CHRIS ARVIDSON

words and art
 

Am I just getting old? Cripes, I was crying Friday night for the Justin Verlander salute, which included his young daughter throwing out the first pitch to him (a strike), and then again when he took the mound for the last time on Saturday. He made a more than respectable showing into the 6th, when manager AJ Hinch brought out JV's little girl again, to take him out of the game. The old cliche, not a dry eye in the house, just can't be avoided. Just for fun, the Tigers walked off the Pirates in the 9th, with a mighty blast from catcher Eduardo Valencia, with two outs, and two strikes, no less. It was totally wonderfully flabbergasting. 

So I'm kinda SOL as I ease off the baseball. More like a hard jump off a cliff. The Tigers did not secure a playoff spot, for reasons too many to number here, but suffice it to say, we were the streakiest team in baseball this year, a serious rollercoaster of a season. Some very big highs, and crap lows, too. But you know, that's baseball, right?

Instead of bumming on my streaky Tigers, I indulged in a relisten of this review of The Love of Baseball from the most-excellent Roberta Schultz. Diana Nelson Jones reminded me of it this past week and it's a helpful reminder of why I keep tuning in to the Tigers, even when they are tanking/surging tanking/surging me to death.

It's also worth considering putting Diana on your radar, because SHE HAS A GD NOVEL coming out this Fall. I will keep you up on that. 

So, take a late summer listen to this, in case you're suffering with the baseball blues with your team of choice. It'll cheer you up. Oh, and you can still get the book from the publisher (McFarland) your local bookstore can order it up for you, or Amazon, if you need. 

https://www.wvxu.org/review/2018-03-30/book-review-the-love-of-baseball-essays-by-lifelong-fans

This Saturday,August 8, from 5-8 p.m. I'm up to some more ekphrastic fun. First off I have two pieces in the main Gallery show at Queen City Art - WORD ON THE STREET. One is inspired by a Joseph Bathanti poem from his latest book, "Steady Daylight." The other is based on my own poem, written and painted in April at Wildacres. 

BUT THERE'S WAY MORE:  We have completed refreshed the Latrina Ekphrastic exhibit in the two bathrroms of the gallery. This time, all the art was written to poems from Caroline Kane Kenna's new chapbook "Keep Your Damn Seat" which just came out. Saturday nigtht she's launching the book and we're celebrating it in the bathrooms at QCA.

You should be there. Wine, nibbles, art, poems. WTF else do you need?

I had on my list of things to get done this week, the adding of artwork here at my website, and, POOF, last night I got an email from an old high school band buddy (trumpet - because we always ID ourselves by instrument), asking about the art he saw on Insta. So, spurred on by Keith, I have added 19 pics of available paintings. Just click on on the ART tab above and you can see them. Send me a message about purchasing and shipping and I'll respond immediately! For those of you who are local and follow shows, you may have seen some of these, but there's new stuff, too, so take a look. 

Time has flown. Shit has been going down, my people. Hosptial ERs and surgeries and just kind of life in general. It's been a fairly fallow period with the writing and art, too, although I've chocked up the requisite rejections such that I can still call myself a writer. But here's the fun coming back with the lovely weather.  

I'm in excellent company tomorrow night with famous people like Jay Ward!  Come on out if you're aroun!

DOWNTOWN BELMONT
SIP & SPEAK
HOSTED BY THE DOWNTOWN BELMONT DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
 
Join us in Downtown Belmont for our Sip & Speak Poetry Crawl. 📚 🥂
Embark on an evening of poetic enchantment at our annual "Sip & Speak" – a poetry crawl through Downtown Belmont. Join us for an immersive experience where each location offers original poetry presentations from talented wordsmiths.
🗓️ April 24th, 2026
⏰ 6:00 – 9:00 PM

A new year is upon us and lots of things have changed around my world this past month. I spent yesterday morning taking down my display wall at Queen City Arts (Charlotte Art League), so for the first time in several years I will not have a studio or display space there. I have missed having my own studio, but have struggled to overcome the moves in the space and having just a wall and no place to work on the regular, just made it feel like I needed to take a step back and do some thinking. Of course it started raining just as I was moving artwork to my car, but I got it all down (except for my name which will need a ladder and some help) and back to my house. Much of it I took apart and stored. Some of it is going to be unexpected presents for friends -- things I know they liked. And some has found new homes in our house somewhere. Some of it I like. Some of it I don't like anymore. My opinions of my own artwork change, just as my taste in my own writing writhes around. But really, it's the DOING of these things matters and if I can recall how I felt when I was creating them, then I call it good. 

I plan to do that thinking around making art and writing as the new year begins. I'll enter local shows and continue to volunteer with Queen City Art and Guild of Charlotte Artists. It's really fun to hang shows and I enjoy getting those previews to what people are doing with their work. And I'm doing some serious assessment work on the poetry I've been writing this past year, since the publication of my collection (Nobody Cares What You Think) in January. We'll see what I think that adds up to, what deficits might be there, if it makes a collective sense of itself, or if I just need to keep writing and see what happens. 

I've lost some people this past year, some really important people. And the illnesses both here at home, with family, and with friends, particularly in the last month, have been challenging. Surreal, actually. I expect that thinking all of this through will mean yet more changes are afoot. I ain't skeered though. Change IS good. Wave to me while it's all going down, would you?

Click on the image to get to the bid list of wonderful services and fun meetings from Charlotte Lit faculty. I'm on there and I'll come to your book club (or any gathering you'd like really). I'll read, answer questions, and bring 10 books as gifts. You'll be helping Charlotte Lit reach our goal for the upfit of the new office and working space -- we're almost there!

And be ready to come to the Grand Opening of Charlotte Lit's new writing hub on Friday, October 3. I'll keep you updated on all the activities that evening as we get closer. 

You guys, this is a great Festival. I'm really honored to have been selected. Maybe I'll even go next year if they like me again?  I mean check out this video (click on the 2025 Festival highlights)  -- is this not what poetry and baseball and writing and humanities is all about?  https://baseballpoetryfest.org/videos/

Spent the week in Michigan, doing art, hanging out, the basic stuff. But damn, it was supposed to be cooler there, that's the rule and a lot of the attraction of going up in August. WRONG. It was hotter there than Charlotte during my visit. Not very fair, but still, sitting in Lake Michigan is definitely cooler than NC. 

Finished up my last reading for the book at Malaprops just before I went, and that was of course of real honor and a treat. Next writing fun up - Tablerock Writers at Wildacres in a couple weeks. Did you know that you can get the weather predictions two weeks out on weather.com? Of course it can change, but so far it looks like low 70s/high 50s for my time there. PLEASE!