In Memory of Adrienne Rich

At the age of eighty two, one of our most esteemed poets took her leave, in Santa Cruz, on March 27, 2012. Many of us will remember reading the poems of Adrienne Rich in our salad days and there are those who may recall being inspired to write poetry after reading her work. People who are really good at something make it look easy.

Critics will say that great, strong and vivid writing will jump off the page. Unlike so many wonderful poets who toil in obscurity, Ms. Rich was recognized early. A daughter of a renowned pathologist and concert pianist, she was raised as a future progeny. While poetry may not have been the desired aim of her parents, she found a clear and solid voice at Radcliffe College and went on to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship to Oxford.

While her political leanings and feminist causes are well documented, I believe she will be remembered for her poetry above all. Here is an excerpt from What Times are These:

“There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill

and the old revolutionary road breaks off into the shadows,

near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted

who disappeared into those shadows.

I've walked there picking mushrooms

at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled

this isn't a Russian poem this is not somewhere else but here

our country moving closer to its own truth and dread

its own ways of making people disappear.”

For a closer look at the poems of this marvelous woman:

http://www.amazon.com/Diving-Into-The-Wreck-1971-1972/dp/0393311635/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333381754&sr=1-3

Writing, North Idaho and Poetry Forums

This is my first week writing as contributor for Writing North Idaho , I'm so pleased to be here, but am still learning my way around the blog, and and trying to find what readers might be interested in. A simple answer is writers and writing, and in particular, writers and writing in north Idaho. At a workshop I attended last year, the guest speaker told the audience, "If you write on a subject you're interested in, it's very likely someone else will be interested, too." I think that's probably true.

North Idaho has such a beautifully diverse landscape, writers are often inspired to find just the right word to describe its grandeur; to write a picture, if you will.


Powder blue skies,
deep blue lakes, crystal
clear air, and white
capped mountains -
a million evergreen trees
decorate the slopes, like first earth;
Nature's best, the land of Idaho


Also important to Writing North Idaho is relaying information about writers forums, events and book signings. Because April is National Poetry Month, my hope for this post was to include libraries, coffee houses and bookstores that were showcasing poetry readings, talks or forums to highlight northwest poets. Alas, I couldn't find any. My challenge to you, dear reader, is to seek out, and request the book stores, coffee houses and libraries you visit to present programs about northwest poetry and poet; not to let the poets prose die, and be lost to the long ago.

I did come across a couple good internet sites dedicated to poetry in Idaho. They are listed here - http://www.poets.org/state.php/varState/ID and http://idahopoetry.com/

To read more of my blogs please visit 2 lane highway at http://2lanehighway.blogspot.com
















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