Your Take: Fort Atkinson’s poetry walls are part of the city’s collective history

By Ann Engelman

When we think of “making history,” finding unique old dusty artifacts come to mind. It often is curious to determine what, that is happening right, now will be history.

For your consideration, here is the history of the current “Poetry Walls” in Fort Atkinson.

Whether or not you enjoy poetry, poetry is a part of our culture. There are events that call out for just the right words. 

Poet Lorine Niedecker is a significant historical figure in our town that shines a light on where and how we live in our place.

In 2008, we experienced terrible floodwaters of the Rock River. The Friends of Lorine Niedecker had been planning a Poetry Wall to invite our city to get to know her “poetry of place “  better. 

The stanza “Fish, fowl, flood, waterlily mud, my life” was certainly poignant for the time and place. Flood and mud was being experienced by so many. 

The Friends of Lorine Niedecker asked, “What six words describe your life?“ We have a good time with that, from sidewalk chalk to recitations in the car while waiting for a stop light to change. It was not without its controversy. It was on a wall, a mural of sorts, but it was not a picture! “Why bother?” 

The Poetry Wall, nevertheless, became a part of our city culture.

In 2018, a second wall was painted. The Friends of Lorine Niedecker wanted to introduce another stanza, from the same poem, that would invite readers to think about who they are in relation to their place. 

Poetry Wall #2 was across the street from Wall #1, it was bigger and it was not what everyone had gotten used to. It was more a puzzle and required more time to sort it out. Many conversations ensued, many outright disliked the wall, others were frustrated by it. Wall #2 defied immediate understanding.

For our city, there is nothing else quite like it. What do visitors coming into town remember about our town? It’s that city that has those walls with words and a catfish downtown. Both, are artistic expressions.

Enter 2021, a year after the pandemic, a politically divided time. We are all thinking. About what? 

The Friends of Lorine Niedecker is offering a poem that invites our city to think “thoughts on things” above our river beds. This Poetry Wall #3, the final wall, at least in my lifetime, will be similar to Wall #1. It will be a comforting invitation to think, to think about what you think.

So each Poetry Wall invites a question:

What six words describe your life?

Who are you in your place?

What thoughts fold and unfold in your life?

I propose to you that these walls are part of a collective history for our city. These walls are generating history right now, history that will be a part of the archives at the Hoard Historical Museum.

The Friends of Lorine Niedecker shine a tender light requesting consideration of who we are. Does history get better than that? These are “right now“ elements that will frame conversations and continue to do so. They have since 2008, 2018 and now, 2021. They are becoming a historical tradition.

Will these walls create a precedent for future requests? Maybe. But the standard, as of these walls, is very high. Historical figures, historical context, cultural awareness, significant layers for on-going exploration, regard for historical materials, regard for appearance, vetted artistic abilities, these are just a few. 

Ann Engelman is the president of the Friends of Lorine Niedecker organization, which has commissioned Fort Atkinson artist Jeremy Pinc to paint a third mural in the city’s downtown. It will be located on the north wall of the Hometown Pharmacy building at the corner of South Main Street and South Water Street West. In this column, Engelman shares the thinking behind this mural and its two predecessors. A story about the new mural is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/third-friends-of-lorine-niedecker-poetry-wall-planned-in-fort/.