Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Autumn searches for water, at least in Minnesota September 30, 2024

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:51 AM
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Parched, cracked earth by the Turtle Pond, River Bend Nature Center. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo August 2021, used for illustration only)

IN AN AUTUMN WHEN RAIN REMAINS elusive and drought once again settles upon Minnesota, I am reminded of a poem I penned 14 years ago for a competition. “In which Autumn searches for Water” was among 28 pieces of prose and poetry published in “It’s All One Water,” a collaboration between the Zumbro Watershed Partnership and Crossings at Carnegie in Zumbrota.

The invitation to the 2012 “It’s All One Water” reception and group show in Zumbrota.

The winning entries were printed in a beautiful 55-page booklet that paired the writing with submitted photos, all themed to water. I opted to pen a poem personifying Autumn as a woman searching for water upon the parched land. To this day I still love that strong visual, inspired by my long ago observations at River Bend Nature Center in Faribault.

And if I were to tap further into my visual memory, I would also see a semi trailer full of hay parked in a southwestern Minnesota farmyard in the summer of 1976. That was a year of severe drought, when my dad bought a boxcar full of hay from Montana so he could feed his cows and livestock. It was the year that nearly broke him as a farmer.

A REALLY DRY & WARM SEPTEMBER IN MINNESOTA

Here we are, 48 years later, settling once again into drought/abnormally dry weather conditions in Minnesota after a winter of minimal snow followed by an excessively wet spring, a dry-ish summer and now a record warm and dry September. This September, the Twin Cities recorded only 0.06 inches of rain and the most days of 80-degree or warmer high temps in any September. It doesn’t feel like fall in Minnesota, more like summer. But at least temperatures cool overnight.

Areas of western and central Minnesota are under a Red Flag Warning today, code words for a high fire danger, due to dry, windy conditions and dropping relative humidity. We are experiencing “near critical fire weather conditions” here in the southern part of the state.

AND THEN THERE’S TOO MUCH WATER

Contrast this with the weather my friends in western North Carolina and other areas affected by Hurricane Helene are experiencing. One is OK (as is her house). But she expects to be without power for a week and is relying on limited cell service at the local firehall. Another friend, a native Minnesotan, lost his car and may lose his home in Hendersonville after a creek swelled, flooding his garage (with four feet of water) and house (30 inches of floodwaters). A foundation wall “blew out” of his home. He is currently staying with family in Florida.

So, yes, even though the lack of rain and abnormally warm weather in Minnesota concern me, I feel a deeper concern for the folks dealing with loss of homes, businesses, infrastructures and, especially, deaths of loved ones. The devastation is horrific. It will take months, if not years, to recover.

RESPECT FOR WATER & MY POEM

In 2012, the following statement published in the intro to “It’s All One Water”: It is our hope to inspire respect, protection, preservation and awe in honor of water, our most precious of Natural Resources. How one views water right now depends on where they live. But I think we can all agree that water is “our most precious of Natural Resources.”

Autumn leaves in the Cannon River, Cannon River Wilderness Park. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo 2021)

In which Autumn searches for Water

Water. The wayward word rises in a faint rasp,

barely a whisper above the drone of buzzing bees

weaving among glorious goldenrods.

I strain to hear as Autumn swishes through tall swaying grass,

strides toward the pond, yearning to quench her thirst

in this season when Sky has remained mostly silent.

But she finds there, at the pond site, the absence of Water,

only thin reeds of cattails and defiant weeds in cracked soil,

deep varicose veins crisscrossing Earth.

She pauses, squats low to the parched ground and murmurs

of an incessant chorus of frogs in the spring,

of Water which once nourished this marshland.

Autumn heaves herself up, considers her options

in a brittle landscape too early withered by lack of rain.

Defeat marks her face. Her shoulders slump. She trudges away, in search of Water.

© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

© Copyright 2012 “In which Autumn searches for Water” by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Poets, photographers & penny pinchers connect in Zumbrota October 21, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:50 PM
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FRIDAY EVENING I SUCCESSFULLY read a poem about water before an audience of other poets and photographers and guests in an historic Zumbrota, Minnesota, theatre as part of the “It’s All One Water” exhibit.

I tell you this because I prefer to quietly write and read poetry (to myself) as opposed to standing before an ocean of seats in a darkened theatre with my lips pressed close to a microphone. But practice, practice, practice made all the difference in my feeling fairly confident and comfortable this go around.

(Yes, I’ve read in the State Theatre previously and you can read about that poet-artist collaboration by clicking here.)

My poem,  left, was one of 28 selected and hung in a juried writing competition. Photos themed to water were also part of the “It’s All One Water” show which continues through the end of October at Crossings at Carnegie, 320 East Avenue, Zumbrota.

You’ll just have to imagine me reading my poem:

In which Autumn searches for Water

Water. The wayward word rises in a faint rasp,
barely a whisper above the drone of buzzing bees
weaving among the glorious goldenrods.

I strain to hear as Autumn swishes through the tall swaying grass,
striding toward the pond, yearning to quench her thirst
in this season when Sky has remained mostly silent.

But she finds there, at the pond site, the absence of Water,
only thin reeds of cattails and defiant weeds in the cracked soil,
deep varicose veins crisscrossing Earth.

She pauses, squats low to the parched ground and murmurs
of the incessant chorus of frogs in the spring,
of Water which once nourished this marshland.

Autumn heaves herself up, considers her options
in this brittle landscape too early withered by lack of rain.
Defeat marks her face. Her shoulders slump. She trudges away, in search of Water.

The “It’s All One Water” event included so much more than reading and listening to poetry and viewing photos on the subject of water. It was about mingling with other writers and artists, about connecting, or reconnecting.

Poets, photographers and others mingle over wine and snacks at Crossings prior to the readings a block away at the State Theatre.

I chatted briefly with poet Patrick L. Colemen of Minneapolis, whom I met at Crossings at Carnegie, (the arts venue supporting the show) last spring, and caught up with him on the mystery book he is writing.

I talked with John Calvin Rezmerski of Mankato, a poet who is eons ahead of me, having published several books of poetry and having taught writing at the college level. I met him last year at a poetry-photography show/reading in Mankato. More connecting there and encouragement from other poets.

That is, I have found, the true benefit of attending events like the Friday evening reception and reading in Zumbrota. Connecting. Encouragement for me personally in my writing.

More mingling at Crossings, this time after the poetry readings. To the right is the photo “Tiffany” by Tim Rabe of Rochester. All of the “It’s All One Water” photos are for sale.

Among all the unfamiliar faces was the familiar face of Peter Allen, a gifted Faribault poet who lives several blocks away and a street over from me. Peter and I will be presenting on poetry at Buckham Memorial Library in Faribault in early December. Peter gave me two thumbs up for my poetry reading Friday evening.

I don’t know how Faribault High School English teacher Larry Gavin (he’s taught all three of my children) would have graded my reading. But he was in Zumbrota, too, on Friday evening reading his two poems. He, like Rezmerski, has published several volumes of poetry and reads with the confidence of a seasoned poet who truly has mastered the craft of entertaining an audience.

Likewise Susan Waughtal of Oronoco entertained the audience with her “Farm Water Cycle” poem which resonated with me, a former farm girl. Afterward I chatted with Susan and her husband. They are, she says midlife crisis farmers (farming since 2008) who live and farm on a 10-acre sustainable farmstead, raising chickens (and more), tending bees, operating community supported agriculture, and supporting music and the arts… Susan recently quit her off-farm job to work full-time on the farm.

When Susan told me about the old granary converted into an antique/thrift/arts shop on Squash Blossom Farm and how much she thrills in thrifting, I connected even more for I, too, am a thrifter.

Poets and photographers and penny pinchers. Wonderful company to keep on a Friday evening in October.

The festive exterior of Crossings at Carnegie, a privately-owned art center housed in a former Carnegie library.

FYI: For more information about Crossings at Carnegie, which collaborated with the Zumbro Watershed Partnership on “It’s All One Water,” click here.

© Copyright 2012 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Zumbrota exhibit explores water during this year of extreme drought October 19, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 7:55 AM
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I LOVE THE ARTS.

And I expect part of that passion comes from the lack of arts in my life when I was growing up on the southwestern Minnesota prairie. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, out there in “the middle of nowhere,” as some would say, life focused more on survival than anything.

By survival I mean my father earning enough money to support his wife and six children on a modest crop and dairy farm.

So much depended on the weather, on the rain or lack thereof. Enough rain meant a bountiful crop to feed the cattle and/or sell grain on the market. Too little rain meant scrimping on feed and less money to pay the bills, buy the groceries, clothe the family.

But let’s circle back to my original statement about loving the arts and connect that to water.

Recently I entered, and successfully competed in, an “It’s All One Water” poetry competition sponsored by the Zumbro Watershed Partnership and Crossings at Carnegie, a privately-owned art center in Zumbrota.

This evening a public reception will be held at Crossings, 320 East Avenue, beginning at 6:30 p.m. It is an opportunity to view works by 56 writers and photographers who “explored the aspects of water which fascinate them and created their own artistic expression of this most basic foundation for life,” according to promo info for the event.

At 7:30 p.m., writers, photographers and guests will move down the block to the historic Zumbrota State Theatre where writers will read their works while the water-themed photographs are projected onto a screen.

I will read my “In which Autumn searches for Water.”

My poetic expression about water traces back to my farm roots, to that constant and undeniable link between the land and the sky.

That connection is so much a part of my fiber that I cannot think about water in recreational terms—I can’t swim, don’t like being on the water and grew up in a Minnesota county without a natural lake. Rather, for me, water has always been about sustaining life, about growing a crop, about watering the cows or watering plants or measuring rainfall.

So when I learned of the “It’s All One Water” poetry competition shortly after an autumn walk at the River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, where I found dry ponds, I knew exactly what I would write. I personified Autumn, creating a thirsty woman in search of an also personified Water. It works and I think well, especially given the current historic drought conditions throughout our country.

About a third of Minnesota is suffering from extreme drought. On Thursday the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources issued a news release urging Minnesotans to adopt water conservation measures (no washing vehicles, watering lawns and trees, etc.) as drought conditions are straining our state’s water resources.

Here’s a snippet of my drought-related water poem, verse three of five:

But she finds there, at the pond site, the absence of Water,
only thin reeds of cattails and defiant weeds in the cracked soil,
deep varicose veins crisscrossing Earth.

You can hear me read “In which Autumn searches for Water” this evening or view the entire exhibit from now until the end of October at Crossings. Hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Thursdays; or from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturdays. A limited number of chapbooks are available. Monies from Minnesota’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund helped to fund the “It’s All One Water” exhibit.

CLICK HERE to reach the Crossings at Carnegie website.

CLICK HERE to link to the Zumbro Watershed Partnership website.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW drought conditions in the U.S.