Work-in-Progress: Rachel Harkai
I began this poem on the winter solstice, December 2019, thinking about a friend I love—someone who tempers the humdrum routines of adult life with a hunger, with a touch of recklessness that helps me feel inspired and alive. I wanted to write a poem for them about my reverence for wild things—animals that roam and plants that run riot not because they’re foolish, but because they want to live.
In the poem I tell the story of a rather harrowing but beautiful backpacking trip I once took in Nova Scotia. After giving my friend a draft of the poem I later realized that I’d left out an important part—the part where I was frightened. Sometimes we forget how easily fear can distract us from the beauty that’s happening around us all the time. So I’ve been revising the poem to include that.
In response to social isolation guidelines, Kresge Arts in Detroit asked Kresge Artist Fellows and Gilda Award recipients to give us a glimpse into their current and recent projects. Participating artists received stipends of $150, a quick response pivot of resources that could be implemented by the program as an immediate - albeit small level - of support to Detroit area artists.