Poems for the Moment

[Scroll down for the text of the poems]

Scroll down for the text of the poem.

Text of the poem is below.

Emily Vieweg, MFA, is a poet and playwright originally from St. Louis, Missouri. Her work has been published in Foliate Oak, The Voices Project, Red Weather Literary Magazine, Soundings Review, Art Young’s Good Morning, The Basil O’Flaherty Feminist Voices and more.

More about Emily here.
and her new book here.

I’ll Read Poems by the Pomegranates

Larry Woiwode is North Dakota's Poet Laureate.  From his celebrated novel "Beyond the Bedroom Wall" through his publication in top national literary magazines, his prose and poetry have continually drawn appreciation and awards.

We asked him to give us the text of what he recited for this piece.  His first recitation was from a poem called "20" and here is what he sent.

20

Larry Woiwode (North Dakota's Poet Laureate) says :  "Warren Sturlaugson's poetry is direct, uncluttered, infused with dimensional faith, and a full-bodied sense of humor and genial wit, along with graphic representations of North Dakotans' views on weather, the surrounding atmosphere and Dakotans' general state of mind".  Warren is the author of two poetry collections, "Braiding Frayed Air" and "The Brightening Atmosphere", available at Amazon.com. 

Dear Coronavirus

A fifth-generation North Dakotan, Shadd Piehl’s poetry has appeared in the anthologies, Between Earth and Sky: Contemporary Cowboy Poets, Maverick Western Verse, Brushstrokes and Balladeers, and the magazines Aluminum Canoe, Pemmican, Red Weather, and Dry Crik Review, among others. A private investigator and adjunct English instructor, Shadd lives along Crown Butte Creek in the Heart River valley west of Mandan with his family.

Masks

Believe me it is much better to hide;

Text of the poem is below.

Emily Vieweg, MFA, is a poet and playwright originally from St. Louis, Missouri. Her work has been published in Foliate Oak, The Voices Project, Red Weather Literary Magazine, Soundings Review, Art Young’s Good Morning, The Basil O’Flaherty Feminist Voices and more.

More about Emily here.
and her new book here.

The First Friday in June

Bonnie Larson Staiger is a North Dakota Associate Poet Laureate and ND Humanities Scholar. She is a recipient of the ‘Poetry of the Plains and Prairies Prize form North Dakota State University Press for her debut chapbook, Destiny Manifested which also received the ‘Independent Press Award: Distinguished Favorite.’ She has recently received awards from Flying South Literary Magazine, The MacGuffin’s Best of the Year Anthology, was a finalist for the Julia Darling Poetry Prize and the Great Midwest Poetry Prize.

Scroll down for more about Carol Kapaun Ratchenski.

A Place Made of Space

A place made of space
Still so wrong to believe
No mystery here

A poem calls me home where
My secrets are held, buried under
A bed made of fears

Near to wild flowers, and rivers
Your memory will call you
Home to this love poem

A Time made of longing
Of postponed and closed for now
And find us in the clouds

Disembodied voices
Call me away from
Sunset, sunrise, snowy owl dreams

Madelyn Camrud has lived all but nine months of her life in North Dakota. She received degrees in visual arts and creative writing from The University of North Dakota. She taught in the English department before taking a position at the North Dakota Museum of Art, where she served as director of Audience Development. Camrud's poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Kalliope, Painted Bride Quarterly, Descant, and others. Two of her poems were chosen to air on Garrison Keillor's "Writers Almanac." In the spring of 2005, North Dakota Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode named Camrud an Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota.  She has published two books of poetry with New Rivers Press, “This House is Full of Cracks” and “Oddly Beautiful”,  and “Songs of Horses and Lovers,” from the NDSU Press.