LOAM

The first snow of the year

started flying an hour ago.

It’s still too warm for it

to stick, but here I sit watching

where our garden

used to grow.

Dumb, I know.

You were out there just last night,

or maybe another few weeks have passed,

picking late herbs, squash, tomatoes.

Digging up what was dead.

Making room, I suppose,

for where winter comes from.

Brian Beatty’s writing has appeared in numerous print and online publications. His column of one-liners, “Jokes by Brian Beatty,” originated at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and wound up in the gutters of the front spreads of METRO Magazine, which also once rated him among the funniest people in the Twin Cities. Brian took a turn at penning “The Columnest” for a few months, and he continues to host mnartists.org’s monthly literary podcast, You Are Hear.

Gregory Euclide is an artist and teacher living in the Minnesota River Valley. His work has been featured in shows at MASS MoCA,  Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio among others, and was recently on view in a solo exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art. His work is also featured on the 2012 Grammy Award winning album covers of the musical group Bon Iver and on the cover of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #43. Euclide was awarded two Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants through the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Jerome Foundation Residency through the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary. Keep track of upcoming exhibitions and browse through his series of prints made from the Bon Iver album art on the artist’s website, http://gregoryeuclide.com/.