You’ll also find poetry featured in three columns this month: Kathy Steffen dedicates her “Between the Lines” column to encouraging the writing of different poetic forms (p. 6); Etienne White’s “Where the Land Meets the Sky” column treats us to a sampling of her poems and poetic images (p. 13); and this month’s “Driftless Terroir” column celebrates imagery in the poetry of Gary Jones (p. 21).
Yet another poetic expression is found in Robbin D’elene’s feature on Amber Westerman and her Poem Homes (p. 5), and Nancy Schmalz shares the story of seventh-grade triplets making music in a rare combination of instruments (p. 9). For an additional dose of poetry, check out our calendar listings for details about the poetry slam featuring River Valley High School students happening April 10 at the Spring Green Community Library.
Beyond poetry alone, each April we fully celebrate the arrival of spring, which we giddily heralded in March. On a personal note, after a seemingly endless winter we have truly indulged our sense of joy and wonder with the world by welcoming the arrival of the Cosmo the Irishdoodle into our home. Poetry and a puppy … is there a better way to welcome April?
Happy reading,
It’s National Poetry Month, and we’re celebrating throughout these pages.
As we do each and every year, we’re pleased to share poems and haiku submitted by Voice of the River Valley readers (pp. 22-25). Fourteen poets from Arena, Barneveld, Dodgeville, Mineral Point, Mt. Horeb, Ridgeway, Rockbridge, Spring Green, Waunakee and Wyoming Township answered our call for poems and haiku. Five of the poets are members of the newly formed Driftless Poets workshop that meets monthly at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point. (Sara is delighted to be a founding member of the workshop in her capacity as Shake Rag Alley’s executive director.)
