WHAT IS IT ABOUT POETRY?
Do you embrace or shun it? Write it or read it? Do you even care?
April marks National Poetry Month, a full thirty days initially established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 to focus on poetry.
My most recent poem, “The Farmer’s Wife, Circa 1960,” has been printed in Poetic Strokes, an anthology published by Southeastern Libraries Cooperating. My poem was one of 23 selected from 196 submissions. The anthology should soon be available for check-out by library patrons in the SELCO system.
If you haven’t read poetry in years, I’d suggest you revisit poetry. Long gone, mostly, are rhymed verses.
Instead, you will find poets penning free verse that correlates to an abbreviated form of storytelling or a spilling of emotions or a harmony of detailed observations and more.
Despite differences in subject matter and style, poets share a common love of language. Alliterations. Personification. Similes and metaphors. Strong verbs.
Poetry, though it may appear easy to write, is not.
Details matter. Each word matters. The sound of a poem read aloud matters.
A poem I wrote about my mother, just published in Poetic Strokes 2014, A Regional Anthology of Poetry from Southeastern Minnesota.
Every poet possesses a style. I’d define mine as rooted in my native southwestern Minnesota prairie. That stark land shaped me as a writer. My poems convey a strong sense of place, words wheeling like a prairie fire across the landscape of a page.
With so few distractions, the prairie presents an ideal environment to notice details—the grate of the wind, the lean of an outbuilding, the weathered grey of an abandoned farmhouse, the isolation, the calloused hands of a farmer, green corn leaves unfurling against rich black soil, the horizontal grid of township gravel roads, power lines stretching into infinity…
Those who’ve never lived on the prairie often fail to understand its beauty, dismissing it as the middle of nowhere.
But this land holds my heart and memories and continues to inspire me. Not all of my verse. But much of it.
Some of my prairie-inspired poetry includes:
- “This Barn Remembers,” Lake Region Review #1
- “Taking Lunch to the Men in the Field,” Lake Region Review #2
- “Abandoned Barn,” The Talking Stick, Volume 20
- “Broken,” The Talking Stick, Volume 21
- “The Farmer’s Song,” The Talking Stick, Volume 22
- “Prairie Sisters,” Poetic Strokes, Volume 2
- “Abandoned Farmhouse,” Poetic Strokes, Volume 3
- “Walking Beans,” Poetic Strokes, Volume 3
- “A school without a library,” Poetic Strokes, Volume 4
- “Saturday night baths,” Poetic Strokes, Volume 4
- “Her Treasure,” 11th annual Poet-Artist Collaboration, Crossings at Carnegie
- “Lilacs”, 13th annual Poet-Artist Collaboration, Crossings at Carnegie and honorable mention at 18th annual Northwoods Art & Book Festival
Perhaps it’s time to consider compiling those poems and others into a collection. Thoughts?
© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Poetry/photo book – go for it. It is pretty easy to do these days – both ebook and printed book forms.
I’ve been encouraged to combine my photography and poems and am considering options, although not self-publishing at this point. Lots of research to do.
I have not read poetry in a while – not in book form – I do look up poetry online every once in a while for a blog post or working through something in my personal life. My mom introduced me to poetry at a pretty young age and have moved away from it now and part of that is we read poems together and then would go through the various meanings together. I miss that at times. Happy Poetry Month:)
Please tell your mom I am impressed that she would read and discuss poetry with you. That is remarkable and to be applauded.
She is a retired teacher who taught for over 30 years:) You should have been there when she tried to teach BroCraves Shakespeare in High School – not his cup of tea at all – ha!
I am laughing out loud about teaching BroCraves Shakespeare. I am not particularly fond of Shakespeare either. I bet that was a challenge for your mom.
It still cracks me up – I do not know which one was more frustrated after that semester.
It makes for a good family story…
I think compiling your work into a single volume would be a lovely thing to do. Go for it! Even though I work for an online poetry journal, there is still something compelling about holding poetry in ones hands as a printed work. But approach one of the many local presses we have, perhaps, and see if they’ll publish it. Self-publishing will be there if that route doesn’t work for you, but I have a feeling you’d have some luck somewhere. You have a strong poetic voice.
Kathleen, how sweet of you to endorse my poetry. I especially appreciate your observation that I have a strong poetic voice.
My thought has been to pursue a local press. If you have any specific suggestions, would you email me? Or reply here in a comment I won’t publish. I would welcome your insights and tips.
As much as I appreciate the internet, I agree that there’s something about holding a volume in one’s hands that a screen can never match.
Your poem brings back memories of my mother and her mother (my grandmother). Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
You are welcome. I think I would have liked your mother and grandmother.
Definitely—you need to go for it. Your photography pairs so well with your poems and I can definitely see it coming together very easily for you. I do think it would have to be a physical book—-I find poetry to be one of those things that I like to linger over and with the added photographs I think the ebook version would lose some of the impact. Go for it. Do it. I will cheer you on!
Thanks for your encouragement. You are the best.
I want to see you put together a book too Audrey…. Love both your poems and pictures! I like how you said “the prairie presents an ideal environment to notice details”…I’m right there with you on that, I cannot get enough of the country and all it presents to those who truly notice.
Thanks for your encouragement, Jackie. We are truly sisters of the heart in many ways.
Agreed 🙂
I have read a lot about self-publishing. Most advice starts with asking yourself why you are doing this, what you want to get out of it. Make money? Share with friends and family? The fun of going out and marketing it? Get a reputation or say a platform from which to do other things? Teach the public?
Second most common comment, depending on why you are doing this: Marketing is it: even if you find a publisher, you are still the prime marketer.
Third, also depending on your purpose: make sure you put out a quality product, which means getting editing, proofing, even if you are a good self-editor. And get a graphic designer.
If you find yourself somewhere in this, go for it.
I studied all this to decide if I wanted to self-publish. I have decided not because I just cannot be out marketing. A 70-year-old friend has published with a small publisher, but the marketing is his to do. He is worn out even though he has done quite well.
Clyde, thank you for those thoughtful questions to ponder. Self-publishing really is not the route I wish to pursue.
I agree that the writing part is the “easy” part, the marketing a lot of work. I need to think about this some more and talk to a few authors I know.
I am deeply appreciative of your advice.
Congrats on having your poem published. And it’s such a lovely tribute to your mom. Six children! My mother had five. Our mothers worked very hard! I hope that you’ll put all of your poems into a book, one day, Audrey xx
You are right. Our mothers worked hard. Sometimes I don’t know how they did it all and had even a second for themselves.
Thank your for your encouragement re. a poetry collection.
Could you could make a large “coffeetable book” of your photos and poetry.? I have thought that many times when I look at your photos and read your poetry.
I will be one of the first ones to buy one! You are so talented and I love it that
you are from my area!!! It makes it all the more special to see everything you
have done and I especially like the poem about your mother.
Keep up the excellent work.
DeLores
DeLores, now you’ve gone and made me cry with your kind words that mean a great deal to me. Thank you. I am honored to share my love of southwestern Minnesota via my writing and photography. Truly, I credit my parents and extended family and rural upbringing and the prairie landscape for shaping me into the writer I am.
I am encouraged by the comments I’ve received on this post. I think it’s time now to gather my poems, write some more and submit them to a publisher.
Good for you. I just know it will be a best seller. I like to leave books laying
out on my coffee table and other tables in our living room. It is amazing how many times company will pick one up and look through it. If you get your book
published I know I will be buying one for each of our 4 kids and their spouses and for other family members.
DeLores
Thank you for your enthusiastic support, DeLores. These things take time. Competition is fierce among publishing companies. But, eventually, I hope to submit.
Every poet possesses a style. I’d define mine as rooted in my native southwestern Minnesota prairie. That stark land shaped me as a writer. My poems convey a strong sense of place, words wheeling like a prairie fire across the landscape of a page.
With so few distractions, the prairie presents an ideal environment to notice details—the grate of the wind, the lean of an outbuilding, the weathered grey of an abandoned farmhouse, the isolation, the calloused hands of a farmer, green corn leaves unfurling against rich black soil, the horizontal grid of township gravel roads, power lines stretching into infinity…
Those who’ve never lived on the prairie often fail to understand its beauty, dismissing it as the middle of nowhere.
Audrey, I recopied above what you wrote in your blog posting. I am in awe of your writing-even these few sentences taken from your blog are poetic and could easily be transformed into a poem. Congratulations on having your work be recognized and included in a published book.
Thank you so much, Sue. Your support of my poetry means a great deal to me.