Bringing poetry to all the U.P.
In conjunction with the City of Marquette Art Week 2022 theme of “Water”, the Foundation created a public art project: 5 signs on the city’s Cultural Trail. Each sign will have art by U.P. artist, Christopher Schmidt and a poem by poets: Kimberly Blaeser, Michelle Menting, Margaret Noodin, Keith Taylor and the current Upper Peninsula … Read more
Three Springs Up where forests have pushed back through fences, belief comes more easily, comes sometimes, for us, despite all our learning, even as it comes for that man we both love. Remember the day he took us away from the lake, from the roads, far into a valley, fern-covered and filled with the high … Read more
LAKE SUPERIOR Under my hand, a stone bear in nesting circles carved by ancestors, behind me, the walking woods at dusk, feather and fur, the little stone, moss, and mushroom people— we all still and hush to look and listen. Beyond the barrier islands and reefs, where the sun sets blood red and thunderhead brew … Read more
Christopher Schmidt is graphic designer and digital illustrator based in Houghton, Michigan. An avid cyclist and Nordic skier, he often draws inspiration for his work from the sights and scenes he encounters while exploring Michigan’s Keweenaw peninsula. Though trained in geophysics, he was led astray by his love of graphic design discovered in college out … Read more
Aanakwadoon / Wind Water Waabmiimii ge ogijise waasechiganaatigong bizhibaamiigwanetaad mikwam-inaanzoyan bikwagondang miinikaanensan oshkaabewisiwiyan mii miinawaa gikendaman ezhi-epogwag aanakwadoon. Rock dove as you land on the windowsill a splash of feathers the color of ice a throat full of seeds bearer-of-messages you know the taste of water in the wind. Artwork by Christopher Schmidt About Margaret Margaret O’Donnell … Read more
This Cathedral Isle Royale National Park, 2017 where the waves shush agates, where ungulates clip moss, where falcons smirk from lichen tendrils on lighthouse nests, where grebes skim the surface— race the evening glass of lake— this you know as consistent church: hymn of truth & willowing hum, the kind you hold full of breath, … Read more
Hydroreality: My List of Water Words Grows I have moved on from puddle, pond, creek, and wetland, from slough, swamp, marsh, brook, river. I add lagoon, loch. I swim stream, tarn, bayou, fjord, ocean, sea. Listen then dream ziibi, zaaga’igan, mashkiig, and gichigami. Now I am floating—beyond words, the writing of them. Floating mysterious in … Read more