Just a little something about some local poets

 Sunday night in a small coffee house in what the Twin Cities people call “Greater Minnesota,” a group of approximately 100 people crowded around a small stage to listen to poet Robert Bly read for his  “home town.”  Of course, Moose Lake isn’t really his home town.  He was born and raised farther south on a farm near Madison, Minnesota.  On the other hand, he has had a home in Moose Lake for more than 20 years.  He travels frequently from his home in Minneapolis to write in the solitude of this home by the lake. 

But I digress.  As usual, Robert began his reading with a little tidbit to make us laugh, “For a young poet, a reading is a way to show off.  And for an old poet, it is a way to show off.” Then Robert proceeds to read us poems he is still writing for his new book  Talking Into the Ear of a Donkey.  

“I’ve been talking into the ear of a donkey.
I have so much to say, and the donkey can’t wait
To feel my breath stirring the immense oats
Of his ears. . . .” 

“What do you think?  Shall I read it again?” he asks. “Yes, please” we answer.

"What do you think?  I wrote this poem ten years ago and I still can't get the last two lines right..." We laugh. 

Robert always shares the stage with someone. This year he invited Connie Wanek, a highly respected poet who happens to live in Duluth. Her most recent book is titled Hartley Field. She was quiet, unassuming and her poems delighted the audience.  The audience requested Connie to read some of her poems twice -- and I would have loved to have heard each one more than twice.             

Connie’s recent poems include meditations on children’s games – and, most recently on adult games such as monopoly and scrabble.  I found six of her recent poems at http://www.poemhunter.com/.   My favorite of the poems she read was the one about the umbrella:    

"Something saturated from the ribs down..."    

 You can read more about Connie at The Midwesterner website. 

Another poet who lives in Duluth, Louis Jenkins,  was in the audience.  Louis has in the past shared the stage with Robert at our annual event. Two years ago, the two old friends sat side by side taking turns reading and telling tales on each other.  

My favorite Poems by Louis Jenkins still are the first ones I heard (sorry, Louis, it’s true, I’m stuck) “Walking Through a Wall,” “Appointed Rounds” and “How to tell a Wolf from a Dog.”            

 “...If your wall walking is done properly, both you and the wall are left intact...”            

 "At first he refused to deliver junk mail because it was stupid..."                

“...The wolf looks unemployed, flat broke...(the dog) is fully employed with an eye toward promotion.”

Louis told me the prose poem is "like a novel, only shorter"  

Then Monday morning at work, I found Bart Sutter talking with our reporter Stephanie Hemphill.  Another fine poet and Duluth’s first Poet Laureate, Bart praised the many quality poets who live here.  It is “awesome” (as they say) that we are so blessed. 

My favorite Bart Sutter poems are also those I read first from his early "The Book of Names" published in 1993.  

"You've swallowed a wool sock, and you've got

A little sunburn, slight concussion, no big deal.

Too healthy for the hospital, too sick for work.

Stay home, then. Catch up on your dreams --"

But back to Robert’s claim that a poetry reading is the opportunity for poets of all ages to show off. There is an opportunity for you local (young and old, open or closet) poets to show off this Saturday evening (February 17) at the Spirit Lake Poetry Series’ annual St. David’s Day Open Readingin Somers Lounge at the College of St. Scholastica.  The “show-off” begins at 7:30 , is free and everyone is welcome.