Remember Gene Stratton-Porter
~Limberlost Cabin, Geneva, Indiana
Remember her placing the door knocker,
a replica from the Porter family home
on the cabin’s grand oak door. Remember her
turning the switch of the oil lamp to review
the day’s notes, when and where she saw
the new moth in the swamp. Remember
her hunting, not with rifle, but camera,
searching out the perfect shot of bird, moth,
all things nature. Remember her emerging
from the daylilies, stalks of thistle and burrs
clinging to her slacks, her leather boots.
Remember her hanging her prints in the kitchen.
smelling the chemicals, seeing the images,
cooking her recipes to feed her readers.
Remember her opening a wooden paint box,
dipping a brush into the sapphire of blue flag iris.
Remember her recording sights, sounds, and
sensations through words and more. Remember
her watering plants among insects and
the parrot’s attentive eye. Remember her
finding her paradise on the Wabash,
filling her home with the fascinating world
outside and around her, as if ravished
by a moonbeam. Remember her posing
for photos in fancy dress or working clothes,
comfortable in both. Remember her standing
in front of the dresser, carefully selecting
the amethyst cabochon from her collection
of long, bronze hair pins like the egret pulls
her perfect reed from the water.
—Collaborative Poem by Shari Wagner’s workshop
“Inside Gene Stratton-Porter’s Cabin,” 7-13-2019;
Jeanne Akins, Mike Brockley, Melissa Fey, Stacia Gorge,
Terri Gorney, Suzanne Hall, Karen Powell, Scott Vannoy
Wasp Nest in My Hand
Once a deadly chandelier
now it’s honeycomb
turned to ash, light
as paper, with the scent
of tobacco. It looks
like an ashtray
where I can stand
twenty cigarettes
side by side
in hexagons fitted
by master builders.
It bears
the pheromones
of wasps,
the improbable flight
of a dark pollinator.
—Collaborative Poem by Shari Wagner’s workshop
“Inside Gene Stratton-Porter’s Cabin,” 7-13-2019;
Jeanne Akins, Mike Brockley, Melissa Fey, Stacia Gorge,
Terri Gorney, Suzanne Hall, Karen Powell, Scott Vannoy
Friends of the Limberlost 