My name Silver wine
The name Silver wine was developed by my brother, St. Nic of Detroit, aka Nicodemus, Chongo, James Chongo Houvener (among other name).
I asked for help from him and he gave it to me freely. I never had anyone critique my writing because I was scared of others making fun of it or worse yet all the personal hurts that I experienced would then be exposed. Kinda like standing in the middle of town with no cloths on feeling. I was lost in my life, at that time, when he decided to help me develop my writing. I could not trust anyone, at least looking at my writing, and in many areas of my life I found out later.
Stepping back a few, prior to the name inception, I was a house wife with two children. I had always written poems, stories, plays, essays and different types of material for emotional outlet and release. I had books and journals always scattered around where ever I was. My best friends in my times of great sorrow and disparity were dictionaries and a thesaurus. I met St. Nic at a graduation party in 1984 at that time his brother was was my boyfriend of about 1 month. St. Nic was always really mysterious but most of all he was an artist. He wrote music, played in his own band, and was very colorful in nature. The tattoos were amazing and his music somewhat psychedelic but moving. I was sort of a wild spirit and he warned his brother that I could be a handful. His insight was always spot on! Later on in his life he developed inoperable brain cancer.
His battles with cancer were always one step into the grave while still trying to be a loving husband and father as well as a musician and artist. We were never really too close in the beginning because our contact had been few and far between events. About 7 years passed and there I sat in marriage with two children. I was in a mode because our household because my husband worked quite a bit and I did not have a job outside the home. I found myself trying to find purpose again as a person. Not remembering how we actually started talking again, I think it was just after Christmas dinner at the in-laws.
I decided to help out my brother because it seemed like something I could do to make a difference. My husband would go to work in Detroit. After I would drop him off I would drive to St. Nics home with the kids. Sometimes I would take him to doctors, the pharmacy, the store or some days back to my house just to get him out of his because his days became so long. I would basically share what my family had because that was what you did, help family, right? After a while I felt comfortable letting him see my work. He put together a mixture of my poems, edited them and critiqued them. He looked over their format and content of what many I had written. After some time, he told me to get it published by what ever means I could and get my work out there at different venues.
Life then got very complicated because I went in too many directions. So that is for another time. As for the name here is what he stated about why he felt silver wine was a good pen name for me.
Silver is a precious metal I was precious to him and his family because I was there helping and enjoying life with them.
Silver has malleable qualities and with my writing he found that I was quickly learning from the tips he had given me.
Silver has the highest know electrical and thermal conductivity of all the metals - he told me that I was a very loving person who gave warmth to all that knew me.
Silver has reflective qualities and he felt my work always reflected the real me.
As for wine when it ages and is better with time. He looked over much of my writing and from what I had produced in the 80's compared to what I was writing in the 90's he felt just kept getting better.
So as of now, I am working on my self again. The writing does not flow like it did but I do have a book of poems to finish. I had it on a word processer back then now I have to start over once more putting them in a system to print. Maybe before was not my time. St. Nic has now passed away from his cancer but I still have the book of poems in the same setup that he sent it to me in, literally the same mailing envelope. I have intermittently started and stopped this poem book and will finish it with his name on it as intended.
So that is what is all about the name Silver wine. Thank you Nicodemus, Spidy & Blu for welcoming me into your family!
Bringing you closer to a man and his son of vision
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