Twin Cities Book Festival 2023

The TCBF is sponsored by Rain Taxi, and it was held in the Progress Center at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Besides 80 exhibitors (Graywolf, Coffee House Press, Holy Cow! Press, Minnesota Press, Magers & Quinn Bookstore, St. Paul's Midway Books, the College of St. Catherine, the University of Minnesota MFA program, Hamline University MFA program, and many other writers and writing-related business, there were several authors reading excerpts of their work through the day's event.  Truly it was the literary event of the year!  

My photo was taken by David Beard for the Perfect Day Duluth website.  The photo of Mary Bode and Julie Gard was taken by me. The two were representing the Lake Superior Writers organization.   

A Song Cycle: Surface Displacements

 I'm so excited about the music that composer Wendy Durrwachter has created for the title poem from my book, Surface Displacements. She has preview concert in Grand Marais on October 21, and a premier at the Weber Music Hall this winter in 2024. To learn more about the composer, go to https://www.wendydurrwachter.com/

Refresh with Tranströmer

A playlist of Tomas Tranströmer: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/the-blue-house-playlist-by-patty-crane/

Allegro 

by Tomas Tranströmer

trans. by Ingar Palmlund

I play Haydn after a dark day


and sense an honest warmth in my hands.

The keys are willing. Mild hammers strike.


The tone is green, lively and still.

The tone says that freedom exists


and that someone does not pay the emperor tribute.

I push the hands deep into my haydnpockets,


mimicking one who quietly watches the world.

I raise the haydnflag — this means:


“We do not surrender. But want peace.”

The music is a glasshouse on the slope


where stones fly, stones roll.

And the stones roll right through


but each pane remains whole.

 

Original poem in Swedish

Jag spelar Haydn efter en svart dag


och känner en enkel värme i händerna.

Tangenterna vill. Milda hammare slår.


Klangen är grön, livlig och stilla.

Klangen säger att friheten finns


och att någon inte ger kejsaren skatt.

Jag kör ner händerna i mina haydnfickor


och härmar en som ser lugnt på världen.

Jag hissar haydnflaggan — det betyder:


“Vi ger oss inte. Men vill fred.”

Musiken är ett glashus på sluttningen


där stenarna flyger, stenarna rullar.

Och stenarna rullar tvärs igenom


men varje ruta förblir hel.

 

From Den halvfärdiga himlen, Bonniers 1962

Copyright © Tomas Tranströmer 1962

And finally, this lovely and refreshing poem:  

Tired of all who come with words, words but no language
I went to the snow covered island.
The wild does not have words.
The unwritten pages spread themselves out in all directions!
I came across the marks of roe-deer’s hooves in the snow.

Language but no words.

Tomas Transtomer, Trans. John F. Deane from Selected Poems 1954-1986 – Ed. Robert Hass, The Ecco Press, 1987 p.159

2023 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award

 

"Surface Displacements dives deep into the author’s personal history growing up in Minnesota’s mining country and offers a meditation on the legacy left by decades of mineral excavation. Some poems are elegies to flooded mine pits, tailings ponds, and the scarred landscape, while others explore the timelessness of Lake Superior and the resiliency of nature. The book closes with an essay connecting the author’s Finnish roots, the region’s indigenous history, and the environmental impact mining has had on the Iron Range."

Read more about the NEMBA Awards and see all of the books that received awards in 2023.  https://lakesuperiorwriters.org/2023-nemba-award-winners/

I'm so happy to have this award that honors the landscape, culture, history and people of the northeastern Minnesota region. And I'm happy that the book has also been a finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards this year.  

At the University of Minnesota Duluth's Archive

I'm so pleased that the library at UMD created an archive for Duluth's poet laureates. Each individual poet laureate contributed time and talents to promote poetry and expand the reading audience. Now artifacts, video, and writings have been archived. 

This image is a placemat for my "Read It and Feast" project. I published the work of several Lake Superior poets on 4 unique placements.  Altogether 1500 placemats were printed and given out at the fundraiser for the Food Bank, "Empty Bowl," and also used at the Duluth Grill restaurant.  A set of laminated placemats are now at the archive! 

Read about the archival project here: 

https://www.perfectduluthday.com/2023/10/04/poet-laureate-collection-unveiled-at-umd/