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
.
Some friends enjoying Marcie's beautiful work.
Read more of Marcie's art: Torn Paper Poems
