebration Singers, New Dominion Choraliers, Osbourn High School Guitar Ensemble, Woodbridge Community Choir, Ben Lomond Community Center Dancers, Dance, Etc., Woodbridge Music, Castaways Repertory Theater, Bull Run Cloggers, Lou Rosgen, Magnificent Belly Dance, Old Bridge Quartet, Gainesville Middle School Drama Club, Creative and Performing Arts Center Sankofa Singers, Dumfries Elementary School Chorus, Shenandoah Sounds, Write by Rails writers, Coles Elementary Step Team, a Jazz Vocalist Master Class lead by Donna Brown, a Tango Master Class and Introduction by Quintango, Pied Piper Theater and the Bull Run and Unitarian Universalists Mime Troupe.

Fine art displays will be presented by: Center for the Arts at the Candy Factory, Manassas Warrenton Camera Club, Cabin Branch Quilters, Stone House Quilters Guild and Prince William Art Society.

ARTS ALIVE will showcase many children activities. The Center for the Arts at the Candy Factory’s lead actors of Pied Piper Theatre’s “Peter Pan, Jr.” will be performing and singing throughout the crowds, Cabin Branch Quilters leads the 4H ‘Make and Take’ quilting project, Edgemoor Art Studio offers painting. The onsite Open Air Market will also sell food, refreshments and crafts.

“The Prince William Arts Council is a melting pot of the great artistic talent living right here in our own backyard,” said Sheyna Burt, president of the Prince William County Arts Council of Manassas, Va. “It’s our goal to provide education, training and information about the rich and diverse artistic offerings Prince William County has to offer, from quilting and belly-dancing to orchestra and jazz, our artists are our neighbors, co-workers, friends and family, and ARTS ALIVE celebrates and debuts the best of the best in our area,” said Burt.

The Prince William County Arts Council was established in 1992 as an arts advisory board to Prince William County government. The Prince William County Arts Council is a membership organization that serves the Greater Prince William area, including Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park, Va. It was created by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors with the vision to educate the community about the visual and performing arts offerings in Prince William County and be an information source about Prince William County’s arts’ programs and performances. It also provides training, networking, development and marketing opportunities for its members.  Call 703-221-2150 or visit www.pwcartscouncil.org, Facebook or Twitter.