Brandyn Johnson teaches at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, and he writes touching, understated poems about his family—he has several particular affecting poems about his brother in his chapbook in Four Quarters to a Section, published by the SDSPS in 2015. I particularly like this poem of his, from The Puritan: GARBAGE When you …
Creative writing professor at Augustana University, Patrick Hicks published a touching and honest portrayal of adoption in 2014, his book Adoptable (Salmon Press). One of my favorite poems from that book is up at The Poetry Foundation: The Strangers By Patrick Hicks After we picked you up at the Omaha airport, we clamped you into …
Check out poetry-related happenings around the state this month: June 24 Black Hills Indigenous Writers Festival What: Poets include Layli Long Soldier, Mary Black Bonnet, Mabel Picotte, Tom Swift Bird and Brandis Knudson. Mary Black Bonnet will also be giving writing workshops the Thursday and Friday before — check out the details on the flyer …
I recently attended a panel of women artists at SDSU’s art museum. They discussed the difficulties in making art, and one of them said something that I found especially encouraging, which I will get to later. I have also recently been reading Art and Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David …
When I was a kid and people asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I never really knew how to answer. It was the 1960’s and in spite of the Women’s Liberation Movement that was just starting to make the news, I thought that my options were: nurse, teacher, or …
She’s not going to be a South Dakotan much longer, because she got a teaching gig in Texas, so I thought I’d give a shoutout to Sara Henning while she’s still our neighbor! I’m particularly fond of her poem “The Color of Ashes,” available at The Superstition Review: The Color of Ashes “We all live …
November is NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month). It began in 1999 as a way of encouraging authors to write a certain number of words on their novel every day. Undoubtedly, it has resulted in the publication of novels that would not have been written otherwise, and that’s a good thing. I adapted that idea to …
When I was younger, I only ever wrote when inspiration struck. I typically wrote poetry or song lyrics (song lyrics included a melody in my head and usually included more repetition and yeahs). My notebook would collect dust between emotional outpourings. And the first page often read something kind yet firm “If you are picking …
The nature of my work is such that I spend a good deal of time on the road. Not just traveling, say to spend a few days at a conference or in meetings, but actually on the road, driving from here to there to investigate an accident scene or inspect a home damaged by fire …
March is here, and that means spring is just around the corner. Let the lengthening days and fresh outside air reinvigorate your senses and creativity. And get out there and explore these events of interest to poets, readers and writers coming up in the next month or two: February 27 A Reader Writes What: Pen …
