Next Sunday Is 3rd Sunday in "Second Sunday Reading Series"

If it takes you a minute to figure out the headline, you're not alone. This coming Sunday is the third in a three-event series that began on the second Sunday of September. Organized by Duluth poet laureate Gary Boelhower, this Zoom gathering will take place November 8 from 3 to 4 p.m.

Featured readers this week will be former poet laureate Sheila Packa and Blair Powless, followed by an open reading. You can register for the event by sending an email to gboelhower@msn.com. If you are a poet who wishes to participate as a reader, submit your intentions to the same email.

Quick question to area poets. Have you been writing more poems this year of fewer? Are they darker than usual (due to the overcast mood of the country)? Or are they brighter, in an effort to lighten your spirit and relieve it from the congested heaviness of this year we wish we could have bypassed? What impact has 2020 had on your writing?

* * * * 

Here's one of the many poems I wrote this year that were stimulated and stained by the unusual events of 2020.  

Writing A Self Portrait

Distancing myself from the madness.

I’m writing till I’m all wrote out.
Whatever emerges I’ll follow its flow
till sidetracked by another route
that leads me elsewhere. I won’t know
till I get there.

I’m writing till I find myself.
Whatever emerges will help me learn
something new. I’m weary of pelf
that has no purpose. What I yearn
for is fresh air.

I’m writing, half believing I’ll see
a flow of words that serves as a trail
to where mind, heart and soul agree:
a trail, one hopes, that will not be a veil
but a portrait real.

To reach mountaintops you must climb all the way
You ascend step by step, that’s the price you must pay.
If you dawdle, that battle will be your last bout;
Get going, don’t look for the easy way out.

June 2020

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The Duluth Poet Laureate Project began in 2005 and is funded by donations from The Friends of the Duluth Public Library, Lake Superior College, Lake Superior Writers, and the English departments at the College of Saint Scholastica, UMD, and by generous individuals. The Zeitgeist Community Arts Center is the fiscal sponsor. More information can be found at www.duluthpoetlaureate.org.

Special nod to Jim Perlman for his support of writers in the Northland. 

Poets Gather To Celebrate The Bard During North Country Dylan Week

Zane Bail of the Dylan Way team.

In a week of events devoted to celebrating Bob Dylan's 72nd birthday (officially, the 24th) it only seems natural that in addition to music, movies and trivia there would be a component dedicated to his influence as a poet. And this year it came to pass.

At 3:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon poets and friends of poetry gathered in the Zeitgeist Atrium for the first of what will hopefully be many such assemblies. For myself it was nice to associate faces with some of the names of our local scribes. Thank you to Zane Bail and/or whoever else gave impetus to initiating this event, which included a nice handout, and some wonderful refreshments. The aroma of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies was an unexpected delight. Sarah Brokke's painting of a woman with an outstretched arm as if presenting our poets made for a nice serendipitous addition to the readings.

Poet Laureate Deb Cooper

Sheila Packa, 2010-2012 Duluth Poet Laureate, had been tapped to be moderator for the event, which included many of our region's respected poets. Bail wasted no words welcoming us and handing over the reigns. Packa began by citing a Dylan quote that underscored one of his motivations, to "write against the darkness.," readily recognized in his early protests against militarism and racism. Deb Cooper, our 2012-14 Poet Laureate was then introduced.

Cooper read from her book Under the Influence of Lilacs. The poem she selected, "She Is Grateful for the Bells," echoing Dylan's "Ring Them Bells" from his Oh Mercy album. She followed with a poem about teaching poetry at the jail, with numerous poignant lines like, "Night falls the same way everywhere..."

Ellie Schoenfield, who also has several books of poetry under her belt, followed. Schoenfield began with The "Rain Falls on the Roof" and another short piece, then offered up a knockout punch, a poem with a very long and ironic title about the last thing a man saw as he died in Guantanamo. 

Gary Belhower, 2012 winner of the Foley Poetry Award, read three pieces from his most recent book of poems, Marrow, Muscle, Flight. The first carried the simple title Poetica. He followed this with a poem titled Figure It Out. "The moon has its own reasons; you don't have to figure it out." His summing up was with a poem titled flight, which included references to Icarus, among other things.

Connie Wanek followed with a reading of "In My Craft for Sullen Art" by Dylan Thomas before sharing four of her own pieces beginning with "A Parting" and summing up with a poem for two titled "Two Degrees of Separation" which she performed with her husband.

Jan Chronister shared various poems related to road and completed her set with "I Got A Gun For Christmas."


Michelle Mathees began by mentioning that she was approaching Dylan from the Gen X perspective. Recently I've been observing a rich new crop of young poets emerging locally, and Mathees proved to be a wise addition to our more seasoned brood. She shared a poem titled "Junk It."

Phil Fitzpatrick, winner of the Dylan Days poetry contest, was scheduled to share last. His winning poem was an autobiographical accounting of his relationship to guns from early childhood cap pistols to pinging squirrels to having several close friends return from Viet Nam in various degrees damaged by them, one of these in a body bag. Poets look for fresh words and fresh ways to tell life stories, and Fitzpatrick's contributions achieved their intended aim, cajoling us into the stories and planting seeds to mull on later.

Ed Newman, least worthy of this poetry tribe, was given an opportunity to share a piece as well, noting that while in school Dylan's songs cut through to that inner place where he struggled with the disconnect between cheerful pop culture and the brokenness so apparent in Viet Nam, racism and our riots in the streets. He then shared his poem "Bad Break."

Sheila Packa closed the event with several poems of her own, keying in on the word blue. The poems were titled "Rapture", "Blues", "Denial" and "Suspended in Blue."

Zane Bail thanked us again for being present and expressed her hope that this will be another event that grows in the future.

Tonight at Carmody's Irish Pub there will be a Dylan Trivia Competition at 8:00 p.m.  The answers, my friend, will be blowin' in the wind.

Enjoy your daze throughout the week. Hope to see you on the scene.

Night Train / Red Dust @ The Underground

The Mission of The Underground is to serve as a community meeting place for culture and conversation, for arts and education, offering diverse programming to foster the artistic and intellectual life of Northern Minnesota.

This past fall the Twin Ports Arts Align held its monthly meeting in the space that formerly housed the Children's Museum at the Depot here in Duluth. The aim was more than to simply be a social hour. The organizers asked us to help name the new space. In the course of the evening we were to place a vote for one of several proposed names, or invent a name of our own which could be added to the list for consideration. When the dust cleared, the space had a new name: The Underground. As a multi-purpose event center, the space is well suited for a vibrant future.

The Underground is just one of many venues for theater, music, dance and poetry that is being shared during this month of highlighting the arts in our community. We have the Minnesota Ballet, Rubber Chicken Theater, Renegade Theater Company, Lyric Opera of the North, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Wise Fool Shakespeare, the MN School of Fine Arts and the Zeitgeist Arts all eager to entertain, while exploring the heights and depths of human experience.

Tonight at 7:30 p.m., The Underground is presenting Night Train/Red Dust, a multi-media experience featuring new poetry by Sheila Packa accompanied by film and cello by Kathy McTavish.

The careful reader will discover that Packa's writing contains many rich veins of ore, accompanied by miscellaneous precious stones and shimmering flakes of gold.

"I claim my words from the broken
English, damaged roots
Finnish syntax, mineral rights lost

Eminent Domains
from small print, unreadable clauses
labor contracts and mine dumps
old factories and invisible contamination

my words, in the run off,
in open streams – oxidize
form like tree rings in industrial circles

heat in the smelters, pour like lava into steel
form these rails that carry the trains
these trains that carry this freight"

For myself, this theme is inextricably linked to Dylan's North Country Blues, another lament about this complicated part of our Northland.

"Come gather 'round friends and I'll tell you a tale
Of when the red iron pits ran empty
But the cardboard filled windows and old men on the benches
Tell you now that the whole town is empty."
~Bob Dylan, North Country Blues

During the past year I've been amazed by the degree to which musical accompaniment can bring poetry to a new level, though it shouldn't surprise any of us as this is what Dylan's lyricism has always produced. McTavish's more abstract accompaniments produce an almost unearthly exquisiteness that can transform the words and images and give them wings, as I attempted to express in my review of the Packa/McTavish performance of Holy Fool. Attend if you are able.

Funded by the Jerome Foundation & the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.

In Response to Friday Night's Holy Fool

Friday evening I attended three wonderful art openings here in Duluth. Sandwiched between these events I was able to take in a very special collaborative event called holy fool at the Sacred Heart Music Center. Show notes describe it this way: 

"This show explores the intersection of stories / languages / materials and gesture. Wire, wood, pine pitch, horse hair, vellum, light, graphite, iron, thread, word, electrons and code, puncturing, tearing, creasing, stitching, scrawling, staining, illuminating... immersing in the infinite line... diving into the wreck."

The program began at 7:00 p.m. with a time set aside to explore the installations. The collaborators were Kathy McTavish, Sheila Packa, Cathy Podeszwa, Cecilia Ramon, Carla Stetson and Molly Tillotson. At 7:15 lights went dark and a bright light behind a screen illuminated McTavish seated on the stage, bow in hand, cello at the ready.

What follows are my own notes scribbled during this experience. 

holy fool

Kathy McTavish begins the trance sound, her cello grazing the arches and alcoves of Sacred Heart’s sanctuary. Then Sheila Packa, standing in the shadows at the podium, begins. “To the wind… Dear wind.” Kathy’s haunting undercurrent continues. “Crows rise in glossy coats… The wind, the water, the aurora borealis..." The streams of imagery flow.

They share the space, poetry and cello, words and music… until the words let go, and there is only…

I am reminded of Gorecki’s Third Symphony.
I am reminded of a thousand sorrows.
I am reminded of a tree.
I am reminded of a shift in the shadows of consciousness.
I am reminded of anguish and frustration and grief.
I am reminded of the perfection of beauty.

I am transported by roiling breakers to a far off place where memories are stirred, but there are no words. Is it a call? A howl?

It is something somewhere deep, something longing for resolution.

She plays like a blind person whose heightened senses reveal nuanced appreciation for the chords and discords delivered by her dexterous fingers, swaying at times under her own spell.

At times she is bowed down as if by the weight of it all, but much of the time she holds her head high, affirming her strength. The music levitates us, and we drift away.

The applause is loud, warm and extensive.


You can see / hear a brief excerpt of this performance at YouTube.

Holy fool was funded by the Jerome Foundation. This activity was also funded in part by the Minnesota State Arts Board through the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

holy fool

Friday, November 9, will be another busy night in the Duluth arts scene with a very exciting lineup of shows. I already mentioned Russell V. Gran's Curmudgeon show at Washington Galleries, starting at 6:00. Ochre Ghost on Second Avenue East is featuring Lindsay Rhyner's Fun Fur and Holiday Garbage art opening from 7:00 till 11:00 p.m. And the Prøve Collective will have its November art opening as well, also from 7:00 till 11:00, the theme being Light.

For me, the centerpiece of all these shows for me will be holy fool, a live performance and multimedia installation by Kathy McTavish and Sheila Packa at Sacred Heart Music Center on Fourth Street. Holy fool is the culmination of a year-long project by cellist, composer and transmedia artist, Kathy McTavish in conjunction with a team of collaborators to produce a multi-sensory, immersive reflection on our times.

The full cast also features Cathy Podeszwa (illumination), Cecilia Ramon (the infinite line), Molly Tillotson (iron bells), and Carla Stetson (the map / the sky).

I’ve become increasingly fascinated with the creative work of Kathy McTavish, especially since her Phantom Galleries Superior event in 2011 and her Birdland exhibition at the Duluth Art Institute. Last night I spoke with McTavish briefly about the origin of the name what it was like assembling the team for this project.

“I am interested in the fool as archetype,” she said. “We live life foolishly in some ways,” which is both a good and bad thing. At the center of holy fool is “the tension between rage regarding where we’re at as a species and a prayer of blessing to the world.”

Her partner in much of her work is Sheila Packa, Duluth’s gifted Poet Laureate who grew up in a Finnish-speaking family in Biwabik on the Range. Holy fool synthesizes many of the projects that the two have developed for gallery events over the course of the past year, being the culmination of this past year’s creative efforts and explorations. Holy fool layers stories on top of stories, visual elements and sound elements with many intersections that serve to form a gestalt.

In listening to McTavish talk about the work, I get the sense that they are striving to produce something as culturally significant as Ginsberg's Howl .

Another player in Friday’s show is Cecelia Ramon of Argentina. “I love her work, her sculptures.” Said McTavish. “It changes you to see someone else’s insights as they approach things.”

Tickets are available for $10 through the Sacred Heart Music Center. Event begins at 7:00 through 9:00 p.m. 

The holy fool project is funded by the Jerome Foundation. This activity is also funded, in part, by the Minnesota State Arts Board through the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

A short event trailer can be accessed at Vimeo .
There is also a holy fool Facebook event page .

To learn more about the art of Kathy McTavish, visit: www.cellodreams.com