South Dakota poet: Andy Thorstenson

I met Hot Springs poet Andy Thorstenson through the Write Now! Writers Conference, which he helped organize. His book, “Crossing the 100th Meridian,” draws from the landscapes he has spent time in. It is a poetry of place, nearly devoid of human inhabitants. He observes the surroundings with the keen eyes of a scientist. He uses a technical vocabulary that still comes off as poetic. But he also combines words to come up with new ways of describing the world: “the skystretching red walls of tapeats creek” and “a valleyswide underground trickling of water.”

Andy is blessed with the soul of a poet and the eyes of a scientist. As Whitman was an adept observer of people, Andy is an observer of the natural world.

~ by ericedits on May 26, 2008.