Mass grave from the west.  

South of the hill. It felt so good to stand out there, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with that room-tempature light pre-storm breeze. 

Where two of Custer's men fell.

Jeffery Bahr put some Man Suit b-sides in his current issue of Melic Review.

Some Pines News:

Phil Cordelli and Brandon Shimoda will be reading from THE PINES at Freebird in Brooklyn, New York on Wedneday, June 15th, 7 pm. They will be accompanied by poet Quinn Latimer, Brooklyn-based band Flying, and other luminaries to be announced soon. Freebird is located at 123 Columbia Street (between Degraw/Kane) in Red Hook.

THE PINES VOLUME ONE: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - the first limited edition, letterpressed volume in The Pines' ongoing collaboration - is now available. Email thepines@ureach.com to receive a copy - for a mere $3!

You should really check the Pines out--there are some beautiful poems in there. Octopus will be doing a review of both Volumes 1 and 2 as soon as #2 comes out (did I just say #2 comes out?).

I'm back from Arkansas, the Tony Tost and Leigh Plunkett wedding (and from the Crow Indian Reservation which I'll post about tomorrow). Had a terrific time with so many people. I was hosted by Adam Clay and his lovely fiance, Kim Dennis. They are wonderful people. Adam picked me up late at night, and dropped me off early in the morning at an airport 2 hrs away. I owe him. We also at lunch at Mexican place together, gardened in Adam's backyard, played chess, talked po-biz and weddings and music in the living room, and visited the bookstore where Adam works. And Kim and I got our dance on through much of the reception. Also: great to see my buddies from College of the Ozarks (two or three of which I hadn't seen since the Clinton presidency): Will, Kate, Riley, Butch, Donnie and Shannon. I regret my time being too short there, though I suspect I'd feel like that regardless of the number of days I spend with these cats. They're life-long friends, and it is great to know there'll be other days. And, to boot, I got to meet a long list of interesting chums like Ken Rumble (who said Adam and I could come to NC for a reading sometime--we may take him up on that), Marc Cherry, Michael Heffernan, etc etc.

Here are some pics:

The ins of Adam's Dickson Books. There are hundreds, it seems, of hallways like this one. I bought Dobyns' Balthus Poems here. I only had 4 bucks on me, and it was the only one I found that I likey in the price range.  

Dickson Books. The bookstore where Adam works in Fayetteville. This bookstore is amazing. An overwhelming amount of books. There's no end to it all.  

Adam's house. To his immediate left is where he checks his mail 6 days a week for good po-biz news.  

Myself and Tony. Two married men loving each other. It's okay.  

Kim, tired from all the dancing with me. Adam, loving, loving.  

Good friend, Will. Always dancing. Great batteries, that guy. 

Riley and Butch (Tim Van Dyke - see Octopus #2).  

Watching the final rounds Scripps National Spelling Bee, live. Very exciting. I've been keeping a tally: Of the 24 words I've seen so far, I've only been able to spell 5 and correctly define 2 (serang and etoufee). I'm going for Rajiv. I'm not sure how I feel about Samir. He's pretty cocky/obnoxious. I can't quite determine if it is charm. He gives a definition to the judge and asks if it is correct, instead of just asking for the definition. He's damn good.

Soon, I'll be packing up to fly off to AR for Tony Tost and Leigh Plunkett's nuptials. Wee! I'm a groomsman. I'm staying with, and being picked up by, my new friend and killer poet Adam Clay, and his lovely fiance Kim. I still need to shave, clean the apt, write a nice note to A to tell her how much I will miss her, and other things. This should be fun. I'll see a healthy handful of friends I haven't seen since undergrad days. I'll bring my dancing shoes. And bring you an update with pics when I return.

Top Ten Favorite poetry selections from my new LIT #10.

1. The Andrea Baker
2. The Eric Baus
3. The Zachary Schomburg
4. The Lauren Ireland
5. The Anthony Hawley
6. The Ilya Kaminsky
7. The Joshua Corey
8. The Ryan Flaherty
9. The Landis Everson
10. The Bob Hicok

Honorable Mentions:
The Laura Cronk
The August Kleinzahler

Been thinking about the Monster Hour a lot recently, one of the two Charles so kindly noted that he admired. I've actually been doing a lot of re-reading of older poems (2-6 months old) rather than writing new ones. I don't why and I don't know if this is healthy. But a lot of them read completely different to me after they've sat on the shelf a little. Some I hate. But the Monster Hour now has struck a newer nerve. It makes me want to cry.

Spork has put up a fiery hot new issue over at their website. My poems, and some even better ones, are over there and available for the reading. A print version, I'm told, will be available soon.

 

 

I had a good day yesterday. I hiked through the Gallatin National Forest and found this spot (pictured above) at Hyalite Resevoir to take a 1 hour nap. I got a little sunburned. I then later played Center Field in a softball game with B for the Swingers (sponsored by Ms. Kitty's Adult bookstore). I went 3 for 3.  

Full Moon

It is 11:30. I miss A. She is at the Crow Reservation. The moon is very full tonight. Tonight I go to Albertsons and pick up a 6 pack of Hornsby's. All by my lonesome I'll drink at least two thirds, or 4, whichever comes quickest. Perhaps all 6. I'll put on my comfortable surgeon's pants and watch Baseball Tonight. Tomorrow (my day off) I hike up a mountain.

I've just finished Brandon Downing's Dark Brandon from Faux Press. It's very unusual and I dig it. I like unusual. It has inspired a handful of half-written poems so far. I'd like to meet this strange cat. Look for a review in the forthcoming Octopus #6.

The Canary is one of those mags where each issue could replace Best American Poetry. I get more of the low-down in what's up in a Canary than in a BAP. Or at least, it is more consistently amazing. Issue #4 is out and you should buy it. Look at the line up. And I put one of my good poems in it.

I'm excited about a big yes from Word For/Word. Jonathan Minton does a clean up job with that e-zine. And a big no from American Letters and Commentary. I didn't really want in there anyway.

My 15 year old sister, K, wrote a poem recently. Apparently, it's entered in some sort of contest that she is very excited about it. This makes me smile. It reminds me of my first poems my sophomore year in the HS creative writing course. I remember writing about cotton candy.

When K was in junior high, she had to write a poem for her english class. I told her I'd help and I pretty much just wrote it for her. It had all the metaphors and similes a middles school teacher could want. It ended up getting a B-. My poems can get into some pretty killer mags but they can only score a B- in middle school.

Anyway, I'm proud of her and I miss her and I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it yet and I don't know yet how she'd feel if I put it up on the blog--it's somewhat personal. But maybe soon.

If you're as interested in Ronald Johnson (check out Octopus issue #3) as we are at Octopus, and you're within driving distance to Kansas (who isn't?), you should check this out. This came across the wires from Ben Lerner and Robert Webb:

Poetry Plaque Dedication & Symposium on Ronald Johnson
CONTACT:Robert Webb (785) 232-5274
budforth@cox.net

On Wednesday, May 25, Topekans will celebrate the work of Kansas-born poet, Ronald Johnson, with two local events.

The Kansas Center for the Book , Old Prairie Town at Ward-Meade Historic Site and The Friends and Readers of Ronald Johnson are cosponsoring the commemorations.

Plaque dedication: At 2:00 P.M. in Old Prairie Town at Ward-Meade Historic Site, 124 NW Fillmore, a bronze plaque will be dedicated. It features a poem from Ronald Johnson's final sequence of nature poems, written while Johnson worked at Ward-Meade. The garden location is in an area on the north side of the Prairie Mansion's courtyard, where Johnson often sat to write. The resulting book, The Shrubberies, posthumously published in 2001 by Flood Editions, Chicago, was termed "an enduring pleasure" in a recent issue of Poetry magazine. A reception in the Preston Hale Room of the Prairie Mansion follows the dedication. The general public is invited.

Symposium: At 7:00 P.M. in the Topeka & Shawnee County Library, the Kansas Center for the Book will hold a symposium on The Shrubberies and other works of Ronald Johnson. Since his death in Topeka in 1998, Johnson's stature as an important literary figure has steadily grown. Participants in the panel discussion and reading are Peter O'Leary, Johnson's literary executor and editor; one of Johnson's publishers from Flood Editions, Devin Johnston; and Norman Finkelstein, a literary critic who has written perceptively about Johnson's work. The symposium will be held in Marvin Auditorium, Room 101 C, off the main rotunda at the library. The public is invited.

Thomas Fox Averill, Writer-in-residence at Washburn University > and the popular voice of William Jennings Bryan Oleander on Kansas Public Radio, will act as moderator at both of the day's events.

About Ronald Johnson: Born in Ashland, Kansas in 1935, Johnson moved with his family to Topeka in the mid 1950s. He graduated from Columbia University in 1960 and traveled extensively. His first book of poetry, A Line Of Poetry , A Row Of Trees, 1964, contained many specifically "Kansas poems." Over the next 32 years, he published seven other major books of poetry as well as a long metaphysical poem titled ARK, created over a 20-year period. He also had a parallel career as a chef and caterer and produced five cookbooks on American regional cooking. In 1993, Johnson returned to Topeka and is remembered by many here for his part-time work as a cookie baker at Ward-Meade Park. The gardens there inspired him to write the sequence of highly condensed poems which bridge common experience to the universal in a way that is both precise and ecstatic. As a "poet's poet", Ronald Johnson is admired by many of the new generation of American poets. Extensive discussions of his work have appeared on Internet magazines, such as Octopus and LVNG, as well as in several recent books of poetry criticism. To Do As Adam Did, Selected Poems of Ronald Johnson, edited by Peter O'Leary, was published in 2000 by Talisman House. Flood Editions republication of RADI OS, one of Johnson's books which has long been out of print, is available this month and is one of several ongoing publishing projects of the poet's work.

A has gone to the Crow Reservation in SE Montana for the week and I'm pretty lonely. She'll be doing this every week for the rest of the summer, though she'll be back each weekend. This is part of her doctoral internship in counseling psychology.

I've realized that I don't turn on the lights very often when she's not around. One good side effect: I write more poems. Tomorrow I have the day off and I think I'll hike up a mountain if it is nice out.

Sister-in-law, M, and I assembling little plastic creatures that the 3 of us bought with spare quarters from the little quarter dispenser machines at the Greek take-out place, It's Greek to Me. We took our food and toys to Lindley Park for the afternoon. I also bought an Eeyore ring and a little stringy beaded ring in an attempt to get a bouncy ball, which never did come out (they must have all been on the surface).  

Here's what the creatures look like when properly assembled. 

Here's what happened after we decided to experiment a little with the creatures. Those are A's legs in the background. 

Here's that one shirt I was talking about earlier. 

Wednesday, M brought me my belated birthday present--a 1987 Iowa Summer Writing Program t-shirt. I don't have the camera with me today, so I'll have to take the pic later. We also went to Cactus Records and she bought me the new Weezer and the new Ben Folds. I've yet to listen to the Ben Folds, but the Weezer is good. Time will tell how it ranks with the Blue album, and my personal favorite, Pinkerton, but I am already certain it destroys the Green album and Maladroit. And the new Mountain Goats is out--I'll have to get that on my own.

We karaoked last night at the Belgrade Lounge. I rocked Simon and G-funk's Cicilia and then got serious with Neil Young's Old Man. Had one too many PBR's then went to Perkins for pancakes. A and M are going to Jellystone today without me--I gots to work.

My sister in law, M, the one I told you about a month or so ago, is flying in for a visit tonight from San Fransisco. Maybe she'll bring me the presents I asked for. I'll keep you posted--and with pictures.

It is finally here--after years of waiting. It is my time at Unpleasant Event Schedule. UES is one of my very favorite places to stop for a good read. I have a poem called Telephones there--you should visit.

I attended Derby's 2000-2003 with my dad, B. Hope to go to more. Though this t-shirt represents the horse, Thunder Gulch, winner of the 1995 Derby--the horse I put 10 dollars on to Win at 25-1 shot, booked through a friend because I was not of gambling age, who I later found out did not actually bet my 10 dollars but pocketed it, and still has not paid me the 240 dollars he rightfully owes me. I have been wearing this shirt all week. Every day.  

I have $12 on the Derby, booked through my dad, B, who is there. The $12 has been bet as so:

$10 on Greeley's Galaxy to Win (currently 15-1).
$2 exacta on Greeley's Galaxy over Bellamy Road.

I'll be attending the Tony Tost/Leigh Plunkett wedding on June 4. I've booked my flight and got measured for my tuxedo (I'm a groomsman). Here are my measurements:

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 185
Neck: 16.5
Sleeve: 37
Chest: 39
Overarm: 48
Waist: 36
Outseam: 42
Hip: 40
Coat Size: 42L
Sleeve Inseam 19
Shoe size: 12

What are your measurements?

Also: I'll be meeting some good friends that I haven't seen in ages. Will Manning, Riley White, Tony of course, Adam Clay (seen him recently, and Kim), and many many others. Stoked, just stoked. Let me know if you're going, so I can anticipate our time together.

I got 2 separate things in the mail yesterday from Alice James Books. 1. The 2004 Beatrice Hawley Award winning book, Polar by Dobby Gibson. I'm quickly becoming a Dobby Gibson fan and have already torn through the first half of this book. There's a rhythm there that just carries you, on through the poem, to the next poem. It's hard to stop. We put 2 of his little ditties in Octopus. And 2. A letter telling me that I am not the 2005 Beatrice Hawley winner. (Sigh).

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish

A and I saw a matinee of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yesterday. Big fan of the books--both of us--so we were a bit anxious. Not bad, really. The opening sequence (So long and thanks for all the fish) stole the entire movie I think. I fell in love with the ideas in the books, the theories, and regretfully the movie focused a little more on the action and adventure. But still, if you've read them, you should see the movie. Also, we came back home to watch a rental, the exact opposite movie: Vera Drake. It was alright. I got sick of her crying all the damn time though. Get over it, you know.

The manny is a finalist somewheres. But I mustn't say wheres. Don't want to jinx it. Maybe this is jinxing it. I'll stop.

Linh Dinh tells me that Octopus was mentioned on BBC Vietnamese for publishing one of Vietnam's revered poets, Thanh Thao. He tells me billions and trillions of impressionable Vietnamese citizens have now been exposed to Octopus. I just wish I spoke Vietnamese.

A and I went to Bat Boy: The Musical last night. I give it a thumbs up: blood, camp, sex, peculiarity, and they managed to squeeze in a legitimate lesson. It was much better than Cats.

Things I bought yesterday: jeans, a smoothie, and The Red House Painters Songs for a Blue Guitar. My RHP collection is now complete ah ah ah ah.

Some online mags I've recently added a link to at Octopus: H_ngm_n, Fifth Street Review, and Mustachioed.

Got a haircut today. It was long overdue. Heres a picture of it. I'm pleased, in general, though looking at this pic I'm beginning to wonder if I'm growing a bit thin. I also encountered some haircut pet peeves: 1. Don't talk to me while you're cutting my hair. Concentrate. You don't want to hear what I did today and I don't want to tell you. 2. When you're cutting the right side of my hair cut, you should be standing on the right side of my body, and vice versa. Don't try to reach all the way over there. Swivel me. Swivel me!

Worst Mixed Tape

My apartment neighbor immediately downstairs from me plays her music loudly. This isn't the problem, necessarily: her taste in music is impossibly poor. Here's the set list so far this morning:

1. Lady Marmalade by I don't care
2. Get your Freak On by Missy Elliot
3. If You Wanna Be My Lover by Spice Girls
4. Always on Time by Ja Rule
5. Dust on the Bottle by I'm not sure
6. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson?
7. Mickey You're so Fine by I'm guessing you know
8. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

Is she kidding?

I haven't written a poem in weeks. Weeks! And this whole being solicited for mags has got me baffled. It's new to me. I just can't pull the trigger. I need to write more poems. Maybe I will. Here I go:

It's getting late and I'm still stuck here in this amazing headlock...

M and J have left and I'm pretty sad about it. I don't have too many friends. Some things we did, in no particular order:

1. Soaked in Boiling River, which sits exactly halfway between the North Pole and the equator.
2. Ate sushi.
3. Drank wine at wine bar, beer at home.
4. Played board games such as Taboo, Trivial Pursuit 90's edition, and Rumikub.
5. Watched America's Funniest Home Videos
6. Danced with buffalo.
7. Hiked up a mountain.
8. Went to a pow wow.

Here are some pictures:

M and J in front of what we geologists like to call a dormant geyser cone near the north entrance of Yellowstone. Backchannel me for more info on dormant geyser cones. 

M and J trying sushi for the first time. M liked it. J did not. 

We really indulged in several different cultures on this particular day. It seemed only natural that just before we eat sushi that we go to a pow wow. Too bad it was indoors--still pretty cool though.  

M and J halfway up the Bridgers, taking a well-deserved break. 

M and J are here. Last night we celebrated J and I's birthdays by baking and eating a white rainbow chip cake. Today we hike, go to a real live pow wow, eat sushi, drink wine, then play Trivial Pursuit 90's edition.

Also: I got accepted into Cutbank. Brandon Shimoda promises me it's a newer hipper Cutbank.

Open Call for Tony Tost's upcoming Fascicle. This is something I recommend you keep your eye on in the coming months/years.

Also, Octo-fivers Matthew Thorburn and Craig Teicher have bouncing baby blogs.

Great feedback for issue #5. Makes me feel like I'm on the right track. Good. The next one is going to be an extra special issue--more on that later.

Sent The Man Suit to the New California Reading Series today. Yesterday got a big fat no from Futurepoem. Damnit.

Our great great friends M and J are coming into town from Ohio for a little visit. I'm so very excited to see them. I must clean the toilet.

Octopus #5 is alive! It features:

New POETRY from Jean Valentine, Stan Mir, Craig Morgan Teicher, Wayne Chambliss, Dara Wier, Louis Armand, Paul Muldoon, Aaron Kunin, Standard Schaefer, Jennifer Knox, Kate Greenstreet, Matthew Thorburn, Daniel Coudriet, Shafer Hall, Bob Hicok, Joe Wenderoth, Barry Schwabsky, Christopher Janke, Jen Tynes, Rob Stanton, Paul Foster Johnson, Carolina Maugeri, Joshua Beckman & Matthew Rohrer, Jennifer Moxley, Chris Glomski, Shane McCrae, Dobby Gibson, Nathan Parker, Maureen Thorson, Lawrence Raab, and TRANSLATIONS of Daniil Kharms by Matvei Yankelevich and of Thanh Thao by Linh Dinh.

REVIEWS of Eric Baus’ The To Sound by Monica Fambrough, John Witte’s The Hurtling by Gina Myers, Matthew Thorburn’s Subject to Change by Richard Scheiwe, Noah Eli Gordon’s The Area of Sound Called the Subtone by Thomas Fink, Sarah Manguso (ed.) and Jordan Davis’ (ed.) Free Radicals: American Poets Before Their First Books by Travis Nichols, and Peter Gizzi’s Periplum and Other Poems by Julie Misso.

ESSAYS including the first volume of The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! by Matvei Yankelevich, a series of field notes on Russian-American poets and the question of bilingual poetry. This volume includes notes on Philip Nikolayev, Eugene Ostashevsky, Ilya Bernstein, and Genya Turovskaya. And including some thoughts on James Tate’s “Same Tits” by Ian Ganassi.

RECOVERY PROJECTS on William Heyen’s Lord Dragonfly: Five Sequences by Matthew Henriksen, and Kamau Brathwaite’s Ancestors by Joyelle McSweeney.

I hope you enjoy. As always, feedback is welcome.

Yrs,

Zachary Schomburg, editor
Octopus

editor@octopusmagazine.com

You'll never meet a better sister-in-law than my own sister-in-law, M, who lives in San Fransisco with P. She's #1. She's been trying to get a hold of me to ask me what I want for my birthday but I have not had the chance yet to call her back. She reads the blog, so M, one of the two following gifts would be lovely, or any other gift of your choosing would, of course, do the trick:

1. A tuxedo t-shirt. The kind with the tuxedo front printed on the tee. Preferably a vintage and authentic worn thin tee, but I won't be pushy.

2. Any old Merle Haggard record. Or any old Tammy Wynette record. Or Talking Heads. These are some very shameful holes in my record collection.

I miss M.

For those of you waiting on #5, it should be up by this weekend. This ain't easy. I miss Tony.

And speaking of: looks like Spaceship Tumblers is back in the game, at least a little. Check out Tony's moving reading of a Robert Creeley interview.

If you're not doing anything, you should check out Brandon Shimoda's Dutch Apple over at No Tell Motel. If you like these, you should ask him about buying a beautiful book of poetry he and Phil Cordelli have put together called The Pines.

Note: On this date in 1977, I was given birth to. Thanks Mom.

Also note: I am 1 day younger that Charles Jensen.

Post AWP briefing

I've now had a day to recover from Vancouver. It was incredible. It'll be difficult to wrap my little brain around all of the info it has taken in within the past week. I imagine I'll be digesting for weeks.

The road trip itself was a big success. Great conversation with the MFAers from Montana who were kind enough to save me a seat in their caravan and save me some organic munchies. We were able to stay in Seattle on Tuesday night and visit the art museum the following morn. There was another few of us, excluding myself, who pumped quarters in a machine to look at naked ladies. I ate a sandwich with Stephen and Liz.

Thursday morning's panel went smoothly. I was nervous about it, but once we started things got easier. Nearly 40 people showed up, from my unofficial count, and the great Ander Monson from Diagram filled in for the absent Matt Henriksen. We had a lot to say, Jake York, Dan Albergotti, Adam Clay, Ander and I, and we even had to leave things unsaid. We had good questions from the crowd, and answered them satisfactorally.

I spent most of my time with Adam Clay and his girlfriend, Kim Phillips. They are great people and I really hope to get the chance to spend much more time with them in the near future. I feel like I clicked with them pretty quickly. We ate together a healthy handful of times, drank together, attended readings and panels together, went to the Vancouver Aquarium together and learned about dolphins, beluga whales, and sea urchins. Adam gave me his manuscript, The Wash. I read straight through on the ride back to Bozeman. If I had press, I wouldn't be crazy enough to pass up on it.

I didn't spend as much time with my Fairmont roomie, Anthony Robinson, as I had hoped. We did spend some quality hours in the room talking po-biz. And had a great night in a Thai restuarant eating about 5 plates of appetizers, again talking po-biz, women, and food. I'd like another crack at the man--surely as future famous poets, our paths will intermingle.

The highlight for me was the Fence/Verse/Swink reading Friday night. Joe Wenderoth and Matt Zapruder sang a few songs together: Merle Haggard and Hank Williams Jr most notably. Wenderoth read a terrific poem--pulled off the word "poopy" most beautifully. Lots of drinking that night, and on an empty stomach.

People I was lucky enough to meet/conversate with (in no particular order):
Anthony Robinson, Matthew Zapruder, Lori Shine, Josh Beckman, Brian Teare, Joshua Corey, Joe Wenderoth, Adam Clay, Kim Dennis, Brandon Shimoda, Stephen Cromrine, Jill Beauchesne, Keisha Lewellyn, Walker Hunter, Greta Van Susteren (can't remember her actual last name--my sincerest apologies to Greta, who I shared a booth, a beer, and good conversation with at Malones for a while), George Washington Carver, Dan Machlin, Matvei Yankelevich, Anna Moschovakis, Joyelle McSweeney (not enough time spent with Joyelle--though she might be someone I would always feel that way about), Alex Lemon, Ander Monson, Jake Adam York, Dan Albergotti, Chris Deweese, Richard Greenfield, Hilda Raz, Grace Bauer, Kevin Larimer, Cate Marvin, Craig Morgan Teicher, Karen Craigo, Charles Jensen. And there are, I'm sure, much more with names that escape me.

Things I came home with:
Adam Clay's manuscript The Wash, The Book of Funnels by Christian Hawley, The External Combustion Engine by Michael Ives, The Making of a Matriot by Frances Payne Adler, The Owning Stone by Jim Peterson, The Opening Question by Prageeta Sharma, The Commandarine and Other Poems by Joyelle McSweeney (signed), Your Time Has Come by Joshua Beckman (signed), The Future or Optimism, an Epic by Anna Moschovakis (signed), The Present Work by Matvei Yankelevich (signed), The Unpublished Writers issue of Mid American Review, The Pines Volume 1 by Brandon Shimoda and Phil Cordelli (signed), a trolley car magnet that says Vancouver on it.

When I came home, I shaved my beard off.

Here are some selected pictures:

The talented Brandon Shimoda in the back seat of Jill Beauchesne's Jeep Cherokee with me. He was one of my traveling buddies. There was lots of reading and lots of rain.  

Wednesday morning in Stephen Crumrine's sister's house in Seattle. Everyone is reading. Everyone is an MFA student at Montana. This was my ride to Vancouver. From left to right on the couches: Walker Hunter, Jill Beauchesne, Greta Van Susteren. In the foreground is Keisha Lewellyn and way in the back is Brandon.