We’re almost at the finish line of one of the snowiest winters in quite a while for the Colorado Plateau. And writer Jodie Hollander has a poem for us to mark the transition from winter to spring. In the latest installment of KNAU's series PoetrySnaps!, Hollander, a former Poet in Residence at the Museum of Northern Arizona, reads Prairie Smoke and tells us about the inspiration behind it.
Jodie Hollander:
I was out visiting the Museum of Northern Arizona here in Flagstaff, and I was on a guided nature walk and I learned about Prairie Smoke. Right away I felt that this was going to be a poem.
Prairie Smoke kind of finds a way to survive. Throughout the cold winter months it finds a way to drink in light from underneath the snow and still find a way to persist despite whatever outside circumstances are occurring. That really struck a chord with me that idea of surviving, whether it be in the natural world or in our more human world. Their persistence and their ability to beat the odds is sort of what drew me in.
Prairie Smoke
Not everything is sleeping
in between the seasons:
already the little buds
of Prairie Smoke are sprouting
everywhere in the canyon.
Such bright pink tufts
it’s almost hard to believe
their fragile little stems
survived the long winter
drinking in the sunlight
from under deep snow—
what force of evolution
allows these plants to live
while all other plants wither?
Nevertheless, there’s comfort
knowing they will come
every year somehow
from California to Minnesota,
their bold pink petals
are always the first to appear.
At times they’re even radiant
after the brutal winter—
perhaps there may be hope.
Think of Prairie Smoke.
About the poet:
Jodie Hollander is a Flagstaff-based writer. Her work has appeared in both the Yale and Harvard Reviews, as well as Poetry London. Hollander is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship in South Africa. She is the originator of 'Poetry in the Parks,' a public humanities project celebrating National Parks and Monuments in the US.
About the host:
Steven Law is the co-producer of KNAU’s series PoetrySnaps! He is a poet, essayist, storyteller, and the author of Polished, a collection of poems about exploring the Colorado Plateau by foot and by raft.
About the music:
About the music:
Original music by Flagstaff-based band Pilcrowe.
PoetrySnaps! runs the first and third Friday of each month.
