Ravines of Grand Valley

 

The ravines winding though the Allendale campus of Grand Valley Sate are among the university’s most prominent physical features. They are a place of learning and scientific discovery, of recreation and leisure, and of inspiration and quiet reflection.

Photograph by Stanley Krohmer

“The ravines formed by the episodic erosion of small streams over the last 15,000 years. Water flowing off the upland, upon which Grand Valley State University is built, drains eastward into the Grand River Valley via the ravines. This broad, gently sloping, upland was formed during the Ice Age by a glacier lobe depositing sediment in a large glacial lake. Following this glaciation, the Grand River began eroding its valley through this landscape. The ravines probably began forming at about the same time, and by about 6,000 years ago they had grown to roughly their present dimensions. During the last 6,000 years the ravines have grown during brief episodes of erosion alternating with long periods of stability.”

– Patrick M. Colgan, A Brief Geologic History of the Ravines

by Stanley Krohmer

by Stanley Krohmer

by Stanley Krohmer

These photographs of Grand Valley’s ravines were taken by Stanley Krohmer, Affiliate Faculty in the Liberal Studies Department, between 2003 and 2007 for the Ravines Revisited project.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

RELEVANT MATERIALS

Hepatica, with its liver-lobed leaves,
springs forth in season.
Trillium opens white handerchiefs
along clefts leading down to the run-off.

Wildflowers. Nothing instructs the novice
so well as obsession
and gratitude; after a long winter,
dog-tooth violets lining the ravines.

Maybe it is splendid to spill
down crevasses with a lover
and an hour to spend, but better yet
to enter alone, tread softly as a doe

between fiddleheads, face low,
notebook in a pocket or a field guide
to the native flora, revelation
leading to reverence. Small blooms.

Small hours. The brevity,
and the endurance, upon these slopes
impresses. Take note how little’s needed
to make a life. Gather the facts.

Ann E. Michael, ’79
poem submitted to the GVSU Ravines Archive in 2005
www.annemichael.wordpress.com

Additional poems, recollections, and short stories inspired by the Grand Valley ravines are accessible in the Special Collections & University Archives.

National Poetry Festival at Grand Valley

In the summer of 1971 Robert Vas Dias, Grand Valley’s own Poet-in-Residence at Thomas Jefferson College, organized the first National Poetry Festival at Grand Valley State College.

Poster for the 1971 National Poetry Festival at GVSC

Vas Dias, whose poetry and criticism had appeared in national magazines such as The Nation, The New Yorker, and Partisan Review, invited poets of national acclaim to a 10-day experience of workshops, discussions, readings, performances, and exhibits relating to poetry and art on the Allendale, Michigan campus. Poets in attendance at the first festival included Gregory Corso, David Henderson, Toby Olson, John Logan, Robert Kelly, Al Young, Allen Planz, Donald Hall, George Quasha, Robert Bly, Robert Creely, Sonja Sanchez, Anselm Hollo, Tom Weatherly, Diane Wakoski, Joel Oppenheimer, Ted Berrigan, Jerome Rothenbert, Dudley Randall, and Philip Whalen.

Jackson Mac Low, poet of chance, working on a tape collage at Thomas Jefferson College’s first National Poetry Festival in 1971.

---

The National Poetry Festival was repeated in 1973. At this event three of the four Objectivist Poets, George Oppen, Carl Rakosi, and Charles Reznikoff, were brought together in the same space for the first time.

Poster for the 1973 National Poetry Festival

Also in attendance at this event were Kenneth Rexroth, Robert Duncan, Theodore Enslin, Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Edward Dorn, George Economou, David Meltzer, and Rochelle Owens. A recording of the discussion “Objectivists and After,” is available through PennSound, an online poetry archive at the University of Pennsylvania.

Left: a poster inviting participants to register for National Poetry Festival; Right: Allen Ginsberg speaking to a group in Seidman House in 1973

 

---

The third and final National Poetry Festival was held in 1975.

Poster for the 1975 National Poetry Festival

The event included poets Robert Bly, Robert Creely, Galway Kinnell, James Wright, Carol Bergé, Kathleen Fraser, William Heyen, Ira Sadoff, Diane Wakoski, Mei-Mei Berssenbruggi, Nikki Giovanni, Jessica Hagedorn, Lawson Inada, June Jordan, Etheridge Knight, Alex Kuo, Alison Mills, Howard Norman, Simon Ortiz, Ishmael Reed, Leslie Silko, James Welch, and Shawn Wong.

Poet Robert Bly at the 1975 National Poetry Festival at Grand Valley

Though the festivals were a resounding success, they were discontinued after Vas Dias left Grand Valley. The University Archives contains additional news releases, photographs, posters, and audio tapes documenting these events.

---

This April celebrates the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world. Visit the Student Scholars Day exhibition on the Red Wall Gallery in Lake Ontario Hall to read Grand Valley students’ poetry and short fiction excerpts from this year’s issue of the student-run journal fishladder.