WM Rine: An Aria for the Wind

#344/365 Paintings
WM Rine. From novel-in-progress, A Place in Between.
An Aria for the Wind
I try to picture what this town was like when it was bustling, before the blocks downtown were full of vacant storefronts and empty lots. Like the Eagles Aerie, they say it was an opera house when they built it a hundred years ago. I wonder if anyone here has even heard an opera. I imagine a singer, a soprano, out in the middle of an unplowed field of tall prairie grass that’s rolling in great waves, and she’s belting out an aria, right into the face of the north wind, daring it to blow her away.
WM Rine is a frequent commenter here. He’s been such a support and delight all year long. He’s helped me seed several children’s books from this project. And his writing just slays me. Bonus. We share a love for authors, Louise Erdrich, N. Scott Momaday, and likely Leslie Marmon Silko and Joy Harjo. And for the history of the prairie-lands where our bloodlines had their stories. I wanted to bring out a bit of that landscape here. I am thrilled that WM is writing this novel. I will not walk but run to buy it when it comes out.
You can find him at North by Southwest.
I’m really loving December and the literary twist. You can imagine why. I am planning to share your site in my Word and Image class that’s happening in January. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for 2014.
The wind and the aria are in my hair…Makes me feel exhilarated by the place in between…
Sage, he has that effect in all of his prose. He’s able to suspend the reader in between history and the present in a deep, precious and powerful way. I am grateful for this ability of this writer. I’ll read whatever he puts out there.