Saturday, August 28, 2004
SATURDAY'S POEM
--------------------------
IN A TOWN CALLED UNINCORPORATED
by Karl Elder
This guy must
think he's got guts,
the rush and gust
of a pickup truck
honking at a wedding party
poised to cross on the steps of the church.
My wife and I pull over at the edge of town
to cut his dust
as much as to switch off.
The wind says wow
in cedar and birch
like a quiet caterwaul.
What lay ahead or, for that matter, lies
are behind me now.
Now, arrival is everything,
all.
Karl Elder lives in Howards Grove, Wisconsin, where he is Poet in Residence at the nearby Lakeland College. Elder is a Pushcart Prize recipient included in The Best American Poetry series. His fifth book, The Geocryptogrammatist’s Pocket Compendium of the United States, is available from Amazon.com. Several of his poems are archived at Poetry Daily [www.poems.com] and Beloit Poetry Journal [www.bpj.org].
-----------------
A NOTE TO THE POETS OUT THERE
I'm interested in considering your "poems of place" for publication in The Middlewesterner's "Saturday's Poem" feature; send two or three of your best in the body of an e-mail addressed to tmmontag@dotnet.com . Put "Saturday's Poem" in the subject line. Then be patient. I will get back to you about whether I'll use your work or not. Send along a short biographical note and information about where your books can be purchased and I'll include that when your poem runs. There's no payment involved for having your work appear in "Saturday's Poem," but the feature is seen by some high class readers. About seventeen of them, by our current count.
INDEX OF THE THIRTEEN MOST RECENT SATURDAY'S POEMS
o Harriet Brown, "Speaking Midwestern" and "Where We Went" - July 10, 2004
o Robin Chapman, "By the Wisconsin River" - June 12, 2004
o Susan Firer, "The Butterfly Graveyard" - May 22, 2004
o Susan Firer, "The Bright Waterfall of Angels" - August 14, 2004
o R. Chris Halla, "My Prairie Wedding" - June 5, 2004
o Karla Huston, "Night Swim" and "Summer Storm" - July 31, 2004
o Loren Kleinman, "Formaggio" and "Jetsam" - July 24, 2004
o Colleen Redman, "Tincture Making" - May 15, 2004
o Jim Reese, "Ritual" and "Willing and Ready" - May 29, 2004
o John Rezmerski, "What I Am Trying to Tell You: Prairie in My Mouth" and "Some Good Things Left After the War With the Sioux" - August 21, 2004
o Robert Schuler, "Thaw, 2003, Stanton Township" and "The American Millenium" - June 26, 2004
o Judith Strasser, "Apostle Islands History" and "County Road" - July 17, 2004
o Marilyn Taylor, "Surveying the Damage" - June 19, 2004
o Complete index to poems here
--------------------------
IN A TOWN CALLED UNINCORPORATED
by Karl Elder
This guy must
think he's got guts,
the rush and gust
of a pickup truck
honking at a wedding party
poised to cross on the steps of the church.
My wife and I pull over at the edge of town
to cut his dust
as much as to switch off.
The wind says wow
in cedar and birch
like a quiet caterwaul.
What lay ahead or, for that matter, lies
are behind me now.
Now, arrival is everything,
all.
Karl Elder lives in Howards Grove, Wisconsin, where he is Poet in Residence at the nearby Lakeland College. Elder is a Pushcart Prize recipient included in The Best American Poetry series. His fifth book, The Geocryptogrammatist’s Pocket Compendium of the United States, is available from Amazon.com. Several of his poems are archived at Poetry Daily [www.poems.com] and Beloit Poetry Journal [www.bpj.org].
-----------------
A NOTE TO THE POETS OUT THERE
I'm interested in considering your "poems of place" for publication in The Middlewesterner's "Saturday's Poem" feature; send two or three of your best in the body of an e-mail addressed to tmmontag@dotnet.com . Put "Saturday's Poem" in the subject line. Then be patient. I will get back to you about whether I'll use your work or not. Send along a short biographical note and information about where your books can be purchased and I'll include that when your poem runs. There's no payment involved for having your work appear in "Saturday's Poem," but the feature is seen by some high class readers. About seventeen of them, by our current count.
INDEX OF THE THIRTEEN MOST RECENT SATURDAY'S POEMS
o Harriet Brown, "Speaking Midwestern" and "Where We Went" - July 10, 2004
o Robin Chapman, "By the Wisconsin River" - June 12, 2004
o Susan Firer, "The Butterfly Graveyard" - May 22, 2004
o Susan Firer, "The Bright Waterfall of Angels" - August 14, 2004
o R. Chris Halla, "My Prairie Wedding" - June 5, 2004
o Karla Huston, "Night Swim" and "Summer Storm" - July 31, 2004
o Loren Kleinman, "Formaggio" and "Jetsam" - July 24, 2004
o Colleen Redman, "Tincture Making" - May 15, 2004
o Jim Reese, "Ritual" and "Willing and Ready" - May 29, 2004
o John Rezmerski, "What I Am Trying to Tell You: Prairie in My Mouth" and "Some Good Things Left After the War With the Sioux" - August 21, 2004
o Robert Schuler, "Thaw, 2003, Stanton Township" and "The American Millenium" - June 26, 2004
o Judith Strasser, "Apostle Islands History" and "County Road" - July 17, 2004
o Marilyn Taylor, "Surveying the Damage" - June 19, 2004
o Complete index to poems here
