“Landform” for April 12, 2019

Landform
 
 
Long ago, I lost it,
the black camisole
with a logo of Devils Tower
stamped in silver. Still
it shimmers in memory,
like a lost constellation.
The logo was thin as a lichen,
flaky. I saw little resemblance
to the landform
that gave rise to it. Why
does it loom large?
Perhaps because
of the gossamer light
it continues to cast
for me? Memory acts like
a radio tower, broadcasting
signals only I can (fitfully)
hear: a triangulated tale—
who I wanted to be,
who I was really,
whom I might still become.
So, maybe, if I just stand
here, a little longer,
near up-surging
evidence—
vanished lava and
the Sundance Sea—
I will unscramble.
I will understand.
 
Leslie Schultz
public domain photo by Laura Lauer (pixabay)

News Flash! THIRD WEDNESDAY Publishes My Poem “Don’t Forget”

Cover Art: “Umbrella Street, Anatalya, Turkey” by Lauren Tivey

Third Wednesday comes out twice a year, always packed with poetic and graphic interest. This summer, when it has been so rainy and hot here in Northfield, the cover is especially arresting to me!

Enjoy your summer!  LESLIE

Inside Umbrella, Winona Street

News Flash! Interview in 507 Magazine Posted Today

Tim took this photo of me today as I was thinking about next week.

I will be spending the next few days thinking about what to share on Monday evening at the Northfield Public Library, but today I would like to share an interview that reporter Anne Murphy did with me. It came out today in 507 Magazinethe arts publication of the PostBulletin, Rochester, Minnesota’s award-winning newspaper.

Wishing you all a happy weekend in your own corner of the world! Leslie

Reading from My Book, CLOUD SONG, on May 21, 2018 at the Northfield Public Library


I am thrilled to be reading from my new collection of poems, Cloud Song, on May 21, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. at the Northfield Public Library. If you can make it, I would love to see you there!

And for those of you who have looked into the collection already, I’d welcome your ideas:  which poem is the one you’d most want to hear if you could be there?

Wishing you a month filled with flowers, sun, (occasional rain), bird song, but no more snow!

Leslie

April 25, 2018 NaPoWriMo Challenge Poem: “Opinion Piece: Afternoon Interlude”

Recycled Glass Path (photo: Karla Schultz)

Whooping Crane Vocalizing (photo: Karla Schultz)

Opinion Piece: Afternoon Interlude

Yesterday, perched on a chair,
in a friend’s lofty house,
knitting a sock of maroon wool,
discussing difficult new fiction,

I dropped my knitting, half-rose to stare:
down through the wide, clean window.
Over tufts of straw-bleached grass
and a partly thawed pond,

the low, long, elegant swoop
of a lone sandhill crane
flowed to its conclusion
oblivious of utterance. Full

of its own light and syntax,
punctuated only by wing
and pinion, it appeared to be made
solely of cadence, of insight.

Leslie Schultz

Whooping Crane Preening (photo: Karla Schultz)

Sadly, I have no photographs of Sandhill Cranes. These photos were all taken at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. (The last image is one I took; the others are all by my accomplished sister!)

May you soar today in your daily rounds! Leslie

Check out other participants in the NaPoWriMo Challenge!