By Elaine Rassel
Thursday (November 18) Poet Tom Montang was the second of two poets/authors (Debra Marquart) who came to Marcus Public Library to present their poems and readings. Tom Montang, in addition to being a poet is also memoirist, essayist, anthologizer, and philosopher, and a founding editor of “The Pushcart Prize”, the most honored literary project in America.
Montang’s works celebrate the Midwest, with his gifts of clarity, conciseness, and deep affection for the land that raised and still sustains him. Born and raised on a farm in Curlew, Iowa, he recalls those early years in his poetry and writings. Most of his poetry read dealt with farm life bringing in hay, experiencing the feelings of farmers after a disaster (hail, high winds, tornado), that left them with “nothing”, and giving up a family farm to health issues.
He stated that those who succeed at writing are not necessarily those who are most talented, but rather, those who pursue it most stubbornly, and he feels he is his own best example of that. He wouldn’t have anything to write about if he didn’t hear voices and did some eavesdropping. An example was one of his poems where he happened by a graveyard and overheard the widow talking to her deceased husband.
When he was growing up and it was Christmas exchange presents time, he feels his family knew something he wasn’t aware of at the early age. They gave him paper and pencils rather than the usual gifts of underwear and stockings. He began early on to see what a farm was. He read on about the clumps of dirt, rain that came too late, grasshoppers that ate up the farmer’s crop. Sometimes the best teachers are slow learners.
“Isn’t life wonderful until the mule hits you in the head!”
Even though Montang now lives in Wisconsin, he has never forgotten the Midwest. He has always been interested in the poetry of that place the hold that the land has on those who live there.
The Library was able to have Montang come through The Fiddle Creek Arts Group. This Group is a tiny division of The American Center for Puccini Studies, a cross-cultural collective based in Northwest Iowa, which strives to present the social and spiritual relevance of music and the arts through performances and active educational programs. The Fiddle Creek Arts Group was started in our area after Kay Krekow and her husband, Dr. Harry Dunstan, returned to the Marcus community. The little pond and creek on the home-place feed, eventually into the larger Fiddle Creek and represents a common, watery thread shared by the residents of Marcus and surrounding areas.
The program featuring Tom Montag was made possible by a generous donation from the Lois Krekow Residuary Trust, in memory of Lois Krekow.