Eleven new voices, including youth poets, will highlight the series. Bruce Dethlefsen, Poet Laureate of Wisconsin is the fourth individual to be honored with that distinction. Norbert Blei is one of Door County’s best known writers, editors and publishers. “Obvious Dog” features the ‘Lip’py poems of Cathryn Cofell to the rocking music of Bruce Dethlefsen and Bill Orth. June Nirschl and Judy Roy recently published the poetry book Slightly Off Q.

They are members of the Wallace Poetry Group. Sarah and Al Stuart are talented in art, music and poetry and maintain a gallery in Fish Creek. Edward Dimaio has often read at the open mic in this series. As well as writing poetry, Henry Timm directs, writes and/or acts in many plays. Marybeth Mattson is a poet of lyrical touches and startling imagery. David Clowers is a prolific poet who acts in local productions and still finds time to be a lawyer. Francha Barnard, a retired librarian, was the winner of the 2010 Peninsula Pulse Poetry Prize. The readings by young poets have been so successful that the series will again feature a full evening of poetry by youths.

Each year UUFDC sponsors these monthly poetry readings named in honor of this famous poet. The readings are held at 7:00 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month and include a featured poet for half the program, followed by an open mic and then a few more poems from the featured reader. The series begins each year in April to commemorate National Poetry Month.

The schedule for 2011-2012 is as follows:

2011

April 13 – Norert Blei

May 11 – “Obvious Dog”

June 8 – June Nirschl

July 13 – Sarah and Al Stuart

August 10 – Judy Roy

September 14 – Edward Dimaio

*October 19 – Bruce Dethlefsen

November 9 – Henry Timm

December 14 – Marybeth Mattson

2012

January 11 – David Clowers

February 8 – Youth Readers

March 7 – Francha Barnard

* This reading is the third Wednesday of October in conjunction with a reading for the Friends of Door County Libraries at the Sturgeon Bay Library on Thursday, October 20.

The poetry community in Door County is extremely vital. The Dickinson Series features both beginning and established poets and provides a comfortable setting for the reading of new work. These evenings also attract new listeners, some of whom then become readers. The series is intended to enhance both the appreciation and the writing of poetry.

All readings are held at the UU Fellowship, 10341 Water Street (Hwy 42), on the north side of Ephraim, next to the Green Gables Shops. Brochures describing the series are available at local libraries, bookstores, and information centers. The readings are free and open to the public. All those who love poetry are welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information visit www.uufdc.org.

This is the inaugural event in Door County’s celebration of National Poetry Month, which begins April 1. Memory Keepers is the second volume of selected poems read by featured poets during the previous 12 months of the Fellowship’s Dickinson Poetry Series. The book includes 28 poems by 15 poets. The title is a variation of the title of one of the poems in the book and reminds us that good poetry is indeed a repository of observations, ideas, and feelings we have all experienced.

The featured poets include: Katie Schnorr, Barbara Larsen, Nancy Rafal, Ellen Kort, Ralph Murre, Loraine Brink, Jack Redell, Sharon Auberle, Caleb Whitney, Gary Jones and Michael Farmer; plus young poets at Gibraltar High School: Caitlin Weber, Brandon Bogenschϋtz, Morgan Petersilka and Rachael Mickelson. The poems reflect on the local scene, travel, language, social issues, nature and human interactions – subjects with a long history in poetry.

The publication celebration will include refreshments, music, impromptu readings of poems by their authors, and opportunity for the poets to autograph their pages in the books that have been purchased. The cost of the book is $10, with proceeds funding community service activities as well as promoting greater interest in poetry. Memory Keepers will be available at poetry events taking place on a county- and state-wide range, as well as at UUFDC events.

The issuance of this Volume II confirms the intention of UUFDC to make poetry collections from the Dickinson Series an annual publication. Volume I, released in April, 2010 was No Breath is Lost. Both volumes were produced by Helene Di Iulio.

The Dickinson Poetry Series is presented by the UUFDC the second Wednesday of each month offering an opportunity for both experienced and new poets to share their works. It is free and open to the public. The UU Fellowship is located at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim. For more information visit their website at www.uufdc.org.

Ralph Murre is the author of “Crude Red Boat” and a collection of his poems and art entitled, “Psalms.” He released a third book of original works this summer. He is also the editor of several books of prose, poetry, photography and drawings by other authors and artists, published under his own Little Eagle Press. Ordering information for these books is available from littleeaglepress@gmail.com.

On November 20, 2010 he announced the fifth anniversary of the Arem Arvinson Log, a blog filled with observations, poems, original art and photographs. Here’s the latest poem posted there…

Weak Link

No stronger the chain,
they would say,
as they cast their glances
his way, the chances
that he would not be weakest
never even considered
as he frittered away
what they called their honor,
these colonels and better
from the 1800’s ‘til today.
Every silence, every wheel
turning against him
at the family table,
he enlisted in the fray.
Every cell of his cells
resisted his decision,
as the single-bar lieutenant’s
division went to war.
His Echo Company landed
amid sporadic blasts
on the first hot day
and by December
every ember of his pride
had darkened,
every platoon sergeant
and squad leader
hoped to frag him,
but he moved them,
against orders,
to a village
at the unseen gravel border,
where an air-strike
had been called on an emir.
There are children,
There are children,
he kept calling to the airmen,
There are children.
We’re going in.

It was friendly fire
that claimed him,
from a patriot PFC,
but the bombing was averted,
and the emir, if he was there,
and the children,
one more day,
went free.

- Ralph Murre

The Arem Arvinson Log  is about all sorts of things and it’s huge, very well tagged and categorized, so plan to spend some time there… regularly. Everyone always wants to know who or what is Arem Arvinson. I had to dig back to the first Anniversary log to discover the story provided by Murre below:

Who is this Arem Arvinson, for instance? I first met him a few years ago and found that we had some things in common, including this body and this skull we share. Even his name, Arem, is pronounced like my initials: R.M., and my dad was named Arvin. Just where he came from is uncertain, but he seeks to counsel the neophyte writer in me – and to influence me in other areas – for which I must be on my guard.

Arem is the sort of guy who buys motorcycles instead of life insurance, has a bar tab instead of a savings account, would take a lover instead of a wife, believes in everything, worships nothing, has salt water and hot blood in his veins, and writes better haiku in a few seconds than I ever will in a lifetime. He’s more at ease on a tops’l yard in a gale than he is at a dinner party and while I fear him, I also envy him.

When I can get him to talk, this blog will be about his voyage; when he’s silent, I’ll keep filling in with bits from my own mundane journey.

Ralph Murre is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. His latest book, The Price of Gravity, from Auk Ward Editions, is a fine example of unique things Made in Door County.

Even though this is Ralph’s third book, he claims to be… “as excited about this one as a bear with salmon, a baron with mousse, a mouse with brie.”

“I was lucky to have editor Charles Nevsimal to save me from myself.  A real wheat-from-chaff man, Charles, though I sneaked in a few things when he wasn’t looking. Poems in this book run the gamut of subject matter (perhaps something to offend everyone, as the tag-line for the film, The Loved One, put it) and the writing ranges from about seven weeks to seven years old, many of the pieces having been published individually in a variety of print and on-line journals and anthologies.”

At 92 pages and 81 poems, this is a great way to spend $10. You can find it at local bookstores or you can add $3 shipping and handling and order it the old-fashioned way by mailing a letter with a check for $13 enclosed to:

Ralph Murre
PO Box 684
Baileys Harbor WI 54202

The “Made in Door County Series” is part of our efforts to help establish a more permanent culture in northeastern Wisconsin… or perma-culture as it has come to be known among sustainability advocates. Find out more at SpendingLocally.com and “Like” us on Facebook to learn more.

Rabbi Jay Brickman is a frequent speaker in Door County, spending summers at his Ellison Bay home for more than thirty years. He teaches a popular summer course in Biblical history each year in Ephraim at the Unitarian Fellowship. In the off-season he returns to his own congregation in Milwaukee. From the contents of his latest published work, it is apparent that he is always observing and taking notes on the status of life.

He calls his observations “poetry doodles” and emphasizes the relationship by partnering with artist Jo Anna Poehlmann in the publication of his latest book. Poetry Doodles – a blend of thoughtful insights enhanced with numerous pen and ink drawing and typography enhancements. You can dip into it anywhere, much like a box of chocolates and pull out a treat or a thought-provoking short take on life as Brickman sees or lives it.

Several people have shared the thought that this is the perfect book to keep beside the bed, handy for calling up a thought with which to begin or end the day. My friend Del Close used to describe this habit as, “book divination… just open it to any page, then read and let the book speak to you about the now.”

Here’s a random example, testing Del’s theory using Poetry Doodles…page 62 starts off with, “Please do not share with me esoteric doctrine; I find dealing with the ordinary sufficiently complex.” Another try… “To succeed in dieting one must limit the goal of taking off weight to a single pound.”

Short, simple and often profound, this bright yellow book with the raccoon mascot on the cover has only one flaw. Much like that box of chocolates, you may regret gobbling it up too quickly wishing there were more. If gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins pervades your life, Brickman provides the answer: “One is not a sinner for having sinned, only for having sinned and slept soundly.”

The book’s motto graces the Poetry Doodles Facebook Fan Page, “Life is complex. Wisdom comes in many shapes and sizes.” Readers are encouraged to stop by online and share their own poetry doodles. Rumor has it they may be combined with Brickman’s own doodles in the next volume. In any case, you can download a free Poetry Doodles Sampler containing several pages of the original book if you “Like” it…

Poetry Doodles is available at your local bookstore or online at PoetryDoodles.com.

www.facebook.com/PoetryDoodles

Author, Barbara Larsen

Barbara Larsen believes in the power and truth of poetry and in its ability to connect with the hearts and minds of readers.

Much of her work is inspired by the beauty in nature around her home on a bluff overlooking Green Bay waters in Door County. She finds the constant changes of sky and water each day to be endlessly fascinating. Seasons go by and furnish constant sources of material to write about.

Family memories and humorous incidents in her life also find their way into words. An avid reader, influences of other writers help shape some of her work.  Many of her poems have a strong philosophical bent.

Active in Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets for many years, she now concentrates on the many public poetry activities of Door County. She is a member of the Unabridged Poets and the Wallace Group where she joins other poets in polishing skills and critiquing each other’s work. She has won literary awards and her poems have appeared in numerous publications.

Books she has published are: Beach Road Year; Pine Ridge, 1937; Tea Leaves;   Bjorklunden Sketches, in collaboration with Gretchen Maring; All in Good Season; and her latest, Finding Tongues in Trees.

Other poets are encouraged to read their poetry during an open mic session following the featured poet. The recently published book No Breath Is Lost, a compilation of poems read during the inaugural Dickinson Series 2009-2010 will be available for purchase.

The Dickinson Poetry Series is held on the second Wednesday of the month at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County, 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim. Following the featured poet’s reading, an open mic is available for seasoned and budding poets to share their own writings. The Series is free and open to the public.

The chapbook is a collection of poems read during the Fellowship’s inaugural season of the Dickinson Poetry Series named for prolific 18^th century poet Emily Dickinson who favored Unitarian philosophy.

This book includes 28 poems by 12 poets. The title suggests the value of the spoken poetry in that nothing uttered is lost and the poetic qualities have been preserved for all to enjoy. It is taken from the words spoken by Krishna in a poem by Henry Timm. The poets featured are Anita Beckstrom, David Clowers, Larry Eriksson, Gerri Friedberg, Hanne Gault, Phil Hansotia, Cynthia Johnson, Anya Kopischke, Estella Lauter, Rolf Olson, Timm, and Thomas Toerpe. The poems reflect on the local scene, travel, language, social issues, nature and human interactions—subjects with a long history in poetry.

No Breath Is Lost will be released on April 22 at a gala celebration party at 7 pm at UUFDC, 10341 Water Street (Hwy 42), Ephraim. This event is one of the scheduled Door County activities to commemorate National Poetry Month. The party will follow by a few days the opening reading of the 2010-2011 Emily Dickinson Series, a presentation by Katie Schnorr on April 14.  The gala will include refreshments, music, impromptu readings of the poems by their authors, and opportunity for the poets to autograph their pages in the books that have been purchased.

The cost of the book is $12 and it will be available at poetry events county-wide and state-wide and at UUFDC events. It may also be ordered by mail, UUFDC, P.O. Box 859, Sister Bay, WI 54234 or online, uufdc@charterinternet.com.  Add $3 for mail or online orders to cover postage and handling.

The Fellowship sponsors the Emily Dickinson Poetry Series at 7 PM on the second Wednesday of each month beginning in April, National Poetry Month. Each event in this annual series presents a featured poet reading her/his original poetry, followed by an open mic, and then a few more poems by the featured reader.  For more information visit www.uufdc.org

It’s Valentine’s Day 2010,
Where’s the love in the air?
I don’t seem to sense it.
Does anyone care?

The world is troubled,
Economies aren’t robust.
People are worried.
Is there anyone we can trust?

We’re fighting wars in two countries,
Millions are unemployed.
Our portfolios took a hit,
Few are overjoyed.

Congress is nonfunctional,
Their approval rating ten or less.
The executive branch is confused.
“W” gets the blame for the mess.

The printing presses are on fire,
Printing money; adding debt.
We’re recording record deficits,
And we’re not done yet.

Health care costs are spiraling,
We have a two thousand page bill.
The bottom line for the seniors,
You’d better not get ill.

Well, now for the message,
Before we end up in the ditch.
Nothing is going to change,
If we sit around and bitch.

Sure there are major problems,
But let’s not add to the pollution.
Before we just complain,
Let’s come up with a solution.

The biggest problem we face,
Is a terrible attitude.
Can’t we open up the discussion,
Give the issues some latitude?

I think we need to lighten up.
We need to come to our senses.
We need to stand tall and resolute,
But try to not build more fences.

Let’s wake up with a smile,
Face the day with new vigor.
We can stick to our principles,
Without our finger on the trigger.

Our system needs tweaking,
The remedies will seem strange.
We must be part of the process,
And be willing to accept change.

Washington needs cleansing,
We need to get involved.
Find honest and bright leaders,
To get our direction resolved.

I receive tons of email each day,
Takes an hour to clean the slate.
Some are humorous and fun,
Too many are full of hate.

Today I have a wish,
Let me make it quite clear.
Let’s think of St. Valentine,
Each day of the year.

Change our attitudes today,
Let our hearts enter our thinking.
Our lives will be renewed,
Our ship full afloat, not sinking.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends,
Enjoy all your candy.
Give everyone a hug,
And life will be dandy.

“Corky” Hellyer 02/14/2010

Rolf Olson

A boat builder, metal smith, bus driver, and cabinetmaker in Door County for more than 20 years, Rolf Olson is currently resident manager of a local hotel in Egg Harbbor. But, Rolf has also been writing poetry seriously for 8 years and is a longtime member of the Unabridged Poets’ Group. His poems have been described as diverse, intense, Zen-like, word sketches – spare and probing, reflecting his love of philosophy and art.

Olson says, “Poetry helps us order the disorder of our lives, whether it’s the rush of external sensations or the internal chatter of our minds. Poetry lets us touch the roots of our shared existence.”

He published his first chapbook, One Glass Eye, in 2003 and is nearing the completion of his second.

On the second Wednesday of each month the UUFDC sponsors a public poetry reading at the Fellowship with the series named for noted poet and a Unitarian Universalist, Emily Dickinson. The readings begin at 7 pm and consist of an initial reading by a featured poet, followed by an open mic when audience members can share their poetry. The reading concludes with more poetry from the featured poet, followed by a reception for discussion of the poetry. The monthly series is open to the public at no charge. The UU Fellowship is located at 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim. For more information visit www.uufdc.org.

Norbert Blei

LOST & FOUND:

We have all seen and discovered poems before we ever read them or found the words to write them ourselves. For as long as I remember I have ‘rescued’ (found?) poems in my surroundings. Especially poems in the city: the writ of grit; words on walls; words scratched on homemade window signs; words twisted into colorful tubes lighting up the night skies, morphing into a mix of watercolor puddles at your feet in the glowing, wet streets; cryptic words and images chalked on concrete sidewalks by children, the truly legitimate artists of the world – ah, but for the moment.

For as long as I remember, I have  communed with art and artists on every level. Brought things out-into-the-open within myself, outside myself. If ‘going-to-church’ had any meaning and effect upon me as a child, it was the glitter of gold and silver chalices; the sheen of sacred vestments, vigil candles flickering in ruby light; stained glass windows romancing the morning and evening light; the blue of the statuesque Blessed Virgin and blood-red robe of Christ, the Sacred Heart arm and hand outstretched to the multitudes; statues draped in purple during Lent. And the greatest graphic novel in the world which arrested a child’s wandering eyes when candles, chants, bells and  incense lifted you toward being/not being there… that life everlasting medieval mural showing the way (for Mexican muralists and New York graffiti artists to come)… the journey,  depicted along both walls of church, santuario, and cathedral: The Stations of the Cross. Lost and found. THIS way–>

Among my closest artist-friends in my lifetime, I have always seen ‘the writer’ (the poet), “the word” in the paint. Even when some never saw it, some refused to consider it. Or, in the case of my friend, Door County artist Emmett Johns, we seemed mutually aware of what we held in hand, which I longed to capture (for his sake, my sake and others) in a book: I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE PICTURE, 1996, limited edition, 500 copies, Cross+Roads Press, #6. (Sold Out). The idea  coming together after my seeing/reading stacks of his sketchbooks one winter, delighting in their richness of line, their sense of story, self-analysis, perception… everything down-on-paper as you see it, in the artist’s own words and images.

I experienced somewhat the same discovery recently going through books about Andrew Wyeth’s life and works. (See previous Norbert Blei’s Poetry Dispatch: Wyeth & Peterson).

I saw the simple poetry of Wyeth’s own words whenever he spoke about what he saw, felt. How it all came together in painting. His life as art. His art as life.

+++

Toll Rope

Inside the church at Wylie’s Corner, Maine,

I liked going up in the belfry.

The dry quality of that church steeple,

the dried flowers… and the sea anchor

wrapped in black crepe

from the seamen’s funerals…

totally New England.

Mill in Winter

I’m intrigued by the first moments

of  a snowstorm. There’s danger in it.

You never  know how it’s going to turn out.

I love the bleakness of winter and snow,

get a thrill out of the chill. God, I’ve frozen

my ass off painting snow scenes!

I’m taken by the bleakness-

not the melancholy feeling of snow.

My winter scenes… they’re not romantic.

No!

They capture  that marvelous, lonely bleakness-

the quiet, the chill reality of winter.

Overflow

Look at the feeling of the lips,

the feeling of the sleeping eye,

the light that goes over the body.

Anyone who’s watched a female

form at night in that kind of light

knows that this has a strong female smell to it.

This picture-and most of the Helga pictures-

are too real for some people. You have to feel

deeply to do this kind of thing. You can’t

conjure it up, There’s a penetrating and throbbing

sexual feeling in all of the Helga pictures. I felt

the country, the house, Germany, and the dreamy,

moist, rich female smell-the whole thing.

Wholesome…fresh…really American.

Open House

…a house on a back road in Maine

where horses were rented out to ride.

I took the nurse who was taking care of me,

after I had my hip operation… she loved to ride.

…a foggy day… the house was gray, with all these

horses – one even stuck inside the house,

sticking his head out the window. The owner had a

daughter who kept horses, and he told me,

“She’s got a few boards missing in the attic.”

Love  in the Afternoon

I was looking out the window in the Mill…

I go to that window and open it in the morning,

close it in the evening.

I wanted again that tawny feeling of winter

and grasses matted… I was taken by the feeling

of almost falling out of that window.

I didn’t want a frame around it.

I didn’t want a feeling of the inside of the room…

I wanted the feeling of pushing this windowpane out

and letting in the air and that you’re just there

for a second.

Untitled

I

love

white

things.

Oh,

I

love

white.

SOURCES:

Andrew Wyeth: Autobiography
introduction by Thomas Hoving, Konecky & Konecky (1995)

Andrew Wyeth Museum Of Fine Arts Boston
introduction by David McCord; Selection by Frederick A. Sweet, New York Graphic Society (1970)