Erwin A. Thompson featured on WTTW Chicago Network “River Stories”

A few years back Pop was named folk treasure by Arts Across Illinois. In school assemblies he performed music, told stories, and pulled the kids down to perform in skits based on his songs.
Once on a visit home Pop and I played our fiddles in a performance in a school gymnasiam while mother led the [...]

Reading the River: Life along the Mississippi with Erwin A. Thompson

I’ve come from Northern California to SW Illinois now, to vist Pop for a month. We live in what my poem “Rising” refers to as “the oldest house in the world.” It’s the house my 91-year old father, Erwin A. Thompson lived in all his life, built in the 1860s by his grandpa Riehl, and [...]

“Starlight”–a poem

“Evergreen Heights,” has nurtured six generations since the 1860s. Five of these generations produced poets. My father is now compiling a family poetry anthology from the works of these five generations.
STARLIGHT
Stars wink high in the sky,
as dawn draws on
sun reaps the sky.
When she is done
colors blaze
as she pulls down her scythe.

Generations of Poetic Heritage: “Influence” by Anna Riehl, my grandmother

Last year on April 1st, I gave a talk for the Poet Laureate of Lake County Reading. Sandra Wade became Poet Laureate of the county with Fran Ransley and me as finalists. We read in Lakeport, Northern California, at the Lake County Arts Council on Main Street.
The entire text of my reading is available at [...]

Poets Debate Poetry Month

Is National Poetry Month inane, insane, or inspirational? Newsweek looked at this question. Here’s an excerpt from the article, “The Cruelest (and Coolest) Month” with some words from Billy–Collins, that is:

Billy Collins, the former U.S. Poet Laureate and current New York State Poet whose books enjoy the anomalous distinction of outselling many top novels, tells [...]