Poetry/Essay

Making merry on the riverside: an alternative view

We live in what we perceive to be an entirely human-centric world. As a result, there is often no consideration for the others—for wildlife, writes Tim Mulherin. Our society is increasingly estranged from nature. Author Richard Louv expressed his concern for this regressive phenomenon in his seminal work “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”. Our apathy for wildlife is a key indicator. When the calendar turned to July this year, this new awareness became acute. Fireworks were being set off nightly by can’t-wait patriots in anticipation of the commemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Bang! Boom! Domestic pets, especially dogs and cats, trembled whenever the faux bombardment began, desperate to escape the sharp reports punctuating the air. Yet my immediate thought when seeing our aging, red-coated Pomeranian pacing frantically, demanding to be picked up and consoled, turned to wildlife, whose well-being rarely factors into the human experience.

Read more
/by

Seasonal simplicity sermonette

Earlier this year, a group of friends asked Leelanau County writer Stephanie Mills to speak at their regular winter gathering, whose theme was “Pleasure, Presence, and Play.” It was some wild genius on their part to redirect our focus from the cruel spectacle unfolding in the nation’s capital, and other portents of collapse, and to turn our attention to conviviality, wrote Mills. (It was also fairly playful to ask a depressive pessimist to address such a lively theme.) The following essay is derived from that talk.

Read more
/by

Berry Imperfection: A Summer Essay

,

The last jar of last June’s strawberry jam rests empty on my kitchen counter, clotted and sticky. David looks sad. The dog hangs his head as though scolded though he had nothing to do with the quandary we face, writes Anne-Marie Oomen. It was purely luck that last summer’s strawberry jam made it from last solstice to this one. That jam is holy, that jam is winter survival, that jam is antidote to cloud laden days when sunlight is veiled in some stratospheric turbulence the size of Jupiter. That rosy jam spread thick on brown bread reminds us that light does exist. I lick the rim of the jar. Clearly, the succulence that saves us must be replenished.

Read more
/by

Confessions of a recovering rockhound

It’s really no surprise that the Great Lakes Rocks & Minerals Facebook page has almost than 340,000 members, writes Tim Mulherin. First-time visitors to Lake Michigan, especially here along Leelanau County’s magnificent stretch of the big lake’s beach, are drawn to the stones, fossils and beach glass offered up with each wave that lands ashore. Even those who are not geologically inclined can’t ignore the eons-old rocky scatterings of water-glossed beauty at their feet. The photographs that especially get my attention are those displaying dozens of beach stones arranged for a self-congratulatory photo shoot. Typically, I’m moved to pose a single suggestive question: Catch and release? It often garners several laughing emojis. And yet… I’m serious. For years, my wife has discouraged me from collecting geological keepsakes for my ever-expanding collection: Petoskey stones, Charlevoix stones, agates, chain coral, and crinoids being my favorites. She habitually instructs me to return them before we decamp from the beach and head home.

Read more
/by

Glen Arbor Arts Center hosts Coffee with the Authors

,

Coffee With the Authors is a live, conversational interview with local and regional authors about the craft and process of writing. On Sept. 14 Traverse City poet and teacher Teresa Scallon talks about To Embroider The Ground With Prayer, a collection of poems considering her father’s illness, death, and the Michigan farming community in which she was raised. Sarah Bearup-Neal, GAAC gallery manager, leads the conversation. The interview begins at 1 pm.

Read more
/by

“Packed” beaches? A curmudgeon comes around

One Friday afternoon last July, Tim Mulherin’s wife, Janet, suggested they go down to Good Harbor Bay Beach CR 651 (Good Harbor Trail) for a few blissful hours of relaxation. That favorite Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore location is conveniently located about two miles from our home in Cedar. Janet had the right idea: It was a glorious northern Michigan summer day, the kind that makes you want to drop what you’re doing and report to the nearest Lake Michigan beach. “Sounds good,” Tim said, “with one exception: It’s July and the beach will be packed.” Mulherin, a self-described curmudgeon, writes here about accepting “packed beaches” at the height of summer.

Read more
/by

Empire to honor Michigan Author Award winner Anne-Marie Oomen

, ,

Empire writer Anne-Marie Oomen has received the 2024 Michigan Author Award, an award given by the State Library of Michigan to a Michigan author for lifetime achievement. In celebration of this honor, the Empire Area Community Center and Glen Lake Community Library Friends of the Library will hold a reception in honor of her award and to celebrate her books on Sunday, Sept. 8, from 4-7 pm at the Empire Town Hall. Oomen is author of eight nonfiction books, editor of two anthologies, and co-author of two tales of fiction for young people. She has won numerous awards over the years. The Michigan Author Award is given through a nomination process from librarians and others, and David Diller of the Glen Lake Community Library was one of the nominators this year. “I’m so grateful to the librarians I’ve worked with over the years, but our local library has become particularly special to me,” said Oomen.

Read more
/by

Asparagus Festival crowns winning poems, recipes

,

The Empire Asparagus Festival’s “Ode to Asparagus Poetry Competition” on June 1 attracted 25 entries and 100 attendees at the Glen Lake Community Library. The winning poem, as selected by the audience, was “Astrological Asparagus” by Joseph Povolo. Meanwhile, one Empire family swept the Asparagus Recipe Contest held at the Town Hall. Don Cunningham won the People’s Choice Grand Prize for his “Asparagus Benedict” recipe. Carol Cunningham finished second for her “Spargelsalat” (German asparagus salad). Carol’s brother Duane Schmidt won third place for his “Asparagus Peppers” recipe.

Read more
/by

Opening day: the cabin kind

As family tradition dictates, my youngest brother, Chris, and I drove from Indianapolis to the cabin my wife and I have owned in Cedar for the past 15 years for the trout opener on the last Saturday in April, writes author Tim Mulherin. And as usual, we spent some long-anticipated quality time on a picturesque stream in northern Michigan. I knew it would be a great outing; we even managed to catch some nice trout. Of course, a few days before we spooled new line on our spinning reels, pulled on our hip waders, and tried our luck, we had to see to another annual ritual: opening our chalet for the season.

Read more
/by

Glen Lake Library invites Ode to Asparagus poetry entries

,

A-spear-ing poets are invited to come share their asparagus themed verse at the Ode to Asparagus, the Glen Lake Community Library’s contribution to the annual Empire Asparagus Festival, which will be held on Saturday, June 1 at 2 pm. Poems of all styles are welcome—sonnets, haiku, epic, even limericks. Submit your poems to the library by Friday, May 31, via mail, email, or drop them off at the library directly. The Glen Lake Library will also host Jane Elder, author or “Wilderness, Water & Rust” on May 30.

Read more
/by