On Sunday, August 17, 2025 we celebrated Beth’s latest collection of poetry, I Ask the Mountain to Heal My Heart via a ZOOM Book Launch!

I went to Beth’s house in Creston, armed with my laptop, a set of questions, and a shaky ability to handle technology.

The Peak

I was nervous. I wanted the launch to go well, but what if I forgot to press record? What if we lost video? What if the connection was unstable?

So many what-ifs.

And out here in the middle of Ashe County, NC, there were no bright-eyed techno-savvy undergrads to call on in a pinch. It was just me and Beth.

We’d manage!

How hard could it be, right?

Beth and I discussed the staging of the ZOOM. If we faced the mountain—The Peak—the kitchen would be in the background. We rearranged the table placing the living room in the background.

Much more professional!

And, check this out!

I can blur the background in the ZOOM screen so only the outlines will show.

See, I’m more techno-savvy than I realized!

I blurred the screen, putting the attention on the faces in the foreground.

Becky and Beth Copeland

My technological innovation proved to be a mistake, however.

It meant that our heads looked like pins during the ZOOM. And each time I held up a book to show the audience the cover, I only managed to broadcast a big blur.

“Why are you so small?” I asked Beth as we pulled our chairs alongside one another. I must have been too close to the screen. I loomed over my sister.

“I’m short waisted,” she laughed. “I always look small when I’m seated.”

She put a pillow on her chair.

Now we were shoulder to shoulder. Perfect.

I stacked her many books next to me on the table, got myself a glass of water—which I carefully positioned off to the side so I wouldn’t inadvertently knock it over mid-ZOOM—and lined my notes up in front of me.

I had prepared the notes the day before—making sure I had the dates and titles of Beth’s books correctly—and ran my talking points past Jan Bardsley for clarity.

(I run everything by Jan before I post or present! She always gives me good advice. For this one she told me to define terms like “chapbook” and “cento” as “not everyone will be a poet.”)

I printed my notes out in 14-point font, for easy distance reading!

It was now 1:50, the launch was scheduled to start at 2:00.

“Ready?”

I turned to Beth.

She was radiant in a blue cyan blouse of soft cotton. Blue has always been her color, along with green, lavender, grey, and frankly almost anything. Her eyes change color depending on what she wears.

For the ZOOM her eyes were a celadon green.

Beth Copeland

She stared at the laptop as I powered it up and smiled at me. Sisterly encouragement.

Once we opened the ZOOM room, members of the audience quickly joined.
We had friends from all over: as far away as the West Coast—San Francisco and Sacramento—and as close as West Jefferson. In between there were friends from the Midwest: Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee. And a good representation from other areas of North Carolina: Chapel Hill, Cary, Durham, Wake Forest, High Point, and Burnsville.

Friends of Beth’s from elementary school as well as college were there.

Our two sisters, Judy and Joy, also joined.

All told, we had 22 people on the ZOOM.

A great number.

I introduced Beth and then asked her one or two questions, wondering about her earliest experiences with writing poetry, her interest in using form, and the way nature informs her writing. I kept my remarks short to allow more time for audience interaction.

Beth read five poems, one from each section of I Ask the Mountain.

Poems take on new texture and new depth when voiced as Beth’s performance amply showed.

The audience reacted with applause, all mesmerized by Beth’s reading.

Except me.

Not that I wasn’t mesmerized, but I was just too busy trying to figure out why Beth and I couldn’t see ourselves on the ZOOM screen. We saw other members of the audience.

Did we see what the audience saw?

I worried that the recording would be haphazard, so I texted my friend Nancy, who was on the ZOOM call.

“You’re both on screen and you look beautiful!”

So, I guess what we saw wasn’t what others on the call could see.

I calmed down a bit but kept an eye on chat comments and other communications from the audience.

The hour flew by.

I suspect some in the audience would have gladly lingered for an hour more, but we said our goodbyes and closed our session.

Better to leave audience members wanting more!

If you missed the ZOOM launch, or want to review what happened, here’s your chance!

Please enjoy the recording. And Beth and I welcome your comments and questions, so please feel free to respond to this blog post.

If you would like to order I Ask the Mountain to Heal My Heart, follow the link below:

Order: I Ask the Mountain to Heal My Heart

For a signed copy, please send $15.00 to https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Copeland51
with your address and preferred name.

The mountain in me honors
the mountain in you.

The post “You’re Home. Open the door”: I Ask the Mountain to Heal My Heart Book Launch appeared first on Rebecca Copeland.