Page 2

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Raymond-Prinsburg News

Viewpoints
The New Girl in Town
By Laura Kay Prosser Some of us have the gift of gab and others have the gift of music, Elaine Korsmo has the gift of the written word. As a poet since the age of ten she's used the gift she's found to get satisfaction out of the experiences of her life. You can really express yourself, Korsmo said. Your feelings come out in poetry. She wrote a poem for Abraham Lincoln when she was in fth grade, and that was the beginning. My teacher praised me to high heaven and said I had real talent for poetry, Korsmo said. Since that praise she hasn't stopped writing since. She's written a poem for the upcoming 125th Raymond book and has written for the Clara City Care Center, The United Methodist Church, Legion Auxiliary, the Seventh district and just anyone who asks for a poem, she will follow through with her rhymes. Poetry comes very easily for me, Korsmo said. She keeps many of her works in a book that her daughter helped her make. Even the poems that she's written after she bound and printed the ones in the book are placed lovingly inside the book. I write about everything and I keep it all in my book of scribbly poems I dont do anything with, Korsmo said. Clara City Care Center published one of her poems, Route 70 in Eternal Heartland. Outside of that one publication she normally just writes for herself or the communities. She's written for funerals to weddings, holidays to personal dedicated poetry. Words come from your heart, your inner most feelings come from your heart, for me the two make poetry, Korsmo said. Sights are not what inspires her poetry, but emotions, whether they be boredom during a conference or frustrations from a day that results in a poem of everything that has gone wrong. I write about what I know, emotions are what I know, Korsmo said. Many of her works are dedicated to her family living and dead. Her favorite piece is one written for her deceased daughter Laura. While it makes her sad, she balances it out by writing of her grandchildren, Molly and Sam. It makes you feel better when you are done writing,

Korsmo said. By expressing herself on the page she is able to enjoy life more and at the same time leave something not materialistic behind when she is gone. My poetry is something with a personal meaning to remember me by, Korsmo said. Korsmo doesn't have a designated time where she sits down and puts pen to paper. Instead she just lets it come when it comes. It doesn't take me long to write, Korsmo said. When it comes, it comes fast. When she was eighteen she believed that she had failed in her life. She spent days locked away in her room and all she could think was that she was a failure and that she would never be good at anything. So, she sat down and wrote. From it came, Familiar Corners. A poem came from that. I think it's the best poem I've ever written and I never forgot it, Korsmo said. Poetry has always been her guiding light. It is what has gotten her through hard times and frustrating times. It's accompanied her through new experiences and happy occasions. I dont know where I got it from, but it's been a big part of my life, Korsmo said. The poems represent what Im feeling right then and

there. In the end she hopes those feelings, those emotions, those poems meant something. You feel like you've accomplished something when you write a poem, Korsmo smiled. Ive accomplished a lot of somethings in my life. The poem that started it all: Abe Lincoln Abe as a boy was bold and strong. He was good and did no wrong. 16th president was he and as honest as could be. Then the war of sorrow came. All changed, it was not the same. Death and hardships they did face, ghting for the Negro race. One night which was his last. A bullet suddenly whizzed past. States they mourned in grief and sorrow. Lincoln would have no tomorrow. But he acted as he should. So, God will bless him kind and good. -Elaine Korsmo, age 10

T hRee Buns
and a Hurricane
the two of us, to Vegas. I didnt set out to plan a trip there, but wed talked about going back (we went for his 30th birthday) and I found tickets to a couple of things that I knew he'd like to do. I tried not to get too excited, remembering the way it went with Axel and Thomas, but kept our destination a secret until it was time to pack. When I lled him in on the mystery he was about as excited as he gets - a smile. I'll take it. Better than asking, whats the surprise? Any time to ourselves is a vacation, really, so add travel, entertainment, and happy hours, we're elated. Travel is something we both love, though it does require some compromise. I took him to an Andy Warhol exhibit, and he took me to Ironman 3 in 3D, which I must confess was really good. Compromise opens doors in many cases, if we're willing to open them. Our rst night in town we saw Tim Allen, one of Jesse's favorites, do stand up comedy. He was growly, a tad ornery, vaguely offensive, but hilarious, and quite the storyteller, a lot like his TV characters. We laughed until we cried, and walked a mile back to our hotel. The next day we had a real Vegas champagne brunch, and walked and walked some more. I would suggest good shoes in Vegas. You're in trouble without them. That night, a real highlight of Surprise A couple summers ago we told Axel we had a surprise for him, and planned a trip to Duluth to see an actual Thomas the Tank Engine at the depot, one we could really ride on the rails. We had been to Duluth the summer before, just after I found out I was pregnant again, and since he loved it so much there, watching the ships and chasing seagulls, we were sure he would love it again. Talked up this big surprise, packed him and three sixmonth olds in the car, and made the trip. We were so excited, knowing how much he loved Thomas and trains in general. Got to the depot, came around the corner where we nally saw Thomas . . . we could hardly contain ourselves. We looked at Axel, who nally, dryly asked, whats the surprise? A disappointed three year old is a sad thing. This was also the time we discovered that our triple stroller does not t through many doorways, also sad. Anyway, he did enjoy himself, as did we all, but we try not to talk up surprises anymore. That being said, I planned a surprise getaway for Jesse and I this past weekend, having not seen each other very much at all the last few months as he took on a new venture as a long term sub at Ridgewater. I told him when he was done we were going somewhere together, and planned a surprise vacation for

Send us your letters to the editor

ESTABLISHED NOV. 23, 1900 Published every Wednesday at Raymond, MInnesota 56282. Periodicals postage paid at Raymond, MInnesota. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE NEWS, Box 157, Raymond, MN 56282. Phone/fax 320-967-4244 Email: rpnews@frontier.com Email rpnews@mvtvwireless.com

RPNews@frontier.com

PO Box 157 Raymond MN 56282

Please include your phone number
The News THE NEWS

or

the trip and probably the year or better, we took in the Billboard Music Awards. Not something either of us ever aspired to do, but an amazing experience to be at a live television broadcast of an awards show, seeing how it all comes together and enjoying performances and appearances by countless celebrities. Seeing Prince perform, listening to Madonna give an acceptance speech, and being 15 feet away from Taylor Swift? Just a typical Sunday night. We lled our last day shopping, walking, talking, and sampling happy hours, and visited the Bodies exhibit. Also a compromise, as Jesse has wanted to see it for years and I didn't trust my stomach but nally agreed. I held it together though didn't linger as long as he did at the cross sections of brains or kneecaps. But, you only live once, and now we can say weve done all these interesting things, having kept an open mind. Far too soon we're back to reality . . . To kids asking constant inane questions, blowing Icees all over themselves, ghting over who gets to sit in the front carseat. Even as I thought about those things, and for as much fun as we had being a couple last weekend, I couldn't wait to get back to being their mom. Having found strawberry beer in Vegas I thought maybe I'd never want to go home, so I surprised myself.

Subscription Rates:
In Kandiyohi County, and for Clara City and Kerkhoven addresses,$30 $26 per year; Out of area but in state,$32 $30 per year; Out of state, $34 $32 per year. To receive Western Peach out of area and state, add $6. Subscriptions are non-refundable. Advertising rates upon request.

isproduced produced through through the is theefforts effortsof of

Bev Ahlquist, Freelance Reporter Josie Oliver & Laura Prosser, Editors TJ Publishers TJ& &KARI KARI JO JO ALMEN, ALMEN, Publishers Official newspaper for the City of Raymond, City of Prinsburg and MACCRAY School District #2180.
Member of the Minnesota Western Peach, the Minnesota Newspaper Assn., and the National Newspaper Assn.

Missy Bodin, Graphic Editor Artist Courtney Casperson, Char Bestge, Composition Bev Ahlquist, Freelance Reporter

Minnesota Western Peach 320-264-3071 Published Since 1900 TJ and Kari Jo Almen, Publishers

5,>:
THE RAYMOND-PRINSBURG