During my freshman year of college at Moorhead State in 1987, I was fortunate to have been a student of Mary Pryor, English Professor. She recently passed away. Ms Pryor didn't know it, but she had a profound affect on me as a student and as an aspiring artist. Her encouragement and critiques inspired me as a student writer. This ultimately trickled into my creative process for art. I think of her often and am indebted to her for her contribution to my personal growth and for opening up new horizons of creativity.
Her poetry reveals her incredible spirit and creative brilliance. She was quite a lady, and I'm sure there are countless others she touched through the years as they passed in and out of her classroom. Here's a beautiful example of her work, which captures so uniquely the people and place of the Moorhead area:
Red River People
Here on the ridgepole of the continent
where rivers amble north against their kind,
transplanted Scandinavians resent
the glossing tongue, approve Loki mind.
Shrewd, self-contained, they plow and reap, resigned
to eight-month winter, grimly concentrate
the honey of the earth from muddy rind.
By raising beets they live - to legislate
and make their sport political debate.
Her poetry reveals her incredible spirit and creative brilliance. She was quite a lady, and I'm sure there are countless others she touched through the years as they passed in and out of her classroom. Here's a beautiful example of her work, which captures so uniquely the people and place of the Moorhead area:
Red River People
Here on the ridgepole of the continent
where rivers amble north against their kind,
transplanted Scandinavians resent
the glossing tongue, approve Loki mind.
Shrewd, self-contained, they plow and reap, resigned
to eight-month winter, grimly concentrate
the honey of the earth from muddy rind.
By raising beets they live - to legislate
and make their sport political debate.
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