Friday, May 15, 2015

The Wyomingite

You stand here
With your windows

blasted open
like the Wyoming sky.

A symbol
of  a generation

invested
in the railroads and mines.

We came here,
we built things

and sometimes we left.
But you are still standing

wide-open,

this home of The West.


An abandoned home in West Laramie, Wyoming. Built in 1886 and still standing 


"The reason why I love this building is that it reminds me of Wyoming. A ton of energy has been invested in building something and creating this space. There is something interesting about all of this investment. They are invested, that is where the kind of beauty is. There was someone here who invested in this space and, even though they left it, that investment, in that space that was beautiful, is still there." —Jason Kirkmeyer


Thursday, May 14, 2015

The Widow

Journalism
brought us together—

We shared a human interest.

But now the physical
connection is gone—

all we have are our memories:

“I remember when
this was a toy store…”

“I came here when I was a boy…”

“This is where
I bought my first model airplane…”

Let the presses fly!



Jeny Stoesz, owner of Jeny's Originals Yarns & Handwovens, Laramie, Wyoming



“I had never met that women before in my life and I have a very close connection to her and I always will now. It was not because she is a knitter, it’s not because she was looking for crochet, it has nothing to do with the product. It has to do with this building." Stoesz

The Folklorist

A world within a world.
Alone, but not alone.
Condemned, but not condemned—

This house has an incredible attraction.

Outer limits, outer space.
Another world, another planet.
A box, above a box, above a box, above a box—

Layers of contribution to this strangeness and decay:

The bones of a lonely dragon and Charlie Chaplin’s head.
A witch’s eye, a demon’s cry, the sheets from a missing bed.


The Cooper House, University of Wyoming


“It is a desire to be weirded-out, I don't want to get too comfortable. It kind of keeps me writing. The Cooper House is like another planet on campus.” —Maxine Allison Vande Vaarst