The first time I read anything by Barry Lopez I was on a train from Waterloo to Chicago to meet a friend at a museum. I was attracted to the book, “Winter Count,” because of the name of the book, of course, but also because my pathways with the author had definitely been guiding me to his work. Oh, not because I ever met him personally, but because I ran across his name in readings.
I have always been a fan of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Henry Beston. Not only did I love their writings, but they all lived in cold climates and used the winter to their own benefit. Once, for Earthfest, I did a workshop comparing the work of the three men. But, of late, I have one more to add to the workshop, and that of Barry Lopez.
Lopez was born on Epiphany in 1945, and died on Christmas Day of 2020. He was a writer, a philosopher and a dedicated environmentalist. His book, “Winter Count,” is a collection of short winter stories much like the Lakotas once did with pictorial stories, often on buffalo hides or deer skins. Lopez wrote as easily of blooming daffodils as he did of mounds of snow and the flying cranes. Many men or women have taken up such an environmental cause in the form of poetry, and luckily I know of a few.
The poet, Mary Oliver, lived her life through the poetic verse holding on the beauty of the environment through her poems, many of which are taped up on my kitchen cupboard. As soon as the peonies bloom in the spring, I take her poem out into the garden to read as I sit among the blooms. Oliver died two years ago, leaving us a body of work for our own winter count.
Not all poets and dreamers are as famous as the ones I have mentioned. All over this world, there are poets and dreamers and writers whose names will never be mentioned in The New York Times. Yet, does that make their work and their passion any less? I think not.
I want to share the work of three men I strongly admire. These are men whose feet are planted on the ground. The first one I want to mention is my friend and poet, Michael Czarnecki. Michael is not a stranger here in northern Indiana, although he lives in the foothills of New York. Years and years ago Michael decided he was called to be a poet and has lived his life accordingly. He writes a poem a day, publishes them in small chapbooks in his own house with his wife, Carolyn. Every couple of years, Michael finds his way here to Angola where he shares his poetry with friends.
Living out in the country writing his own songs by a wood fire in the winter is singer, songwriter, John Getz. Sometimes when John is singing at a concert or a library or just a campfire get-together, he becomes completely lost in his songs. I know he is not even aware we are there. John is a true artist.
I have one more artist I want to share with you. Lyle Nickloy. Lyle was an artist and did everything his way. He and his wife, Shirley, built their log cabin house out by Metz. He did not buy a kit. The logs, and his inspiration came from his land and his own two hands. He was a guitar player, a woodsman, a wood carver, and a pure man of the land. Lyle left this world this week leaving his hand-crafted furniture, cabin and a lovely family behind. I am lucky enough to own one of his hand-crafted tables. It is unique in every way, as was Lyle.
These artists I have mentioned today are just a few who come into my life, whether by book or song or actually opening the door and walking into my old house. I am pulled to their work just as surely as the stars are drawn to darkness and snow to winter.
I do my own winter count, not with marks on a deer skin, but with stories and poems which are tucked inside my studio. I, too, want to leave behind the joy and gentleness of this life … winter or any other time.
Barry Lopez once wrote as the stormed howled, “Everything is held together with stories. That is all that is holding us together, stories and compassion.”
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The passion of a true artist is great - KPCnews.com
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