You can meet the “Art on Foot” participating artists in person, and hear the “Poetry in the Park” authors read their pieces live on writer-led hiking tours through the trails during the Field Trip festival next Saturday, September 24 from noon – 9 pm.

The writer-and-naturalist-led hiking tours will leave on the hour at 1 pm (Brian Beatty and Connie Wanek), 3 pm (Gary Dop and Hillary Wentworth), and 5 pm (Lightsey Darst and Tim Nolan) throughout the day.

Find the full schedule of Field Trip festival events here >>

Navigate your way through Silverwood’s trails to find your way to the art, poems and stories of “Art on Foot” with a map and instructions for accessing the “Poetry in the Park” >>

Find details on the upcoming Field Trip festival and participating projects over the coming weeks on mnartists.org/field_trip

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Meet the folks of “Art on Foot” – Poet Lightsey Darst

What’s your work routine? Do you set aside a specific time each day, or is your schedule more fluid than that?

I work as much as I can—usually, every day for an hour or so. Right now, embarrassingly, I am one of those coffee shop writers, but my routine changes all the time—if it didn’t change, I don’t know how the work would.

Do you have any rituals or habits to help get words on the page?

I spin around three times, chant, then turn on the bathroom light. No, wait, that’s something different. No writing rituals. I do what I need to do.

Are you a monogamous or promiscuous reader?

I am thoroughly promiscuous! I read an entire coffee table full of books at once. I have a breakfast book, I have a train book, I have The New Yorker for lunch, and when I go to bed, I take seven or eight books with me—and that’s seven or eight I’ve picked out from many more cluttering my office. I abandon at will, too—I’m completely shameless.

What books do you return to again and again?

I’ve read all of Jane Austen over and over. I return to Hamlet often; it’s sort of an Ur-book for me. Folk tales, ghost stories, nonfiction like Studs Terkel’s Working, faux-nonfiction like Go Ask Alice. Certain poems are talismanic for me too—”The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” “Dover Beach”.

What reading material’s on your nightstand right now?

Which nightstand? A short list: The Virgin Suicides (Jeffrey Eugenides), Tristimania (Mary Ruefle), Ours (Cole Swensen), The Pink Institution (Selah Saterstrom), The Plot Genie (Gillian Conoley), Regarding the Pain of Others (Susan Sontag), Une Semaine de Bonte (Max Ernst), Amphigorey (Edward Gorey).

Do you have any unfinished pieces that still haunt you?

Yes, lots. I don’t think I can talk about them, though; right now, they’re deeply flawed darlings. I love some of my old work, but I can see what’s wrong with it.

Who’s your first, best reader?

I was lucky enough to have a few early readers who were willing to say “wow!” to work that never quite made sense, that never really knew what it was doing—readers who were willing to go with the feeling, willing to bet I would figure it out. Now, as I teach writing to undergrads, I try to do that for other people, try to recognize promise and energy and need and coach hard work, persistence, that magic level of consciousness (neither too much nor too little).

Who are your favorites in the local literary scene – best bookshops, Minnesota writers?

Ooh, I don’t want to play favorites. There are too many good writers and booksellers out there to do that. My favorite is always whoever I read last or wherever I shopped last, so among local writers that’s, let’s see, my friend Haley Lasche; among bookstores, that’s Boulder Books.
What was the first thing you read that grabbed you and wouldn’t let go?

I learned to read for Nancy Drew. I think I was a little late; my mother read to us every night, and all kinds of books, so I didn’t have a burning need—until she refused to read any more Nancy Drew. That was a desperate moment: I knew I had to put those dang little letters together or I would never hear any more of the girl sleuth’s adventures.

Any trashy novel recommendations?

That would be Go Ask Alice, which I mentioned above. Ladies, if you have not picked up this anti-drug faux memoir, you really have to. It’s like The Bell Jar-lite—Hints from Heloise gone mad, 70s Sweet Valley hits the skids, self-hating girl heaven. It’s the marshmallow fluff of books: you know it’s bad for you, but you just can’t stop.

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Originally from Tallahassee, Lightsey Darst writes, dances, writes about dance, and teaches in Minneapolis. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Her book Find the Girl (Coffee House Press, 2010), won the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry, and her poems have been published in DIAGRAM, Gulf Coast, Spork, and others. She also hosts the writing salon “The Works”. You can find her dance criticism in various journals and papers, including mnartists.org, Mpls-St Paul Magazine, and Cerise Press. She teaches at North Hennepin Community College and at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Poetry in the Park is part of Silverwood Park’s new “Art on Foot” program, created in collaboration with mnartists.org, which allows you to enjoy work from Minnesota artists and authors along the trails. Bring the family back to the park on September 24, and meet all of the “Art on Foot” artists in person during Field Trip, a day-long festival with live music and theater, poet-led hikes with readings along the trails, and much more. The festival is a joint effort of mnartists.org and Silverwood Park. Find additional links, work, and information from the “Art on Foot” artists and writers, and get all the details about the line-up for Field Trip online at www.mnartists.org/field_trip.

You simply dial up a given phone number as you’re walking the park’s trails, and you can listen to a handpicked selection of little literary gems read aloud by some of our favorite Minnesota poets and flash fiction writers. All the literary cell stops are up and ready for you to dial up and listen, with poems by our 2010 mnLIT poetry winner Connie Wanek, Tim Nolan, Gary Dop, and Lightsey Darst; you’ll also find stories by our 2010 mnLIT flash fiction winner, Hillary Wentworth and 2009 flash fiction winner Brian Beatty.

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Listen to the following poems by Lightsey Darst, right now, as you walk Silverwood Park’s trails:

“Beautyberry”

“Evidence”

“Aria”

Field Trip is nearly here! We’re partnering with Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, MN to incorporate art and literature into the park’s sylvan setting. One of the central projects of “Art on Foot,” Poetry in the Park, allows visitors to access poems and stories by phone as they hike through the trails.

With Poetry in the Park, you simply dial up a phone number and listen to a handpicked selection of little literary gems read aloud by some of our favorite Minnesota poets and flash fiction writers. We’ve got all but one of the stops up and ready for you already, featuring poems by our 2010 mnLIT poetry winner Connie Wanek, Tim Nolan, Gary Dop; you’ll also find stories by our 2010 mnLIT flash fiction winner, Hillary Wentworth and 2009 flash fiction winner Brian Beatty; Lightsey Darst’s “cell stop”, the last one featured in this year’s “Poetry in the Park” series, will go live in the park next week.

We’ll have one more Q & A, with Lightsey Darst, up later this week.

You can meet the “Art on Foot” participating artists in person, and hear the “Poetry in the Park” authors read their pieces live on writer-led hiking tours through the trails during the Field Trip festival next Saturday, September 24 from noon – 9 pm.

The writer-and-naturalist-led hiking tours will leave on the hour at 1 pm (Brian Beatty and Connie Wanek), 3 pm (Gary Dop and Hillary Wentworth), and 5 pm (Lightsey Darst and Tim Nolan) throughout the day.

Find the full schedule of Field Trip festival events here >>

Navigate your way through Silverwood’s trails to find your way to the art, poems and stories of “Art on Foot” with a map and instructions for accessing the “Poetry in the Park” >>

Find details on the upcoming Field Trip festival and participating projects over the coming weeks on mnartists.org/field_trip

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Poet Connie Wanek (Photo by Phil Dentinger)

Meet the folks of “Art on Foot”: Poet Connie Wanek

What’s your writing routine? Do you work according to a set schedule, or is your writing more catch-as-catch-can?

I write first thing in the morning, with fair regularity.  I developed that habit when I worked full time and my kids were small.  With luck, the house was quiet for an hour or two at dawn.  I’m sure that sounds familiar to a lot of women who try to write.

Do you have any rituals or crutches to ease writing process?

A quart of strong coffee helps.  Chocolate, or last night’s dessert, whichever is most handy.

Are you a monogamous, or a promiscuous reader?

Totally promiscuous, and I’m not proud of it.

What books do you return to again and again?

I apologize, but this question is impossible for me: I love so many books.  One book that leaps to mind, that always stirs my imagination, is Charles Baxter’s Burning Down the House, which is comprised of essays about writing fiction.  It doesn’t matter that I generally write poems: the book is full of ideas and insights for any sort of writer, or reader.

What’s on your nightstand right now?

Right now I’m reading Cary Waterman‘s book When I Looked Back You Were Gone, and I’m also reading William Smart’s Eight Modern Essayists and the latest New Yorker.  Have you ever looked at some of George Orwell’s essays?  There are famous ones, but I hadn’t ever read the one called “Marrakech,” and it was so good I had to read it out loud to my husband.  What he says about the Jewish quarter, in 1939, the poverty and overcrowding…and then he says, “Good job Hitler isn’t here.  Perhaps he is on his way, however.”  It’s a tremendously powerful essay.

Do you have an unfinished poem that still haunts you?

I have fifty (I’m just picking a number, but I feel that’s probably on the low side) unfinished pieces of writing for every one I so-call “finish.”  I’ll tell you what haunts me: I want very much to put together a book of my mother’s letters and photos from a year she spent working in Japan right after World War Two.  1946-47.  She was an excellent observer, even though she was only 21, and she had endless curiosity, which makes those many letters compelling reading.  I have begun this project, but what, oh what, is keeping me from finishing it?

Who’s your first, best reader?

My husband is my first and best reader.  Everyone who knows us knows how much I depend upon him.  We were wild hippie poets when we were young (weren’t we?  Maybe we just like to think so).  I have written my whole life, and I can still recite a poem I wrote when I was eleven.  It’s not very good, even for a child.

What’s the piece of writing you remember that grabbed you and wouldn’t let go?

 The Black Stallion, The Island Stallion–the whole series by Walter Farley.  Horses, horses, horses.  Black Beauty.  And then all the animal stories by Jim Kjelgaard.  Loyal, clever dogs.  These are wonderful books for young readers!  I’m sure there are contemporary equivalents, but those are the books I craved.

What flavor of trashy, god-awful writing do you enjoy?

Trash is in the eye of the beholder, I hope!  I read AARP magazine, and I feel a bit silly about that.  I’m not even sure I should admit it!

*I skipped the question about my favorite bookstore, because my favorite went out of business last year, and I’m still feeling sad.  Northern Lights Books and Gifts–there’ll never be another Anita Zager.

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Connie Wanek lives in Duluth, Minnesota.  Her latest book, On Speaking Terms published by Copper Canyon Press, was a nominee for the 2011 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. She was named a Witter Bynner Fellow of the Library of Congress by US Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser.

Poetry in the Park is part of Silverwood Park’s new “Art on Foot” program, created in collaboration with mnartists.org, which allows you to enjoy work from Minnesota artists and authors along the trails. Bring the family back to the park on September 24, and meet all of the “Art on Foot” artists in person during Field Trip, a day-long festival with live music and theater, poet-led hikes with readings along the trails, and much more. The festival is a joint effort of mnartists.org and Silverwood Park. Find additional links, work, and information from the “Art on Foot” artists and writers, and get all the details about the line-up for Field Trip online at www.mnartists.org/field_trip.

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Listen to the following poems by Connie Wanek, right now, as you walk Silverwood Park’s trails:

“Pavement Ends”

“Blackbirds at Dusk”

“Red Fox”

Field Trip, presented by mnartists.org and Three Rivers Park District's Silverwood Park, is September 24 at Silverwood Park, St Anthony MN - noon - 9 pm

To kick off our new partnership with Silverwood Park, “Art on Foot,” in style we’re jointly hosting Field Trip, a day-long arts festival in late September.

With this joint venture, we aim to incorporate art and literature into the park’s sylvan setting. One of the central projects of “Art on Foot,” Poetry in the Park, allows visitors to access poems and stories by phone as they hike through the trails.

With Poetry in the Park, you simply dial up a phone number and listen to a handpicked selection of little literary gems read aloud by some of our favorite Minnesota poets and flash fiction writers. We’ve got all but one of the stops up and ready for you already, featuring poems by our 2010 mnLIT poetry winner Connie Wanek, Tim Nolan, Gary Dop; you’ll also find stories by our 2010 mnLIT flash fiction winner, Hillary Wentworth and 2009 flash fiction winner Brian Beatty; Lightsey Darst’s “cell stop”, the last one featured in this year’s “Poetry in the Park” series, will go live in the park next week.

Look for Q & As with both Darst and Connie Wanek here on the blog next week.

You can meet the “Art on Foot” participating artists in person, and hear the “Poetry in the Park” authors read their pieces live on writer-led hiking tours through the trails during the Field Trip festival next Saturday, September 24 from noon – 9 pm.

The writer-and-naturalist-led hiking tours will leave on the hour at 1 pm (Brian Beatty and Connie Wanek), 3 pm (Gary Dop and Hillary Wentworth), and 5 pm (Lightsey Darst and Tim Nolan) throughout the day.

Find the full schedule of Field Trip festival events here >>

Navigate your way through Silverwood’s trails to find your way to the art, poems and stories of “Art on Foot” with a map and instructions for accessing the “Poetry in the Park” >>

Find details on the upcoming Field Trip festival and participating projects over the coming weeks on mnartists.org/field_trip

  ______________________________________________________

Brian Beatty

Meet the “Art on Foot” folks: Writer and comedian, Brian Beatty

When do you write? Do you work according to a set routine, or is your schedule more whimsical, or catch-as-catch can, depending on how the mood strikes you or opportunity presents itself?

I write at least a little bit for myself every day — between walking my dog in the wee hours of the morning and getting ready for work and/or again after dinner in the evening. Sometimes, if I’m inspired or up against a deadline, I’ll write through lunch and into the wee hours of the night, too. Depends how excited I am about what I’m working on. I write copy to pay the bills, so there’s no escape.

Do you have any rituals to help get your work going?

I obsess over a word or descriptive phrase until it assumes a life of its own. Then I just write down what happens next. It’s during this chase that I figure out if it’s a piece of prose, a poem, or some dumb joke. When I hit a dead end with the words, I get up and walk it off. I’m a pacer.

Are you a monogamous or a promiscuous reader?

I read around. Most of the time, I’m working through three or four books — usually a collection of poems, a nonfiction book of some sort and a novel or short story collection.

What books do you return to again and again?

Barry Hannah’s story collection Airships is the book I’ve read more than any other. The mad energy of the language in that book is as much a gauntlet as it is an inspiration.

What reading material is on your night stand?

I’m currently reading Kay Ryan‘s selected poems, Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland and a book outlining a Buddhist approach to happiness.

Do you have an unfinished piece that still haunts you?

It’s more of an unstarted piece: I have this idea for an odd little play I’d like to write. I thought of it while I was performing in this summer’s Fringe festival. I scribbled the opening dialogue down in a notebook, but I haven’t gotten back to it. Soon, soon. I’m curious to find out why the woman in the scene is standing on a ladder.

Who is your first, best reader? Was there a discrete pivot in your life you can point to, a particular experience or teacher or encounter, after which you decided to pursue this kind of work, or did you stumble into your writing sideways?

I don’t share my work until I consider it finished. I’ve written enough client copy to know the perils of committee opinion. But I’m thrilled that folks read what I write and listen to what I say on stage.

From grade seven until my senior year in high school, my plan was to become a high school band director. But my senior year, an advanced composition teacher demanded that I write and submit a short story to the university for a chance to earn a scholarship. That story paid for four years of undergrad. After I had my MFA, I quit writing for a year. But it turned out that I’m a terrible quitter.

Name your favorite bookstore/bookseller, and why; or maybe there’s a local writer whose work has caught your fancy?

Magers & Quinn is my favorite Twin Cities bookstore. The mix of new and used means I’ll probably find what I’m looking for, but I’m just as likely to discover something that I didn’t know existed, which is my second favorite feeling in the world, after the feeling of creating something that didn’t previously exist.

Describe the first time you encountered a writer or story that grabbed you and wouldn’t let go.

Flannery O’Connor’s story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” blew a hole in my head when I first read it in ninth or tenth grade. The story’s cruel comedy thrilled me. I’d had no idea literature could do that.

I’m willing to bet everyone enjoys a bit of trashy stuff from time to time. What’s the best god-awful piece of writing you ever read?

I went through a pulp fiction phase a couple of years ago. Not the classics of the genre, but the quickie churn-‘em-outs that comprise the deepest, darkest recesses of today’s underground scene. The formula was half the fun. The other half of the fun was how unapologetic these writers were about the grime and gross-out aspects of their books. The prose took the idea of “unmannered” to such extremes that I sometimes wondered if the writers’ draft manuscripts had even been edited.

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Brian Beatty‘s business card reads “Writer. Comedian. Dude with a beard.” Which is entirely accurate. Brian’s jokes, poems and stories have appeared in numerous print and online publications, including Conduit, The Evergreen Review, Guffaw, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, METRO, mnartists.org, The Quarterly, Rain Taxi, The Rake, Seventeen and Yankee Pot Roast. Brian has performed his stand-up comedy and storytelling all over the Twin Cities, including at the 331 Club, Bedlam Theatre, Brave New Workshop, Bryant Lake Bowl, Club Jager, The Fitzgerald Theater, Nomad World Pub, Northrop Memorial Auditorium, The Ritz Theater, The Soap Factory, Walker Art Center and the Woman’s Club of Minneapolis. Brian is the author of the not-suitable-for-wilderness humor chapbook DUCK! He also recently acted and performed music for the Ferrari McSpeedy production, “Once Upon a Time in the Suburbs,” during the 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Poetry in the Park is part of Silverwood Park’s new “Art on Foot” program, created in collaboration with mnartists.org, which allows you to enjoy work from Minnesota artists and authors along the trails. Bring the family back to the park on September 24, and meet all of the “Art on Foot” artists in person during Field Trip, a day-long festival with live music and theater, poet-led hikes with readings along the trails, and much more. The festival is a joint effort of mnartists.org and Silverwood Park. Find additional links, work, and information from the “Art on Foot” artists and writers, and get all the details about the line-up for Field Trip online at www.mnartists.org/field_trip.

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Listen to the following stories by Brian Beatty, right now, as you walk Silverwood Park’s trails:

 “Squirrels”

“Nuts”