Poet Presnell to reflect on impact of war on families in Asheboro library reading

Barbara Presnell

ASHEBORO – The impact of war on families is the theme of a new collection of poems by Asheboro native Barbara Presnell.

Presnell will read from her work, Blue Star, in a Friends of the Library talk at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Her appearance is free and the public is invited.

In the poems, Presnell weaves military records, census reports, letters, journals and photographs into a tapestry that tells the 100-year story her family’s involvement in war from the Civil War to the present. To complete the collection, Presnell, her brother and her sister retraced their father’s World War II journey from Omaha Beach to the Elbe River in Germany, following his map and journal entries.

The title Blue Star refers to the stars on banners that family members hang in their windows when a son or daughter is in the service.

Presnell is author of five books of poetry, including Piece Work, a collection of poems built around life and work in Asheboro’s textile mills, where Presnell’s father worked until his death in 1969. Piece Work won the Cleveland State University (CSU) Poetry Center’s First Book Prize and was published by CSU in 2007.

One of its poems, “Pauline Loves to Sew,” was included in the April 2014 Our State magazine’s list of 10 poems every North Carolinian should read. In 2009, Piece Work was adapted for the stage by the Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina, and performed in community colleges and other venues around the state.

Presnell, whose poetry also has appeared in many journals and anthologies, now lives in Lexington, and teaches in the writing and honors programs at UNC-Charlotte.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.