Noni Howard at Casa Bella

This must have been 1997 when Noni Howard stayed with us at Casa Bella. Here we are at the side door with Noni. Maybe it was just after this we walked up the street to visit Irving Layton at his home on Monkland Avenue. See Noni's last collection of poems at www.coraclepress.com.

This was back when poets were characters, personnages, not politically correct award winning creative writing graduates... Now, "characters" are not wanted, just bland career building "poets"... Even Layton was a character back then...

Visiting Irving Layton in 1997

Irving Layton, CZ, Noni Howard.

Irving and Noni.

Irving Layton and SM.

Irving Layton lived in his old age on Monkland Avenue, just a few blocks from where we live. I knew Layton's nephew/best friend, Bill Goodwin, who taught at Champlain College when I first began teaching there. Bill would have Irving read at the college every year. I remember, after one reading, driving home with Irving and Bill and talking with Irving. Noni Howard is a poet and an old friend Irving Layton's, she is also an old friend of CZ's,  so when she came to visit in 1997 (or 1998) we all went down to Irving's and visited. These photos are from that occasion.

Coracle Press will publish a chapbook of Noni Howard's poems this summer: visit Coracle Press.