WWPH WRITES ISSUE 90
WWPH Writes 90… remembers our beloved past WWPH president, Elisavietta “Lisa” Ritchie, and shares new works: Lois Perch Villamaire’s creative nonfiction flash, full of portent, Awake to the Blast of the Smoke Alarm, and Alex Carrigan’s uncanny poem, The Fables of Snakes.
Big reminder: AMERICA’S FUTURE, our 50th-anniversary anthology of poetry and prose, has a hard deadline on Friday, January 31st. Send us your poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction–detailed writing prompts and guidelines are available here.
Read on and plan on submitting to America’s Future by Friday, January 31st.
Caroline Bock & Jona Colson
co-presidents/editors
Washington Writers’ Publishing House
WWPH WRITES In Memoriam
Elisavietta “Lisa” Ritchie (6/29/1932 – 1/13/2025), former WWPH president and prolific, award-winning author, is remembered by her press-mates with love and affection:
“With tears in my eyes, I write this message. My first poet friend in Washington DC in 1968, was LISA. We met as we were both published in Will Inman’s Kauri Magazine (American University). She was my first poetry connection after I arrived from the West Coast in ’66.
We conferred and put on DC’s first poetry reading (outside of the Library of Congress) at the old Potomac Theater on Kennedy Street in Washington DC. William Jay Smith came (then US POET LAUREATE.) Since that time, we have bonded at the heart. Now my heart is torn in half. So many memories over the years. Some are unbelievable and, if printed, would be claimed impossible to even be fiction, but joyous, funny, sweet.
We’ve all lost a pure spirit in human form, who will never come again. Of the 1,000 thoughts I have, I must share this because it is so typical of Lisa. In 1972 the great poet Judson Jerome was to visit Washington DC. (He authored the book “The Poet and The Poem,” and allowed me to use that title for my radio series in 1977 when it premiered.) Well, Jud had nowhere to stay, and Lisa said he should stay at her McComb house, but ‘she’d be out of town.’ So ‘there was a key under the rock by the front door and would be please take care of the cats.’ No one like her in the world. Ever before and ever again.
When we had meetings at her home, years later, she’d throw sheets over all the tables so as to conceal the piles of books and paraphernalia, It felt like the most natural décor because it was Lisa. And her sense of generosity, always present, makes me ache with love. At 11 p.m. one snowy evening, when Ken and I had to return to West Virginia, we were going out the door, and she said, ‘Wait, you need something to sustain you.’ And started cutting vegetables for stew. I wish we had stayed now. I love you, Lisa, my White Russian Poet.” — Grace Cavalieri
Please find more WWPH remembrances of Elisavietta “Lisa” Ritchie here.
Elisavietta Ritchie is the author of In Haste I Write You This Note: Stories & Half-Stories, winner of the premiere Washington Writers’ Publishing House Fiction Competition (2000), and now available as an ebook. Raking The Snow won the Washington Writer’s Publishing House Poetry Prize (1982). She is also the author of many more books, details can be found here. Interviews with Elisavietta Ritchie are archived at the George Washington University’s Melvin Gelman Library, Special Collections. More on her legacy here.
Her “Advice to a Daughter” was originally published in the Washington Writers’ Publishing House’s 20th-anniversary anthology, Hungry As We Are, and we are happy to share it with you now:
WWPH WRITES Creative Nonfiction
Awake to the Blast of the Smoke Alarm
In the middle of the night, we are awakened by the smoke alarm blaring. Not only that, but the upgraded system installed six months earlier includes a mechanical female voice that calls out fire at regular intervals between the blasts. I glance at the clock— 1:41 a.m.
I move quickly to the hall and down the steps, not thinking about my bare feet or having the presence of mind to grab my phone. Suddenly, the noise and the voice stop. No flames or smell of smoke. By that time, my husband joins the investigation. I explore the laundry room while he goes downstairs to the lower level. Thankfully, I hear him announce there are no problems. I enter the kitchen to double-check the oven which I am confident had been turned off after baking sweet potatoes for dinner. Nothing.
The only unusual occurrence in our house that evening is a yahrzeit candle burning for my father innocently on the kitchen counter. It had been lit at sundown, safely contained in a small glass holder— like a shot glass, to burn in his memory for the traditional twenty-four hours. Each year since their passing, I had lit candles for my parents on the appropriate dates based on the Jewish calendar. To avoid any possible risks, we decide to extinguish the candle at that moment.
How serious of a sin is this?
Even though the flame is out, thoughts and memories of Dad burn. I remember a favorite old photo flashed on the beach where we are holding hands. He has a crew cut, and I’m missing my front teeth. Dad sparked my love of the Phillies from the first time we took our seats behind third base together at Connie Mack Stadium. He was affectionate, musical, and loved coffee ice cream. The family surrounded and honored him at the celebration of his 95th birthday. He’s gone eight years, and I can still see him beaming as the center of attention in the paneled party room of the continuing care home.
After assessing no immediate danger, my husband and I return to our bedroom on guard for another blast. Neither of us can sleep. This could give someone a heart attack, my husband says. He had had a quadruple heart bypass seventeen years earlier and had been doing well, no issues. He stands up and states he is going to take an aspirin. Are you okay? He says he’s just a little achy.
I reach for my phone and google for answers. I find there is a very slim chance that a candle could set off a smoke alarm. More likely reasons are low batteries, dust, or the interference of a pesky bug. At 3 a.m., my husband tells me he is going to his recliner in our sitting room. After he leaves, I remain wide awake, worrying about him and the unpredictable alarm.
When I discover sunlight brightening the bedroom walls, I glance at the clock. It’s later than my usual wake-up time. I must have slept.
Downstairs in the kitchen, I once again feel the burn of Dad’s yahrzeit candle sitting alone and unlit on the counter.
©Lois Perch Villemaire 2025
Lois Perch Villemaire of Annapolis, MD, is the author of “My Eight Greats,” a family history in poetry and prose, and “Eyes at the Edge of the Woods” (Bottlecap Press). She is a contributing writer to AARP The Ethel. Lois, a Pushcart nominee, enjoys researching genealogy and propagating African violets.
WWPH WRITES Poetry
Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).
©Alex Carrigan 2025
WWPH NEWS
A BIG SHOUT OUT to long-time press-mate and WWPH executive board member Holly Karapetkova on her just published award-winning collection Dear Empire.
”Karapetkova writes with a contagious honesty. Her poems describe an American mirror we should not turn away from.” —E. Ethelbert Miller, writer and literary activist, 2024 Grammy Nominee for Spoken Word and Poetry.
The deadline for AMERICA’S FUTURE, our 2025 anthology of poetry and prose, has been extended to next Friday, January 31st. What are your questions about the future? What are your hopes? Your fears? How should or could your literary art (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction) respond to the uncertainty of America’s future? We are looking for work of all genres; often, the most personal narratives make the most provocative political statements or pose the most thought-provoking questions. We are accepting up to 3 poems and prose up to 2,500 words (shorter works gladly accepted). As always, we aim to represent the literary richness and diversity of the DMV–and we are open to all writers who have any connection to DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
Detailed writing prompts and guidelines are available here. Payment ($25.00) and an invitation to participate in 50th anniversary WWPH readings!
Two of our recent award-winning books were selected as BOOKS WE LOVE by National Public Radio, and they are both available as trade paperbacks and ebooks! Support your WWPH and purchase them here bookshop.org. Here’s the link.
INSIDER NEWS… if you are considering submitting to WWPH, check out our guidelines and FAQs (new for 2025!) here. WWPH manuscript submissions.
News from our friends at the Enoch Pratt Free Library! FREE POETRY CONTEST for Maryland residents age 18 and older sponsored by Enoch Pratt Free Library and Little Patuxent Review. Deadline: March 1, 2025. The winning poem will be published in Little Patuxent Review and celebrated at a public reading. For complete guidelines see prattlibrary.org/poetry-contest
THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PART OF THE WWPH COMMUNITY!