FEATURED POET Finn Wilcox worked in the woods at the upper elevations of the Olympics and the Cascades with Olympic Reforestation Incorporated, a forest workers co-op, for twenty-five years; he planted well over a million trees. He rode freight trains for several years to learn about the life, journeys, and history of the once-respected American Hobo. His first book, Here Among the Sacrificed (Empty Bowl, 1984), includes the poignant images of legendary Northwest photographer Steven R. Johnson, depicting people in boxcars and railroad yards who appear in Finn’s memorable poems and stories. In addition to the full content of Here Among the Sacrificed, Wilcox’s latest collection, Too Late to Turn Back Now contains his poems from Nine Flower Mountain, detailing travels in China; Lesson Learned, a group of love poems; and Not Letting Go, a suite of new poems and stories. With Jeremiah Gorsline, Finn edited WORKING THE WOODS, WORKING THE SEA: An Anthology of Northwest writing (Empty Bowl, 2008). Finn and his wife Pat Fitzgerald live in Port Townsend.
LA PUSH
Walking
the flats—
through
brushed huckleberry
and
tall, tough salal—
I
find the place
we
spread my mother’s ashes
nearly
a decade ago.
You
can hear the rolling ocean
just
beyond this sandy hump
that
rises in the silvered-light
of
drift-logs,
luminous,
in
thin coastal fog.
I
hope she’s happy here.
She
was more than just a good woman.
Always
that glitter of faith rendered
from
a heart
big
as these old-growth spruce.
Before
I leave,
I
make her a headstone
of
the perfect blue sky,
above a perfect blue sea
with all its
deliberate beauty.
HOW TO WRITE A POEM
My dog Walt
steps onto his bed
fourteen and deaf as a stone
paws at it thoughtfully
turns in a circle
once
twice
three times
before setting
his boney ass down
happy as a two-peckered toad.
WRITE YOUR POEM
Serendipity. As I try to offer encouragement about writing poetry, Finn tells me about his fourteen year-old dog. At my feet is my son's fourteen year-old dog. We are dog sitting. So below here, you have one way I have to learn from the masters. Try to imitate what they do, as flattery and a way of learning. It works at the Louvre. All apprentices have to sweep the floor and imitate. Find your favorite poem and imitate the master.
HOW TO WRITE A POEM
After Finn Wilcox
My son's dog Selah
shivers, and lays down
fourteen and terrified
the gunshots across the street
tangle her at my ankles
she
becomes
my shadow
before she lays down
her blinking eyes weary
Without a word, I look down,
Your name means, "Pause"
HOW TO WRITE A POEM
After Finn Wilcox
My son's dog Selah
shivers, and lays down
fourteen and terrified
the gunshots across the street
tangle her at my ankles
she
becomes
my shadow
before she lays down
her blinking eyes weary
Without a word, I look down,
Your name means, "Pause"
