THELASTPAGE
Poetry of Place
BY Lori Koenig | PHOTO BY Hillary Ehlen
Dedicated to the People of Fargo and to the Red River Valley Writing Project
Downtown Fargo Bright clean cold and bold A place for misfits The Edge of the Earth A Painted Piano A Spirited Room Not long ago an outpost A rugged stop on the Northern Pacific railway Now, hip with an edge, not a sharp edge, but an edge nonetheless. Bikers with Green Hair Blondes with acrylic nails and coral dresses Bison Statues Bras on Broadway Edwardian Lamp posts with sweaters and beads Saloons and Scan Design There are Singers and Marathoners Artists, Architects and Radio DJ’s Booksellers and Coffee Hounds Cinema, Popcorn, Oils and Tea. A place for you and A place for me Downtown baby!
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Lori Koenig works at Fargo North High School teaching Creative Writing, British Literature and Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition. She also teaches World Film at North Dakota State University. Koenig has an MFA in Theatre from UNC Greensboro and postgraduate work in English and Rhetoric from Wake Forest University and NDSU. Koenig was a 2014 Teacher Fellow to the Red River Valley Writing Project. "It was there that I really reclaimed myself as a writer," she said. She has also written poetry, plays, short stories and creative non-fiction for many years. In the community, Koenig serves on the board for the Fargo Moorhead Community Theatre and is a Teacher Consultant for the Red River Valley Writing Project. She is also involved with the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She has started a new writer's group called the Fargo Moorhead Writer's Salon with the goal of establishing "a safe space for people to write and share their writing."
The Last Page is a new space to highlight community members of all ages who are helping to create culture in the Fargo-Moorhead area, making it such a wonderful place to live. If you know someone who is making a difference — maybe through their art, volunteering or just being a good person — email kara@spotlightmediafargo.com or reach out to us on Twitter and Facebook and let us know.
80 | FEBRUARY 2018 | FARGOMONTHLY.COM