Torn Paper Poems in Windom Park by Marcie Radliff

 

 

Marcie Radliff had an idea, "What would it be like to write poems with other people in a place?"  She got a grant to invite people of Winona to write poetry with her.  She had pop up locations such as Levee Park, the East End Recreational Center, the Public Library to bring the invitation.

She had her capstone project to read some of her poems and share discussion on October 9, 2021. Some poems were placed around the park to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Write here announced the writing in place project.

I typed out a few of her poems with Marcie's permission for you to read:

Orange paper poem:

What I want to know is

What in nature is all straight lines, all corners, not curvature, no variation:

not the wind

not the river's edge, washed

and tickled by current and eddy

not even a blade of grass

only these street corners, lampposts,

walls, railings, that impose

a grid on the earth

cornices proclaiming how precise we are

                                                            8/21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shift

I stand on the shifting sand

am myself a sand dune

not a monolith--

connected, ever reaching

and spreading

 

now a cliff, now a valley

now a wrinkled hill

with a wave pattern 

that mimics the sea 

or the sea floor

or the ridges of a thumprint

bark of an old tree

 

Still

in a strong wind

I bear witness to the undersides

of leaves:

what is delicate about us

what we rarely show

what happens when we are tossed and the air the ground the water

heave

and what was once stable--

bottom, top--

is not,

we hold on

by these tiny tendrils

 

Marcie gathering up all of her poem boards and laughing

 

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Some friends enjoying Marcie's beautiful work.

Read more of Marcie's art: Torn Paper Poems