In January 2023, I logged in to a series of Zoom presentations via the Grant Wood Online Forum. Participants were encouraged to submit poems, limericks, art work and essays for the print publication of the Grant Wood Country Chronicle.

In response, I wrote an essay titled The Fun, Feel-Good Legacy of Grant Wood. I sent it off to the forum facilitator. Then promptly forgot all about it.

My mailbox was packed tight with the usual junk mail yesterday – and a large, manilla envelope which contained my copy of the Chronicle. An ekphrastic poem I’d written, and that essay had been published alongside a wealth of information about Grant Wood and other artists and persons of note in his circle at the time.

I’m happy to share the link with you here to access the PDF document. Certainly, I hope you’ll enjoy my essay as well as the works of others who contributed to this collaboration.

To locate the essay, run a document search of my full name, Julie Allyn Johnson or enter the essay title, shown above.

And, of course, I thank you very much!

in explorer-mode, I stroll along

a newly discovered trail.

its path, dotted with hedge apples,

weaves and winds

through grassy woods, gentle hills

where cattle grazed, not so long ago.

I’m as thrilled as a child, the child I still remain,

transported beneath an autumn-blue sky

to a magic surround, one I don’t ever want to leave —

you can’t make me!

we discuss AI, the Battle of Thermopylae

one’s personal canon, pop quizzes on Halloween

self-checkout, self-nurturing bedtime podcasts —

I feel closer to you now than I’ve ever felt,

our long-distance mother-child symbiosis