Tag Archives: Iowa

non-fiction, staff's contributions

happy & a little scared

photo by Ron DeKett
Poet Nan Lundeen; photo by Ron DeKett

Taking my work out into the world delights and scares me. You’d think I were 7 instead of 71! (Or maybe a 7-year-old would be braver). I’m happy to return to my homeland, DeWitt, Iowa, for an event at Crossroads Inspired Living & Garden Cafe on Nov. 22—the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We’ve named the event “Poetry of Gratitude.” I’ll read from Black Dirt Days: Poems as Memoir which is a tribute to my parents, Marian & Louie Bliesmer, and a tribute to the land—Iowa, which helped feed the world when I was growing up in the 1950s & still does. Black Dirt Days celebrates my parent’s forbidden romance, sleigh rides, wiener roasts, feeding cattle, even hauling manure! Most of all it’s about faith no matter what challenges we faced—tornadoes, ill health, the uncertainty of weather for the farmer. I’m looking forward to seeing cousins and old friends. And I’m grateful to Linda Snyder, owner of Crossroads, for welcoming me to her shop & cafe. Here’s what’s on the menu for the luncheon– Harvest Salad consisting of Fresh Spinach, Toasted Pine Nuts, Dried Cranberries, Crisp Apples, Roasted Butternut Squash sprinkled w/ Goat Cheese & drizzled w/ Honey Maple Vinaigrette. Turkey Pot Pie with tender pieces of Turkey Breast, Peas, Carrots, Corn & Potatoes in a Creamy Sauce. Topped w/ a Flaky Pie Crust. Caramel-Cranberry Pumpkin Tart. Coffee or Tea. The luncheon (sounds yummy, doesn’t it?) will follow the reading, discussion, and book signing. Click here to read “I Give Thanks,” the key poem for the event. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I Give Thanks

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by Nan Lundeen

For wind that wailed,
for cold that bit into bones,
for skies in summer that flickered

heat lightning,

I give thanks.

 

For fear at bedsides,

for faith that held

us all in sturdy arms

even when we cried,

I give thanks.

 

For school folks,

for church folks,

for the music of perking coffee

during the last hand of cards,

I give thanks.

 

For two old elms

creaking outside my bedroom window

leaning toward each other

like old women telling stories,

I give thanks.

 

For a kitchen swelled by the smell

of baking bread,

for Grandma’s feet treading

the Singer sewing machine,

I give thanks.

 

For kerosene lanterns

when ice storms rattled the house,

for the wall phone’s melodious ring,

for the angel of mercy

ending suffering at last,

I give thanks.

 

For the wonder of library books,

for teachers who were kind,

for a dog to keep me company,

for parents who loved me,

I give thanks.

 

For tornadoes, for hailstorms,

for blizzards and sweltering summer days,

for the sweet rich soil of my youth,

I give thanks.

nan lundeen, non-fiction, staff's contributions

the power of creative collaboration

The book's cover. Photo by Ron DeKett, design by Kristin Toney.
The book’s cover. Photo by Ron DeKett, design by Kristin Toney.

A friend said she likes the cover of my newly printed book, Black Dirt Days: Poems as Memoir, and I promised to share the story behind it that illustrates the power of creative collaboration. My daughter Jennifer came up with the idea of a girl’s toes in black dirt as a cover illustration for the book. Then, as a surprise to me, she arranged a photo shoot with Naomi, a girl who lives next door to her in Michigan. Yes, the book is about growing up in the 1950s in Iowa, and yes, my husband Ron DeKett had to buy bags of black dirt to dump in the Michigan cornfield (that’s called poetic license). Southwestern Michigan soil tends to be a bit sandy, not black like Iowa’s dirt. Naomi all on her own dug a lovely family heirloom dress out of storage for the shoot. Kristin Toney designed the cover using Ron’s photo, and John Adam Wickliffe tweaked it before publication. I’m thrilled with the result. There you go, Rhea Lynn. That’s the story. Visit me at www.nanlundeen.com.