Garvin Heights Winona, Mn Poem by Daniel Brick
Garvin Heights Winona, Mn
I expected to be dizzy
peering over an abyss
of rocks and trees
into the twenty mile vista.
Instead I was as still
as the surrounding trees,
rooted with wonder
to this high place
in the clean prairie air,
standing above the ravens
who tossed below me
on waves of light.
I leaned against the fence,
felt its jagged rocks
scrape my bare arms
My eyes
like quietly thinking clouds
reflected the crawling world:
pale green river water
sloshed against its grainy banks,
dark green trees scattered
the houses of Winona
across the plain,
low hills trembled
in the blue haze of distance.
My eyes dropped a thousand feet
to the shadowed highway,
then swept up
into a flash of sun.
The light spiraled
through my body,
flaming every deadened spot...
I wondered,
if this is who I am
in the heights,
who will I be in the lowlands?
Winona is a fairly large town in southern Minnesota in a river valley. But at the edge of town, there is a very large hill, called
Garvin Heights, with a path leading to the summit from which you are rewarded with the grand vista I describe in the poem. A group of us visited the site every other day for two weeks - that's how inspiring the view was. And every time we climbed to the summit, morning, afternoon, or evening, we found a sizeable group of Winona residents
enjoying the view as well. I wrote the poem while sitting on a bench at the summit, so the question I ask in the last four lines is not rhetorical: it's a genuine issue - how does your immediate setting affect you, change you temporarily or permanently?
This is genius! : The light spiraled through my body, flaming every deadened spot... - I want to see it as transedental experience. hope you really mean that!
......truly a lovely view....you described it so well....and the poets notes leaves us pondering a great question....truly our immediate setting changes us....let's say we are with an astronaut in a space ship.......could we imagine looking upon the earth from afar.... or looking upon a distant star......our life would be changed forever.....truly enjoyed this beautiful poem...
This is lovely, profound even. I love that you touched on the idea of how space affects our creativity. Indeed it does, I suppose that is why so many poets go on nature walks and so on. I also love how you compared yourself to the surrounding trees, being rooted in wonder. Something else I thought about whilst reading this is the presence of the river, which I later realized was the Mississippi river. Which to me is interesting because it means we see the same river but in such drastically different surroundings. In my area, Louisiana, the land is low elevation, the river becomes swamp-like, the vegetation is different, the climate is different. so if I were to write a poem near the same river, chances are it would be very different! Immediate setting plays a huge role, where you live always shows up in your writing eventually. So yes, you've definitely hit the nail on the head with this one! An amazing write as always ^-^ ~Nika
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/6/2024 5:36:54 PM # 1.0.0.1119
I like this write. It allows for thought and interpretation. Starts out well written and does not fall short as so many do. Very nice poem.