Poetry in Place

Wisconsin's Poet Laureate, Max Garland, visited our community one recent weekend.  My friend Ellen and I had the pleasure of hearing him speak and read some of his poems at a symposium at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center.  The symposium on land, food and transformation, referred to as the first annual "De-Composium," offered a day of music, food, and poetry, a celebration of art in many forms as it relates to an appreciation of the land.  The event was sponsored by the Wormfarm Institute, Center for Integrated Ag Systems, the Aldo Leopold Foundation and Verse Wisconsin. Mr. Garland read thoughtful and witty poems about the likes of bats and squirrels, bringing a new awareness to these creatures and more.  The event and his poetry couldn't have been situated in a more perfect locale than a place that honors the work and memory of the great ecologist Aldo Leopold.  As I pondered Mr. Garland's words, thought about the importance of the availability of local produce, considered the role of art in our lives (and economy), and appreciated the environs of the event, I realized that I had much good food for thought.