"BELATED REMEMBRANCE"
This chapbook tells the story of my great-great uncle Arne Kulterstad (1825-1902). In 1859, he was convicted of murder in Valdres, Norway, and sentenced to death. His life was spared due to an editorial campaign spearheaded by the Nobel Prize-winning poet and playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson . Arne was imprisoned in Akershus Castle in Oslo. After 20 years, Bjørnson and others, including one of Arne's daughters, secured his release and he was exiled to Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin.
Sample poems from "Belated Remembrance"
This chapbook tells the story of my great-great uncle Arne Kulterstad (1825-1902). In 1859, he was convicted of murder in Valdres, Norway, and sentenced to death. His life was spared due to an editorial campaign spearheaded by the Nobel Prize-winning poet and playwright Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson . Arne was imprisoned in Akershus Castle in Oslo. After 20 years, Bjørnson and others, including one of Arne's daughters, secured his release and he was exiled to Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin.
Sample poems from "Belated Remembrance"
"SELLING THE FAMILY"
This chapbook shares my reflections as the sole surviving family member sorting several generations of belongings for a final estate auction, a quintessential and painful experience in rural America. I see childhood treasures tossed together for bundled bids, my father's WWII memorabilia appraised, gifts I had given laid out for re-sale. Memories -- never to be shared with anyone else who remembers them too -- rise and vanish. While the story is melancholy, it ends, as it must, on a thin note of joy. Sample poems from "Selling the Family"
This chapbook shares my reflections as the sole surviving family member sorting several generations of belongings for a final estate auction, a quintessential and painful experience in rural America. I see childhood treasures tossed together for bundled bids, my father's WWII memorabilia appraised, gifts I had given laid out for re-sale. Memories -- never to be shared with anyone else who remembers them too -- rise and vanish. While the story is melancholy, it ends, as it must, on a thin note of joy. Sample poems from "Selling the Family"
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"WE WERE HERE"
This yet-to-be-published chapbook is a collection of character studies, a series of portraits of strangers and a few relatives (real and imagined). The title “We Were Here” is a portion of a line in one of the poems. It celebrates (or mourns depending on one’s perspective) our existence and transience on this earth and our hope to somehow be remembered. |
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"PROSE POEMS PERSONAS"
This yet-to-published chapbook is a collection of prose poems, an art form that even its most noted practitioners are unable to define. Often humorous, surrealistic, and/or sarcastic, prose poems may describe an action, a moment or a sense of place. These are a collection of prose poems that focus on people or stories about people, including myself. |