Where One Voice Ends Another Begins

by Hedin, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780873515849
• ISBN10: 0873515846
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Pr

Summary

It is the unique gift of a poet to distil a place, a moment, a feeling in such a way that draws readers into his or her intimate world, inviting them to make it their own. In Where One Voice Ends Another Begins, seventy-six extraordinary poets from across generations invite readers to experience Minnesota through hundreds of diverse and deeply personal works. Quiet observations of daily life, the effects of political movements, feelings of love lost and found are explored in the poetry of such literary greats as Louise Erdrich, Barton Sutter, Mary Carr, G. E. Patterson, and Ray Gonzalez. The nurturing song-lyrics of the early Dakota and Ojibwe offer uncommonly personal glimpses into Minnesota's past. Works by a remarkable generation of poets who emerged in the '60s -- John Berryman, Robert Bly, James Wright, and many others -- showcase an astonishing literary vitality in a place far removed from the poetry hot spots of the coasts. Poetry "is what it is because an extraordinary genius paused at that point in history and touched it," wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. The poets in this collection share this amazing gift and together present a moving portrait that is Minnesota -- its people, landscape, and culture.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xvii
Beginnings-1914
Song-Poems of the Dakota	p. 5
Song-Poems of the Ojibwe	p. 8
The Seal of Minnesota	p. 10
A Sea Song	p. 12
A Description	p. 13
Revery	p. 14
The Lark	p. 15
From the Valley of the Wheat	p. 16
Among the Pines	p. 17
West and East	p. 18
1914-1945
from Minneapolis Skylines: 1915	p. 21
The Road to Asola	p. 23
The Transport	p. 24
We Leave To-night	p. 25
The Only Bird That Sang	p. 17
O This Is Not Spring	p. 29
Autumn Paray-le-Monial	p. 30
Riddles	p. 31
Brushwood	p. 32
Spring Out of Jerusalem	p. 33
Surround of Rainbows	p. 34
Orchard	p. 36
The Groundhog	p. 37
La Crosse at Ninety Miles an Hour	p. 38
1945-1965
The Heifer	p. 43
The old Homestead	p. 44
In 1912, My Father Buys the Victor Record of 'Sextet from Lucia' from Hoegh's Jewelry Store in a Small Town in Minnesota	p. 45
Reed Whittemore
The Fall of the House of Usher	p. 47
The High School Band in September	p. 48
When Father Left in the Morning	p. 48
Cicada	p. 50
Mote	p. 51
Interior Decoration	p. 52
The Ball Poem	p. 53
from 77 Dream Songs	p. 54
Henry's Understanding	p. 55
Of Suicide	p. 55
Driving Toward the Lac Qui Parle River	p. 57
After Drinking All Night with a Friend, We Go Out in a Boat at Dawn to See Who Can Write the Best Poem	p. 58
The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog	p. 58
Stealing Sugar from the Castle	p. 59
Lyingin a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota	p. 60
A Blessing	p. 61
The Minneapolis Poem	p. 61
Praises	p. 64
The Bread of This World; Praises III	p. 66
The End of the World	p. 67
1965-1985
First Car	p. 71
Santa Lucia	p. 72
Freight train, freight train	p. 74
Cutting birch	p. 75
As we, too, grow older	p. 76
from Gatherings	p. 77
An Ordinary Composure	p. 78
The Icelandic Language	p. 79
At the Icelandic Emigration Center in Hofsos	p. 80
The Icelandic Emigration to Minneota, Minnesota	p. 81
from Coal	p. 83
The Elephant	p. 84
The Feet Man	p. 86
The One Song	p. 87
Caretaking at the Bohemian Cemetery Outside Owatonna, Minnesota	p. 88
Willmar at Night	p. 90
Way Back	p. 90
Growing Down	p. 91
Flat Country	p. 92
Red River Blues	p. 93
Still Life with Thermometer	p. 93
Out of Nothing	p. 94
Crawling Out the Window	p. 95
Mine Town: Knowing Where You're At	p. 96
The War Effort	p. 97
Mine Towns	p. 98
Beer Barrel Polka	p. 100
Helen Hart's Summer Watercolor Class	p. 102
Sweet Jesus	p. 103
Whistle Dance	p. 104
Swedish Lesson	p. 104
Basketball	p. 106
Mailboxes	p. 107
Knife Island	p. 107
First Ties: The Father in the Mirror	p. 108
The Dance of the Ripples	p. 110
Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane	p. 111
The Idea of Ancestry	p. 112
Company of Love	p. 114
To Show Peter the World	p. 115
Handicapped Children Swimming	p. 116
Crocus	p. 119
Visiting the Mayo Clinic	p. 120
Near Herons	p. 121
What the Bird Sees	p. 122
I Don't Think We Need to Know	p. 123
Mother-Daughter Dance	p. 124
Woman Before an Aquarium	p. 125
The Moment	p. 127
Note to Trish from the Flamingo Motel, Long Prairie, Minnesota	p. 128
Thaw	p. 129
Excelsior Amusement Park, 1932	p. 129
Minor Miracle	p. 131
The Amateur	p. 132
Dialogue	p. 134
None of This	p. 135
Creation of the Universe	p. 136
An Elephant	p. 138
Chlorine	p. 139
The Pallbearer	p. 141
The Worm-Farmer's Lament	p. 141
Bean Fields	p. 143
High School Boyfriend	p. 144
Dove	p. 146
Essay on Leaves	p. 147
Fort Snelling National Cemetery: St. Paul, Minnesota	p. 150
Tribute and Ash	p. 151
Harvest at Minidoka Internment Camp	p. 153
The Angel of Phillips Park	p. 154
Minneapolis Public	p. 155
Dear John Wayne	p. 157
The Buffalo Prayer	p. 159
Rez Litany	p. 159
1985-Present
Like a Church	p. 165
They Come Humming	p. 166
The Forest	p. 168
Butterflies	p. 168
Sheds	p. 169
How	p. 171
Pow Wow	p. 172
Stella by Starlight	p. 173
Poincianna	p. 174
Gray Strands of Hair	p. 174
He Confuses the Grandchild for the Son	p. 176
After the Miracle	p. 177
Near Roslin Institute, Midlothian, Scotland	p. 178
Home to the Late Late Movie	p. 179
Death Becomes Me	p. 180
Getting the Machine	p. 181
from A Walk by the River	p. 182
The Pond	p. 185
The Lost House	p. 186
The Wreck	p. 187
After Us	p. 190
Hartley Field	p. 191
What Pregnant is Like	p. 193
Offering: Words	p. 193
Poem for Our Ojibwe Names	p. 194
Constellations	p. 196
Dancing the Rice	p. 196
Emerge	p. 198
What You Will Rememher	p. 200
Celebrate	p. 201
Remembrance	p. 202
Autobiography of a Black Man	p. 203
Sunday	p. 205
Carrying Home	p. 206
First Lesson: The Anatomist Explains the Primacy of Imagination	p. 207
Suppose	p. 208
Birding	p. 209
The Blue World	p. 210
The Harriers	p. 212
Mirabilia, 1726	p. 213
Madame du Coudray's Woman Machine, 1756	p. 214
I Curse Because	p. 216
Mixed Blood	p. 220
Sokcho in Butterfly Dust	p. 224
The Invisible Church	p. 225
We Women of the Hmong Culture	p. 227
My Mother Is a Coffee Table	p. 229
Father Died Twenty-five Years Ago	p. 229
D.C.	p. 230
The Clerk's Tale	p. 231
Selected Bibliography of Related Titles	p. 235
Permissions	p. 239
Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines	p. 249
Acknowledgments	p. 261
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