L'aura del Campo

Hesston, KS; Bell concert for Gerald Ford; pesky poems

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by panthera

L'aura del campo

WINTER: 5 Sultan (23 January) 31º and a blanket of dirty white; possible flurries. Yay!

'é a lua, é a lua, na quintana dos mortos'
♣ Federico García Lorca ♣

O where, O where is Hesston?

Just north of Newton off of I-135. Doesn't everyone know that? It's a town of 3,500 that has a strong Mennonite connection, including a two-year school, Hesston College.

Why would Hesston be on my mind?

I met Valerie Bontrager http://www.valsgallery.com at Aimée's on Saturday night while the Pteroglyphs were playing. Turns out she's from Hesston, a place where galinago has friends. I was talking about my class on writing non-fiction profiles. She said how she wish someone would interview her aunt Susie Bontrager in Yoder, Kansas.

It took a while for me to drag up old memories. I think I worked with a nurse Bontrager in Crete, Nebraska 30 years ago. I think ... There is a Mennonite community in Milford as in Yoder, Hesston, North Newton ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesston,_Kansas

I mentioned to her Bruce's idea of moving to that region. Valerie suggested North Newton or Newton. As for Hesston ... she remembers March 13, 1990 when the town was leveled by a tornado. She even told me the time ...

This is an account of the F-5 storm:

http://www.newtonarc.net/weather/hesston.html

Don't you wish you would've seen it? Or written the article??

Carillon concert for Gerald Ford

Professor Elizabeth Bergholdt did a concert Sunday afternoon in honor of Gerald Ford. Usually these concerts are poorly attended. I'll never quite understand why. When St. Stephen's Church had a concert in Williamsville New York there was always a nice crowd of over 50 when my mother would go and that is only a chime ... not as many bells as a carillon.

The program:

1. Prsident of the United States
         Hail to the Chief
         The President's March
2. College Years
         The Victors (University of Michigan Fight Song)
         Bright College Years (Yale University Alma Mater)
3. Military Service
         Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Navy Hymn)
         Come All Ye Young Sailormen
         When Johnny Comes Marching Home
         Columbia, Gem of the Ocean
4. Congressional Career
         Asteroids
         Stargazing
5. International Politics
         Japanese Flowering Quince
         Prelude No. 1, for unaccompanied cello
         Songs my Mother Taught Me
6. Legacy
         More Love (Shaker Hymn)

So who came? I sat on a snowy bench with Betsy Timmer, a Michigander.

But ... the timing was perfect. With the snow there were people sledding down all the hills around the bell tower, by JRP, Potter's puddle, Spencer Museum, Marvin's Grover. There were hundreds there to enjoy the snow. And they heard the bells ... for sure.

To continue the insanity that alfred booth, wanbli ska inspired in me:

Tuned out

At death the rest
from life's great strife,
stone deaf, bereft
of Hell's hot yells ...

no wife.

[163.557b]

Brown County Lake, Kansas, 1976

When geese have fleeced
the fields that yield
their corn, forlorn,
they spy the sky ...

then fly.

[163.558a]

After the blizzard

The snows that blow
through windows, pin-
hole cracks, alack!
now slushy mush.

[163.558b]

Schoolroom corner, 1900

Classroom mushrooms
once sat dunce-capped.
Virtue's venue:
silence, patience.

[163.558c]

In the first three the stressed syllable contains the rhyme: xAxA, xBxB, xCxC, xDxD. (with an added xB in one and xD in another) The last one does not. The form is very short and tight. 16 (18) syllables. Not much can be said nor expressed so singular image is best or perhaps an intersection of two images max. Things that do not fit the tight rhyme but add the context of place or time can become the title.

The weather is fine. Not too cold and we have had some sun. The snow is melting mush and snirt is everywhere (snirt = snow dirt). We may get some flurries this afternoon to cover the dirt. If we get an inch then folks will be out sledding again.

Health? Huh? Got my hypertension pills (Avapro) this morning. Just walked in and voilà, they were there in 5 minutes. Didn't even get to finish reading the newspaper .

Don't ya luv it when there's no waiting, no line? Hmmmm. Ever have that happen to ya?

IMAGES

Sunday at the concert:

Snowmen? People standing in the middle of Potter's Lake, clear paths and snow packed steps, cold wet bench, brown oak leaves, green pine needles, frozen mud where the snow had been reduced by sledders, snowboards, skis, snow-skates, saucers, flyers, children and students and old folk bundled up.

READING

Finished reading Outside In, a romance novel by Beverly Sommers. Very good. There are subplots regarding the baseball bashing murders of homeless guys, the issue of wealth and privilege versus poverty, the secret world of teenagers and the 'rules', tension between student and teacher, the 'unimportance' of civics in American psyche. It was written around 1988 but still seems pertinent today.

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