43 December 17 - 30, 2021
FUN
Explore Big Sky
American Life in Poetry 872 BY KWAME DAWES Shara McCallum never uses the word “haunt,” but the poem is about the haunting of those who have gone before. Yet the haunting is purposeful. It is shot through with the poet’s sense that she owes the dead some accountability, and the dead seem to agree. As necessary as it is to read “No Ruined Stone” as a broad meditation on the legacy of a troubled history, (the poem, “No Ruined Stone” is the title poem of her new collection that, among other things, explores the implications of transatlantic slavery), at its emotional core, is a tender accounting of loss and memory. This grandmother, one senses, is also haunting by inhabiting everything the poet sees around her. This fierce presence is the unusual but quite familiar theme of her elegy.
No Ruined Stone BY SHARA MCCALLUM
May 2018: for my grandmother When the dead return they will come to you in dream and in waking, will be the bird knocking, knocking against glass, seeking a way in, will masquerade as the wind, its voice made audible by the tongues of leaves, greedily lapping, as the waves’ self-made fugue is a turning and returning, the dead will not then nor ever again desert you, their unrest will be the coat cloaking you, the farther you journey from them the more distance will maw in you, time and place gulching when the dead return and demand accounting, wanting everything you have to give and nothing will quench or unhunger them as they take all you make as offering. Then tell you to begin again.
Corner Quote “I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened.” — Rachel Cohn
BIG SKY
BEATS Cozy Winter As snowflakes float elegantly through the air outside, covering mountain tops and settling on evergreens, it’s time to relax, cozy up by the fire and enjoy a warm mug of hot cocoa. As Phoebe Bridgers softly sings in “If We Make it Through December:” “It’s the coldest time of winter, And I shiver when I see the falling snow.” Sometimes it’s okay to enjoy the beauty of the winter wonderland from the comfort of your home. Explore Big Sky brings you a playlist to snuggle up to this winter. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
“Warm Glow” by Hippo Campus “If We Make it Through December” by Phoebe Bridgers “Winter Can’t Change” by Boy Named Banjo “Holocene” by Bon Iver “Morning Song” by The Avett Brothers “Time after Time” by Iron & Wine “Golden Embers” by Mandolin Orange “Winter Song” by The Head and the Heart “Alone” by Trampled by Turtles “Keep the Wolves Away” by Uncle Lucius
