Just over a month ago, twenty-two Northfield poets, along with dozens of other neighbors, gathered at the Grand Event Center to share poems. Now, these poems, along with the eloquent opening remarks by Lindsey Ness, co-owner of the Grand, have been gathered together in a chapbook. I feel priveleged to be part of a community that stands up for all people, and I feel honored to have one of my own poems included in this historic collection.
If you would like a chance to read these words for yourself, copies are available through Content Bookstore. Profits go to our valient Community Action Center which serves all of our neighbors, especially those with acute needs.
As many of you know, yesterday a local effort took place in our city. Poets and others joined together to reject the invasion of the federal government into peaceful local processes. The event, called Words to Meet the Moment: A Poetry Event Against Fascism, was organized by our local independent Content Bookstore; hosted by our primary gathering space, the historic Grand Event Center; emceed by our former poet laureate, Rob Hardy; was broadcast over the radio by our local independent station, KYMN-FM Radio; and served to raise funds for a new organization called Northfield Helping Neighbors, managed by our highly effective Community Action Center.
Twenty-nine poets shared a mix of original and previously published work over a space of about two hours. An estimated 115 people attended, and many also listened in real time via KYMN-FM’s live stream. (My own contribution is a sonnet variation called “Dirge for Renee Good: A Call to {Open} Arms”. My presention starts at about the 42-minute mark.)
The energy in the room was high. The voices expressed a full spectrum of concerns, emotions, poetic forms, life experiences, and languages — beautiful passages not just in English but in Spanish. My own poem, a nonce-form sonnet variation, employs the imagery of seeing through ICE and lighting a candle in a dark time.
The images I share here are of myself and architectural details only. All concerned agreed to protect each other’s privacy. The image above is of a candle made in this house, by my husband, from local beeswax, resting on a Norwegian silver dish given to us years ago by kind neighbors, the Heibergs. Neighbors — that sums it up.
It helped me to stand with others for a few moments, to take a small but important step to preserve our precious First Amendment rights.
I learned today that a chapbook containing much of the original work is being planned for publication in February. Donations from the event yesterday raised more than $1,500 to help vulnerable people here. When it is available, I will let you know.
Thank you for your caring enough to read to the end and for all the other things you are doing as a concerned citizen. As a neighbor. Even to those you haven’t yet met.
As with everyone with whom I have talked this week, the shock of the killing of Minnesota mother and poet Renee Good continues to reverberate. How can a person respond truthfully and civilly? How does one bear witness to what is so very painful to see?
For myself, I began putting words on the page. Poetry is how I bear witness, but I have still felt very small in the face of this large evidence of repression. That is why I was very grateful that our wonderful local bookstore in Northfield, Content Bookstore, has spearheaded a collective response. The Words to Meet the Moment event will bring people together at our historic Grand Event Center to share their own words and, together, to voice their deep concerns, to embody through the voice our collective–and critical–civil society.
I will be there. And I wanted you, too, to know about it.
In gratitude for your presence in my life, Leslie
(Click on this link WORDS TO MEET THE MOMENT to find all details, including contact information.)
A very big thank you to Content Bookstore, especially to reading organizer Ellie Ray, and to all the friends who attended my first reading from Geranium Lake last Thursday evening.
Despite the torrential downpour that began half-an-hour beforehand, it was a really good crowd, both in the store and on Content’s livestream via Facebook. I was buoyed up by all of your friendly faces and your excellent questions and comments afterward.
Thank you!
LESLIE
(Note flowers sent by a kind friend!)Photo by Timothy BraulickRaincoat, Reading Copy, and Roadmap, i.e., Lineup of Poems to Read!
I have just learned that tomorrow evening’s reading at Content Bookstore in Northfield, Minnesota will be livestreamed, and anyone can be in the audience long-distance, as it were. To join me, simply click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/ContentBookstore tomorrow evening (Thursday, October 24, 2024) at 7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time. The event will last about an hour.
