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Thanks to editor Crystal S. Gibbins of Split Rock Review for publishing my “Manifesto from Poet on a Dying Planet.”  This online literary magazine was founded in 2012 in the Northwoods of Minnesota, “among log rollers, hikers, anglers, and dawn treaders” — just my kind of place. The magazine’s three issues have great poems by…

If you visit LA by Sept. 14, 2014, you may want to see the Expressionism Exhibit at LACMA. Wear your crash helmet, as narrow lanes, fast cars, and death-wishers made this more of an adventure than I wanted. Forgive the poet in me, but LA air looked like a giant dragon fart.  On the way,…

Thanks to Festival Writer for publishing my new poem “Enlightenment for $19.99” about Jungian psychology, real and imaginary Post Office clerks, and a “genuine whale tooth” I never received from BAZOOKA Bubble Gum at Box 9200, St. Paul, MINN 55177.  Hey, AWP is in Minnesota this year! Maybe I could stop by and get it. …

A fat 14-inch trout fresh from the sea. Also Known As Heaven Creek There is almost nothing electrician’s tape and Maxima leader can’t fix. See this creekside eyeglass repair.  Notice the fine craftsmanship and precision work.  Maybe when I retire I will open a fishing tackle/eyeglass repair shop. Andy Goldsworthy’s film Rivers and Tides inspired…

Thanks to The Release Literary Magazine for publishing my poem “The Fish Who Swallowed Time” in their inaugural issue.  The Fish Who Swallowed Time I know gravity only works because of the curvature of space-time, while constellations burst and fade like embers of far away cigarettes on the Deschutes River. There was a frog watching…

Thanks to Bonnie for taking this photo and emailing it. I was meditatively casting over seagrass two mornings ago on the west side of Whidbey, thinking about the 16 pound chinook I caught in the same spot last year, when I heard a familiar voice.  “I still have that photo,” said Bonnie, seemingly mind reading. …

Two coastal summer steelhead I caught four days ago. Surf perch add variety to your fishing.  On my way home to Whidbey, an inland river a few days ago produced two more steelhead. With notable exceptions, Hemingway was right in that humans destroy life, and nature brings it back.  Certainly that theme is in his…

I spent July 3 through July 6 as a Friends of William Stafford Scholar at the “Speak Truth to Power” FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation) Seabeck Conference on Hood Canal in Washington.  I wanted to go because poet William Stafford and his wife Dorothy were FOR members since the 1940s. A favorite part of the conference…

10 pound Summer Steelhead Tiger Lily or Lilium Columbianum named after the mighty Columbia River Here’s a summer steelhead I caught two days ago on a 2/3 ounce Red-dotted Calf Tail Teardrop High Mountain Blaze-spoon with yellow hook feathers.  It’s a limited edition lure from Arkansas circa 1950, and that day it was the only…

Spring Chinook I caught yesterday. “Columbia River Tarpon” also known as shad.  These guys are fun to catch in the afternoon.  They are used for halibut bait and crab bait, and some brave souls can them with garlic or jalapeno, or pickle them. OPB has a story in which the writer noted “My family prefers…