North Dakota Rural Roots Journey October 2015





Waking in Williston, North Dakota, is not the same as waking—or entering, the small town of my childhood. The return is made possible through two cousins, one elder, one a peer. Bowbells, North Dakota, County Seat of Burke County, the place. We enter through Highway 8, late October, after harvest. Camp in City Park where there’s a Donation Box, not a registrar. We’re in the Lutheran pew of my childhood on Sunday. Surprises everywhere.



Our family left Bowbells in 1956. I was 10. The back and forth gives way to this one. Family. Worship. Farm. Town. Exile. Return. Home, where they have to take you in. Or not. The split life between the poem and the inherited faith. What it looks like now.

1 comment:

  1. her name isn't really lil, it's debbie. who can top that. thanks for this shared journey. wonderful. kjm

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