Chalk Poems

 Audrey Kletscher Helbling  is a writer, poet and blogger at http://mnprairieroots.com/

She lives in SE MN. Her work has been published in poetry anthologies, devotionals, two books, magazines, newspapers, on billboards and in greeting cards. Besides being passionate about blogging she also enjoys photography. She uses the art of photography to tell the stories of people and places in small towns highlighting their everyday life on her blog.

Audrey found a creative way to celebrate April poetry month. She chalked her Roadside Poetry poem on a sidewalk near her house. She lives along a busy street and thought this was a fun way to get a poem out to the public.  

This poem has no title as it was posted on four billboards as part of the Roadside Poetry Project (now defunct) in Fergus Falls. Lines were limited to four and number of characters per line was also limited. Audrey won the spring 2011 competition. Here's a link to see what the Roadside Poetry looked like

http://www.roadsidepoetry.org/
Audrey's poem can be found in Roadside Poetry Archives 2011

Cold earth warmed

by budding sun

sprouts the seeds

of vernal equinox

Here's a link to a blog post Audrey wrote about Roadside Poetry. It shows her by the billboard poem.

 http://mnprairieroots.com/2011/06/12/prairie-poetry-in-fergus-falls/

Mankato, MN currently has a similar, but smaller, poetry project along its bike and walking trail system. Here's a link to info about that contest open to poets living within a 45-mile radius of Mankato:

http://southernmnpoets.org/contest

This poem is from Poetic Strokes, A Regional Anthology of Poetry From Southeastern Minnesota, 2012, published by Southeastern Libraries Cooperating.

Writing Poetry as the Sun Rises

by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

My fingertips linger within a mere whisper of the keyboard

as I pause, half-thought, words interrupted mid-phrase,

to tilt my head toward the window and the sunrise

spreading gold and pink across the sky like jam on toast.

In that morning moment, I desire nothing more

than to dip my fingers into the jar of dawn,

to sample her sweetness, to taste of her earthy goodness,

to delight in sunshine and rain and succulent fruit plucked from vines.

But language beckons me back to the keyboard,

to dip my fingers into the jar of words,

to choose and shape and share the poetry that rises within me,

in rhythm and verse upon the breaking day.

And so ends my poetry blitz for April. Perhaps with reading so many poems you are now inspired to try writing a poem of your own :)

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Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 baking potatoes
• 2/3 cup flour
• 6 cups 2% milk
• 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheese,divided
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. parsley flakes
• 1 cup lite sour cream
• 3/4 cup chopped green onions
• optional 6 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400
• Pierce potatoes with fork and bake 1 hour or until tender-cool 
• Peel potatoes coarsely mash and discard skins  
• Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup and level off with a knife 
• Place flour in a dutch oven and gradually add milk stirring with a whisk until blended
• Cook over medium heat till thick about 8 minutes and add in mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup of cheese, spices, salt and pepper 
• Stir till cheese melts
• Remove from heat and add in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions cook on low heat 10 minutes 
• Ladle into 8 bowls and sprinkle each with 1-1/2 tsp cheese, 1/2 tsp. onions and 1 TB. bacon