Preface Acknowledgments

By Alan Brew

In his novella A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean writes that a river “has so many things to say that it is hard to know what it says to each of us.” He also writes that the river he and his family knew best, the Big Blackfoot River in Montana, “runs over rocks from the basement of time” and that “under the rocks are the words.”

“I am haunted,” Maclean concludes his novella, “by waters.”

Catherine Lange, Michael Ruth, and the poets who have contributed to Same Location, Multiple Perspectives are also haunted by waters. As they should be. As we all should be.

The water that pulses “over stones, boulders, golden grasses,” as Diana Randolph writes, is our “lifeblood.” And, as Eric Chandler reminds us, water is constantly turning over in us, constantly renewing us. Without water, we would not be.

In the pages that follow, Catherine, Michael, and their poet friends use photos and words to explore what it is that rivers, and experiences with water more generally, say to each of us.

In doing so, they help to build bridges that we desperately need in these tumultuous times. Bridges that connect us to the stability of rocks from the basement of time and to the lifeblood that courses through each of our veins. Bridges that close the gaps between us, helping us to understand and appreciate the diversity of our perspectives. And, perhaps most importantly, bridges that transport us into the essential beauty of moving water and flowing words.

May you, too, be haunted by these waters, the rocks that give them voice, and the words that lie beneath them.

ALAN BREW is a Professor of English at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, and the Executive Director of its Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute.

By Catherine Lange and Michael L. Ruth

We wish to acknowledge that this project would not have happened if we hadn’t met early in 2021 and discovered a mutual joy in photographing places where water flows. We’re grateful to all the stewards who make it possible for anyone to visit Wisconsin’s State Parks like Amnicon Falls and Copper Falls; U.S. Forest Service Recreation Areas like Morgan Falls and St. Peter’s Dome; State Natural Areas like Lost Creek Falls and Houghton Falls; county parks and beaches like Little Girls Point in Ironwood, Michigan; and Ashland, Wisconsin’s shoreline walking trail and redeveloped Oredock.

In wanting to share the photos we created in all these beautiful places, we began planning an exhibit to be held in September 2022 at the Washburn Cultural Center. We want to thank Executive Director Steve Cotherman and Aron Lorber for their assistance with the exhibit.

While designing this book as a companion to the exhibit, the idea occurred to Catherine to ask some poet friends if they’d contribute their work to the project. Those poets shared the request with others. We are humbled and honored to include 23 poems written by these 12 poets: Jan Bosman, Eric Chandler, Jan Chronister, Naomi Cochran, Yvette Viets Flaten, Crystal Spring Gibbins, Carol Good, Howard Paap, Mary Louise Peters, Diana Randolph, Peggy Trojan, and Lucy Tyrrell. Please read about them on page 83. Special thanks to the seven poets who wrote new poems specifically for this project (see page vi). Catherine is grateful a poem of her own can appear here in such excellent company.

We appreciate Alan Brew reviewing our book and offering his insights in the preface.