Poet and artist Julie Fritz (Photo courtesy Pruitt Resources)
Julie Plunkett Fritz has loved poetry her entire life. An abstract painter, she found that creating vistas and landscapes in the tiny backyard studio of her home in the Huguenot neighborhood south of the James River afforded her time to reflect and inspired her to pen poems. Her intentions were twofold: The poems were a creative outlet, but also musings for her two adult daughters to keep someday.
Although she has written off and on for 20 years, Fritz composed and refined many of her poems over the last four years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she began honing her skills by taking Zoom workshops with poets from around the country. When she realized she had amassed about 150 poems, she decided to publish a book. “Twinings” includes pieces reflecting on her life and on entering what she refers to as “the third act.”
Fritz says the book is geared toward women 65 and older; although she didn’t set out to write poems catering to this particular audience, the theme developed naturally. “I’ve been talking to women 65 and over to give them confidence, to let them know that they’re valued. That’s really my mission now, because I don’t want us to be dismissed. There’s a bunch of us, and it’s easy to do,” Fritz says.
Fritz’s debut book of poetry features her artwork on the cover. (Photo courtesy Pruitt Resources)
Published by the Richmond-based independent press Brandylane Publishers Inc. and featuring more than 50 poems, “Twinings” uses imagery from nature to make connections to the past, present and future and take readers on a journey through Fritz’s life. The title poem uses coiling vines of honeysuckle to describe the intertwining nature of relationships.
The book’s first section, aptly titled “Memories,” offers a window into Fritz’s childhood growing up on a Tennessee farm. “Attacking Woolworth’s Five & Dime” recounts how her grandmother, much to the embarrassment of the 10-year-old Fritz, kept her money in her garter, despite carrying a briefcase-sized purse that held everything from Epsom salts to lipstick.
“I want to tell my story, but also to bring [others of a similar age] in to tell their story,” Fritz says. “I talk about the screen door slamming. Well, that happened to them, they remember exactly, and then there goes their memory, and they dive into that, which I think is healthy.”
The middle section, “Moments,” uses natural imagery to make connections to life lessons, as when she describes her internal debate on whether to squash the insect eggs she found on a tomato plant in “Hornworm.” She writes, “Maybe I should have spent this much time on other life choices.” Fritz says, “I just sort of fell through life not spending a lot of intellectual time on making plans … so now I’m thinking if I’m worried about this little hornworm and what it is, why was I not worried about some of those others things that I decided to do?” These choices shape our lives, she says. “A lot of it is determined by our own wisdom and lack of thought process on the choices we’ve made, but that’s life, that’s what you get.”
The last section of the book, titled “Musings,” includes poems about mortality and what comes next. “Old Gray Cemetery” describes the increasingly crowded resting place of her family members and notes, “But this plot needs to fit one more.”
However, Fritz isn’t sure if the cemetery will indeed be her last stop. “It’s another life choice. … All of us at 80, where are we going to want to spend the rest of our time? Imagine thinking about that, isn’t that morbid? But you have to think about all the choices I have. Do I want to spend it at home with my husband, do I want to spend it with my children here in Richmond, and — this is the question — do I want to spend it with my parents where I grew up, where Old Gray Cemetery is? … As it says in the poem, I made sure that there’s room — not much, but there’s a little bit of room — and so I’m in if that’s what I choose. I haven’t decided on that yet, I still have choices.”
Offering a message of female empowerment is also important to Fritz. She had strong female role models in her life, and she’s the mother of two daughters who each have two daughters. “So we just have girls galore, and pretty much all of the stories are about women. Part of it is because of that, because I’m surrounded by them, but I’m also passionate about our challenges and our successes,” she says.
Fritz stands among her paintings at Taste, where they will be on display through December. (Photo courtesy Julie Fritz)
Before penning her poetry, Fritz self-published two nonfiction books: “Keepers of the Sangres,” about her experiences living in a ranching valley in Colorado, and “Remembering a Hill,” which describes what it was like being a child in the 1950s. But when it came to “Twinings,” she did some research and submitted her poems to Brandylane Publishers.
“I thought, either they’ll accept it or nobody will,” Fritz says. “After a year, they emailed me that mine had been accepted, which was quite unusual, especially for poetry, because that’s not the hottest item in the literary business. But anyway, it validated me, I felt, to have it published.”
About 15 years ago, after retiring from her job as a marketing consultant, Fritz fulfilled a lifelong goal by becoming a professional artist. She studied a technique of oil and cold beeswax, shadowing a master of the artform and participating in workshops. In addition to commission work, her paintings have been exhibited in Texas, and New York. Starting this month, Taste at 5706 Grove Ave. is displaying a collection of Fritz’s works, many of which feature the James River as the subject; the exhibition will continue through December. Her two interests converge on the cover of “Twinings,” which features one of her paintings.
Fritz’s poetry and her painted landscapes reflect the places she has lived. After growing up in Tennessee, she raised her family in Richmond from 1967 to 2000, and then she and her husband, Don, spent about a decade living in various places around the country before moving back to Richmond.
Since returning, Fritz has rejoined an initiative she spearheaded nearly 30 years ago: the VCU Massey Cancer Center’s Women and Wellness luncheon event, which raises funds and awareness for cancer research. The event continues to be held annually at The Jefferson Hotel, and Fritz notes that a percentage of proceeds from her book sales benefits the cancer center.
Also a public speaker, Fritz is still going strong at 80. “I am not retired, I just changed my focus,” she says, noting that she and her husband are blessed to have their health. “Life’s a story that we just can’t stop. … You just have to keep stepping up, and so I do not feel retired. And so now having said that, I’m not working as hard, and this is easier in a way, but still, I feel a real responsibility to stay active.”
Fritz is unsure if her book of poetry is a one-off or she’ll publish another, but she’s still penning poems and honing her craft. “I’ve lived a lot of life, and a lot of things have happened to me,” she says. She has revisited life events through poetry, “but these are all written very personal. I didn’t mince words, and it’s left me very vulnerable,” Fritz says. She hesitates to publish the more personal poems, and especially those that mention family.
Fritz hopes that people will discover their own meanings and reflections of their lives in her words.
“I hope that it’s sort of an affirmation of … women, older women,” she says. “I love that phrase ‘older women’ … because it takes a lot of doing to become an older woman. I hope they feel that they are valued. That’s the most important thing to me — that they’re not diminished by being old.”
“Twinings” is available locally at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts shop, Book People, Fountain Bookstore, Yellow Umbrella Provisions and Westbury Pharmacy. On July 31, Fritz will be at the Libbie Mill Library for a book reading and discussion as part of the Henrico Community Authors Showcase. The free event begins at 7 p.m.
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