In the season when the prairie leans into its long shadow and the wind carries the old stories across the fields, three of Iowa’s most enduring voices will gather once more. Bill Graeser, Rustin Larson, and Glenn Watt—known throughout the region as the Prairie Poets of the Long Shadow—will offer an evening of poetry that blends myth, memory, and the quiet thunder of the Midwest.
For decades, these poets have appeared in Fairfield like constellations returning to their appointed place in the sky. Their readings are less events than rituals: gatherings where the spoken word becomes a kind of weather, where listeners feel the presence of ancestors, wanderers, and the spirits that move beneath the tall grass. Each poet brings a distinct magic:
Bill Graeser, the keeper of small miracles, whose poems rise like corn from the dark soil—steady, generous, and full of human warmth.
Rustin Larson, the dream-walker, whose lyric visions shimmer like moon-light on a barn roof, carrying the uncanny and the tender in equal measure.
Glenn Watt, the storyteller of the everyday sacred, whose voice feels carved from river stones and whose narratives settle into the heart like a remembered hymn.
Together, they form a triad of prairie mythmakers—three voices braided like roots beneath the Iowa loam.
Join the Prairie Poets for a reading at the Fairfield Public Library, 104 West Adams Avenue, on Thursday, November 12, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The event is free and open to all wanderers, dreamers, and lovers of the spoken word. Homemade oatmeal raisin cookies and apple cider will be served.
About the Prairie Poets of the Long Shadow
The name speaks to their legacy: poets who have walked the long roads of the Midwest, carrying stories that stretch across generations. Their work is rooted in the land—its storms, its silences, its stubborn beauty—and in the communities that rise like lanterns along the prairie’s edge. Their readings are known for their intimacy, humor, and mythic resonance, drawing audiences who return year after year to witness the evolving tapestry of their voices.