WITH ME ~

... right now

Thelonious Monk, piano
Oscar Pettiford, bass
Kenny Clarke, drums

recorded: 1955 / Riverside LP

a Webster / Ellington tune

RAILROAD EARTH ~

Finn Wilcox

Finn Wilcox might not mind if he was referred to as a railroad bum, since he's been riding the rails since 1969. Finn explains it had something to do with Charlie Manson, the paranoia of the hitchhikers highway, and where he left the road and took to the trains. He's written a classic of this mode of life with the photographer Steven Johnson called Here Among the Sacrificed; two other books of poems have since followed Nine Flower Mountain (Tangram), and Lesson Learned: Love Poems, from Empty Bowl Press (2010).

Finn worked in the Northwest’s forests for over twenty years. It's been said he planted over a million trees. With his co-editor Jerry Gorsline, they gathered a world of similar workers and writers for the anthology Working the Woods, Working the Sea: an Anthology of Northwest Writing.

Finn has lived with his family in the Port Townsend region for the last three decades. Recently he gave a great reading which you can link to below. Be sure you use "see all" to watch the whole show. This is Mike O'Connor, poet and translator of Chinese masters, introducing Finn.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAnderfitz