Historical Facts
Coleridge’s Laundry by Maxine Kumin
Breaking a drought dating back to 1999, Nebraska’s Platte River reached “flood stage” in late May of 2008. July in Lincoln was fairly hot, with temperatures up to 10 degrees above the average high, but August was mild and September was cooler than normal. Maxine Kumin, the United States Poet Laureate of 1981-82, was published …
All the Rage by Gabriel Spera
According to a study of the Midwest conducted by the Illinois State Water Survey, the summer of 2004 had a disproportionately high number of clear days. In Lincoln, the departure was 110% above average! Strangely enough, all those clear days added up to a summer that was about four degrees cooler—and with precipitation of two …
Pickled Heads: St. Petersburg by Susan Blackwell Ramsey
Susan Blackwell Ramsey’s “Pickled Heads: St. Petersburg” was selected for The Best American Poetry 2009, but was first published in the Winter 2007 edition of Prairie Schooner. 2007 was Lincoln’s fourth-hottest year on record, with an average temperature of 48 degrees Celsius. In contrast, St. Petersburg, Russia, experienced snowfall on two-thirds of the days from …
Spirit Flesh by Reynolds Price
After Lincoln hit a record high of 75 degrees in January of 1990, the following fall was also quite warm. An average temperature around 57 degrees over September, October, and November put the fall of 1990 over five degrees warmer than normal. Reynolds Price’s icy “Spirit Flesh” was featured in Prairie Schooner that fall, providing …
A Musician’s Wife by Weldon Kees
The spring of 1959 featured some huge weather fluctuations in Lincoln. In April alone the temperature ranged from a low point of 26 degrees to a high of 86. May was nearly as variant: from 37 degrees all the way up to 93. A poet published in the spring issue of Prairie Schooner that year …
The Feat by Sharon Olds
April 4 of 1978 was unseasonably warm. At 82 degrees, it set Lincoln’s record high temperature for that date. In stark contrast, June 8 set a daily record low of 47 degrees. The Spring 1978 issue of Prairie Schooner featured a poem by a then-unknown writer by the name of Sharon Olds. Olds’ first collection …
the laughing heart by Charles Bukowski
The autumn of 1993 was Lincoln’s second-coldest on record, after keeping track for 125 years. With an average temperature of 48.4 degrees Fahrenheit and nearly a foot of rain per month, the residents of Lincoln were missing summer quite a bit. Charles Bukowski was featured in Prairie Schooner that fall with some words of encouragement …
The Nightmare by Joyce Carol Oates
In the fall of 1971, on-campus newspaper the Daily Nebraskan featured a series of articles on homosexuality. Robert Prokop, future University of Nebraska Regent, submitted a guest column in which he discussed homosexuality as a disease. In his column, Prokop plagiarized Edmund Bergler’s 1957 book, Homosexuality: Disease or Way of Life. Bergler contemplated what he …
The Buckeye by Rita Dove
Lincoln’s weather during the spring of 1988 was mild. With scant snowfall and temperatures ranging from the mid-40s to upper 60s, it was an ideal time for planting. On April 1, the Lanoha Nursery was selected to provide and plant trees for the spring Master Street Tree Planting Program, which laid out a plan as …