New poem and old photo published in Cirque Literary Journal: Black and White

Just had this poem published in Cirque Literary Journal, Winter Solstice, 2014. The print copy is wonderful to hold in your hands and read, filled with writers from the Pacific Northwest. Excellent layout, good writing, great photos and illustrations. You can find their Facebook page HERE. Or go HERE to get your printed copy!

Black and White (revised, 12.24.14)

I spend this morning in in my office visiting Alaska,

clearing dust from a snow-covered mountain

brilliant in the low winter sun.

Thirty below, hundreds of spots, dirt

and scratches: abrasions of twenty winters,

landslides, thaws, freezes – disfigurements

of age. I wonder if ridges and slopes

have sloughed and fallen, baring rock, scouring trees

with draughts of compressed air, changing the landscape

    forever.

Finished, I pretend to stand again in a darkroom –

scent of fixer mingles with crisp day,

numbing my nostrils. I ask Ansel to bless this,

my latest effort to visualize zones as I remember,

performance complete with a last mouse click –

burning highlights, maintaining texture in the whites;

dodged shadows distill the cold past into clean,

   cruel tones of now.

I am reminded of all that is seen

and gone missing in the frosted glass;

even Ansel can’t bring it back, can’t make what was reappear –

instead, a sharp rendering makes me draw breath,
   full of cold air and light.

The FisherPoets Anthology is a Reality. And it's for sale!

The Fisherpoets Anthology: Anchored in Deep Water, is a seven-book set of work by writers, poets and songwriters who have performed at the annual Fisherpoets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon, edited by fisherpoet Patrick Dixon. Over 40 writers from the USA, Canada and Japan are represented, with seven interviews of the fishermen and women engaged in commercial fishing along the coasts of the North American continent. Covers of the books are shown above, designed by the award-winning Portland artist Chelsea Stephen. All the books are 50+ pages long, and thematically organized: 'Family Dynamic' is about the family issues inherent in commercial fishing; 'Every Boat Has a Wave' is about risk and survival; 'Illusions of Separateness' speaks to politics and the environment; 'Making Waves' is written solely by women in the fishery, and deals with the issues women have that originate from working in a male-dominated profession; 'For the Love of Fish' discusses the love (and hate) of the work; 'Gathering' is about the community commercial fishermen work within; and 'Mending Holes' is about the history of commercial fishing. To find out more information about the individual books or to order, go HERE.

One week = 62% funding the FisherPoets Anthology!!

Very excited! One week since we launched our Kickstarter campaign to raise $10K for printing 300 copies of the seven book set of the FisherPoets Anthology: Anchored in Deep Water, we are 62% (that's $6,200!) of the way there! A new page on the Inthetote website is now active to explain, list the participating writers and display samples from each book. Please help us spread the word and keep interest high as we start down the home stretch... the campaign ends May 1.  If you haven't already pledged, we'd love the support (and there are rewards at all levels). Thanks to all who are already on board - it's a great start!

FisherPoets Anthology is seeking funds for printing costs

Here's a project I've been working on for the past year:

Our Kickstarter program to print the seven-volume set of Fisherpoetry is now live! Can you please help us spread the word? Please let your family, friends, and social networks know we've started. We have until the last day of April (national Poetry Month, by the way) to reach our goal of $10,000 to print 2100 books. 

Click the link below to hear and read about the anthology, view all the covers and pledge to the campaign. Thanks in advance for your support. Please email me if you have any questions.  We couldn't do this without you!

FISHERPOET ANTHOLOGY KICKSTARTER PAGE