The Window Encasing the Fjord: Following Poetry All the Way (to Iceland) Sketches at the Naesti Bar , Poems by Jane Varley (Finishing Line Press, 2011). “Old Sow in the Road,” a poem by Bill Holm. From Common Ground: A Gathering of Poems on Rural Life. Mark Vinz and Thom Tamarro, eds. (Dacotah Territory, 1990). During a general education literature course I took as a sophomore at the University of North Dakota, professor Jim MacKenzie taught a selection of poems from a regional anthology called Common Ground . Though I enjoyed reading, I hadn't read many poems in my life, and didn't expect to like it. But I remember reading Bill Holm's “Old Sow in the Road.” I was immediately struck by Holm's accessible, declarative style: OLD SOW IN THE ROAD Thirty below. A hundred miles from home the Buick throws a rod. Dead. An hour later, I'm headed south away from Paynesville in a truck. I could rea...