Triptych
A Hometown Poem
The prairie opens Gold. Yellow. A thin line of trees holding the horizon in place. Nothing explains itself. The eye invents the rest. My friend says the world is coming apart. Headlines. Politics. A thousand sharp fragments asking to be mistaken for the whole. He cannot tell whether he is frightened or simply overwhelmed. Years ago, my painting teacher stopped me with a hand on my wrist. Don't overwork it. Trust the eye. Trust the mind to finish what is only suggested. I wonder now if that was wisdom or warning. A young woman in my family looks at love as if studying the ruins of a city she left. Yesterday, everyone was marrying. Today they are exhausted. Holding too much. Leaving. Beginning again. In art history I learned the term trompe l'oeil. To deceive the eye. But perhaps the eye is not what deceives us. Perhaps it is hope. Or fear. Or the stories we tell to connect what was never connected. A triptych is three separate panels. Only when we step back do they become a single image. Maybe that is how we survive. Not by finding one truth, but by holding light, shadow, and distance until they reveal a picture none of them could carry alone.
POETRY ANNOUNCMENTS
Art Show Save the Date
You may have noticed my artwork accompanying last week’s poem and the poem above. More details to come, but if you are local, please mark your calendars for late afternoon Sept. 3 for the opening of my art show at Liz Lidgett Gallery + Design in Des Moines. The show will feature more prairie-inspired art (paintings, drawings and perhaps some sculpture). Thanks to Liz Lidgett for including me as part of her Iowa artists feature.
Poetry featured on Iowa Public Radio
I was thrilled to be invited to join Charity Nebbe of Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa recently to talk about my new poetry collection You Were Never Lost: Poems from the Tallgrass Prairie. You can listen to the show and interview repay here (the show includes news and prior to my interview, a fantastic story about an Iowa mother receiving a first-of-its-kind organ transplant. You can fast forward to minute 47.50 to hear my interview).
Pushcart Nomination Announcement
My deepest gratitude to the Iowa Poetry Association and Lyrical Iowa 2026 for including my poem “Women With Plants” as one of their Pushcart Prize nominees. This poem was recently recognized with Lyrical Iowa’s Grant Wood Award, as it was inspired by his painting of the same name (above). It is overwhelming to be nominated for the most honored literary project in America. Since 1976, hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in Pushcart’s annual collections (Info: http://pushcartprize.com.) It is an honor to be nominated. I’ll share the poem when the anthology is published in the fall.
“BEST SELLER” POETRY BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT! My recently released poetry collection, You Were Never Lost: Poems from the Tallgrass Prairie, continues to be on the top list in the “Death/Grief/Loss” poetry category. 😂 Thank you for your many notes sharing what the poems have meant to you.
WHERE TO GET THE BOOK: The book is available locally through Beaverdale Booksand through major online booksellers, including Amazon and Goodreads.
REVIEWS REQUESTED! And if you do read it, one of the kindest things you can do for an independent author is leave a short review on Amazon or Goodreads. To leave a review, simply go to the book’s page on Amazon or Goodreads, click on “Write a Review” or “Rate and Review,” and share a few sentences about what resonated with you. It does not need to be long or formal. Even a few sentences helps other readers discover the book.
EVENTS: If you know of events focused on this topic or groups who might find this collections of interest, please let me know.
Perfect blend of thoughts, painting and lyrics. That’s another triptych!
I love this! I should rather say I love these - both the words and the triptych. Thank you.