Minnesota Prairie Roots

AS A LITERARY and visual artist, I see artistry in a Minnesota winter.

It’s there, in the shadows,

the snow,

the starkness of this season.

It’s there, too, in the curve of a woods-snugged road,

the rise and fall of a snow-edged highway,

the rustic dried grasses of swampland.

Poetry exists in a lone robin come too early for spring,

a squirrel clawed to a tree,

a lawn chair draped in new-fallen snow.

In this extended season of cold and snow, the artistry of winter remains, seemingly unwilling to yield to the artistry of spring.

But as certain as writer’s bloc vanishes, as certain as molded clay forms a sculpture, this artistry of a Minnesota winter will morph into the artistry of spring. I tell myself that as yet another winter storm storms into southern Minnesota.

NOTE: All images were taken from my Faribault yard or along Rice County Road 38.

© Copyright 2018 Audrey Kletscher Helbling