Going to the Library
2014
Early on, my library card was one of my most precious possessions. This small piece of heavy card stock, about three by four inches, was my passport to the adventure of other worlds, and also to my own adventures.
City Critters in Saint Paul
2014
Wildlife thrives in Saint Paul. This morning, I roused two Red Tailed Hawks feeding on Mouse in my backyard. They flew off over our neighborhood community garden and disappeared beyond the rooftops.
Teaching from the Heart
2014
As with most love affairs, it happened by chance and caught me by surprise. After our first few dates, I realized that my life had led me to this moment, that I was right where I belonged: in front of 150 students every day at Central High School.
Thank You for Calling The Radisson Saint Paul
2014
During the summer of 1980 between my sophomore and junior years at Hamline University, I worked as a telephone operator on the 3 to 11 p.m. shift on the last existing cord board in Saint Paul, at the downtown Radisson Hotel. The toggles and cords were mounted in a long, narrow black desk with metal-rimmed holes in a vertical wall panel. Two operators sat side by side, clicking the cloth-wrapped cords into room-numbered holes to connect the calls.
A Mother’s Hope
2014
Proud back with a chest high in the air Swaying with desire Never knowing when to bend Afraid to break Walking into the wind...
Untitled
2014
It’s spring! DerFrühling! Printemps! Ring bells! Play the sackbut and shawm! Excel. Rise and shine...
Bald-headed Men and Sundays
2014
My boys viewed their mid-1980s births in the old Midway Hospital on University between Porky’s and Ax-Man as an embarrassment, a slight their Saint Paul mom had designed to punish them by withholding the polished corridors of HCMC in their own hometown...
Skeleton of a Nation
2014
jagged rocks dusted red bleed rose water from ancient springs who was baptized here saved and sustained by sacrificial land...
A Little Rock
2014
A rock on the ground, next to the rock a tree, on the tree is a bird, its feathers like the river...
March
2014
It hadn’t occurred to me until someone at work brought it to my attention that this winter has been going on for eleven years. I said, “That can’t be. Surely not.” But then I got thinking about it. It was eleven years ago November we moved into this house. You remember, snow was just beginning and we had so much trouble getting the refrigerator down the driveway and through the door.
Photograph of My Grandparents
By Korissa Howes ● 2014
Made in black and white Frayed upon the edges Free of wrinkles despite That they were not then My father’s parents Looked so in love...