Tracker Pixel for Entry

​ND poet laureate visits Fargo

Writer's Block | September 28th, 2016

On Sunday the 25th, Zandbroz Variety hosted North Dakota’s Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode, who’s currently a writer in residence at the University of Jamestown. The author of many works of fiction and nonfiction in addition to poetry, Woiwode read from his latest compilation, “Land of Sunlit Ice.”

This limited-edition chapbook was designed, edited, and hand-printed by student interns at NDSU Press, with only 200 copies available. Antique wire stitches and a platen press were used to put it together, and each cover was individually stenciled.

A native of Carrington, North Dakota, Woiwode has won the William Faulkner Foundation Award and the Medal of Merit from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was also a fellow with the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Award.

Of his creative process, Woiwode told his Zandbroz audience, “Writers don’t need inspiration—they just have to sit down and write. And then when you’re working, the ideas come. The idea of the muse speaking in my ear has never happened.”

Many of the poems Woiwode read were nature-based, such as “Venerable Elm,” an homage to a tree he chopped down. A series of picturesque descriptions of the tree’s significance in the natural world ends with the dark, melancholy line “I must dismember you.” Despite the remorse expressed in the poem, Woiwode admitted, “I have an outdoor wood-burning furnace, so I’m quite familiar with the chainsaw.”

Another favored theme was the bonds of family, most notable in “Migration,” a tribute to his globe-trotting daughter. Similar to “Venerable Elm,” this poem contains a sense of longing and reverence, along with parental nostalgia: “A little girl, barely 70 ounces at birth, seemingly ill-prepared for flight… now you circle the earth in search of absolution… employing the migratory flyway.”

Though most poems he read were free-verse, Woiwode revealed that he was inspired by his career as a professor to experiment with different forms. “I teach forms of poetry, like the ballad and the sestina and the sonnet,” he said, “so one year I decided, hey, if I’m assigning these things, I’m going to do them.”

“The Interview” is one such poem, made up of rhyming couplets describing his ambivalence toward the limelight: “Recording cameras take their place to right and left, a common cause of nervous fright.” Of this form, Woiwode explained, “You try to have runaround to the next verse so it doesn’t sound so clanging when it’s read.”

Copies of “Land of Sunlit Ice” are available at Zandbroz and on Amazon.

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Kooper Shagenakoopershagena@gmail.com One night, Jane Linde Capistran, associate conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, sat and drank wine with her friends: “Jennifer Tackling, the associate concertmaster, and…

Friday, October 31, 5-9 p.m.Ziti’s Italian American Restaurant, 3150 Sheyenne St., Suite 170, West FargoSavor a delectable five course meal with beverage pairings. (Nonalcoholic beverages are available upon request, but must be…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comWill we be banging or whimpering at the end of the American empire?T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” accurately portrays the end of most empires in his first lines: “We are the hollow men/…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Dream-factory documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe connects with a Hollywood legend in “Kim Novak’s Vertigo,” the latest in a series of features exploring the filmmaker’s many…

By HPR staffsubmit@hpr1.com Mark the first weekend of October on your calendar. It’s the weekend of the Studio Crawl, which takes us all on a wonderful, metro-wide tour of our talented (and often wacky) arts community. On October…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…