Every Time I Take a Nap
I hope to wake up with his genius
Boozhoo, indinawemaaganidog! Aaniin! That is to say hello, all of my relatives! Welcome to another edition of An Irritable Métis. I want to begin by thanking everyone for all the kind words – via email, texts, or comments here on the newsletter – about my selection as Montana Poet Laureate.1 For the better part of a week it’s been all I can do to keep up with responses and that is a wonderful problem to have. Also, there’s been a nice run on purchases of both One-Sentence Journal and Descended from a Travel-worn Satchel, so miigwech for that too! It makes more work for my friends at Fact & Fiction but I love that your generosity is adding a little boost to their accounting system too. Also, everything of mine that they ship out is signed too, in case you didn’t know, and I’m happy to do personalizations if you request one.
I want to take a moment to talk about self promotion and all that uncomfortable stuff while I’m at it. It’s hard for most of us creatives. It’s a common topic among a number of wonderful artists that I follow, our struggles in talking about our work, promoting our events, etc. Not surprisingly my inclination is to downplay this looming experience as poet laureate, not share mentions of it, etc. but I am doing my best to resist that. Because it is a big deal, really, in many ways, and for me to make light of it or try and pass it off as a non-event is a disservice to the position and to the people who feel I was worth recommending for it, not to mention the people I intend to hit the road to speak to. People have asked me what I did to celebrate it, or if I am going to celebrate it, and I think that in this space is where the celebration is happening. I figure everyone reading this is here because you are interested in what I’m doing. So I’m going to do this thing and I am going to make my best effort at making it notable and I hope to make it worthwhile to those of you choosing to ride along with me.
As for this particular edition of the newsletter, consider it the last one directly related to any of this; next post we’ll be back to business as usual (heads-up: it’ll be a rant on the compromises we are forced to make every moment of every day and people being jerks about it, sort of). For now, miigwech for indulging me. I’m so happy you are here.
“They don't need me telling them what to read.”
The preceding image was taken last week from inside my lair on a very hot day where I didn’t realize I’d be photographed. I’d just come from the gym, though I’d showered, then sat outside on the porch of Missoula’s Draught Works chatting with my old pal Cory Walsh from the Missoulian. We’ve known each other for years but this was the first time since Covid that we’d seen each other in person. It was great to catch up. The story he wrote ended up on the front page of Saturday’s print edition of the paper, but you can check it out online HERE.2 As for the photo, I was so sweaty and greasy after squaring off with Walsh and his hard-hitting questions, then lumbering the two blocks or so from the brewery to my sweltering writing space, that I was dreading how the pic would turn out. Pretty decent, I’ve decided. Thanks, Ben! Another note: the chair I’m sitting in there belonged previously to the late James Welch, one of my writing icons.3 Every time I take a nap in it I hope to wake up with his genius but so far it hasn’t happened.
“Hey man, didn’t you just win some big award for being … like … the best poet or something?”
– Unnamed dude working the counter at the gym
Also, since Substack is basically GQ magazine these days4, it’s worth pointing out that your own “No Gods, No Masters, No Captains” t-shirt might be acquired, along with a bunch of other magnificent options, via StreetLeavesPDX! Bonzo is one of my absolute favorite artists.
Montana’s Newest Poet Laureate Writes But Also Rocks
… just might be the best headline related to this entire bru-ha-ha yet. It came from Missoula’s local classic rock radio station, Z100, which you may check out HERE. A friend sent the link to me otherwise I never would have seen it. I’m just tickled by it!
“Hey, congratulations, didn’t you just win some big award for being … like … the best poet or something?”
– Unnamed young woman standing in line with me at Draught Works
Of Particular Interest to Missoula Area Readers
I’m doing this event at Imagine Nation this coming Wednesday, August 23rd, from 6:30pm – 7:30pm. It’s free and open to the public. Here are some details:
Come out and join High Country News and friends for a thoughtful discussion about the work of BIPOC and LGBTQ leaders in the outdoors in and around Montana. The conversation will be hosted by a HCN Senior Editor Emily Benson, and feature experts who are engaged in the work today: Chris La Tray (Métis storyteller, poet, activist), Alex Kim (founder of Here Montana), and DeAnna Bublitz (microbiologist and founder of D.E.E.R. Camp).
The organizers would prefer you RSVP in advance, which you may do HERE, but don’t sweat it if you decide to show up at the last minute without any heads-up. In fact I urge you to! Last time I was in Imagine Nation they hadn’t replaced the pre-Covid popcorn machine and that is a bitter pill to swallow.5 Still, I respect what HCN does so much, not the least of which is their refusal to allow me to burn every bridge between us which, in my surlier moments, I’ve tried to torch on more than one occasion.
Of Particular Interest to Anyone Who Can Get to Lewistown
This will be the most important event I am involved with all year. I am speaking at the unveiling of this memorial at the Catholic cemetery in Lewistown to recognize two large, unmarked mass graves located there. I’ll write more about it in a week or so, but the flyer relates the essentials. This is important. Festivities will continue through the entire Labor Day weekend. I hope some of you can make it.
Speaking of Events
I’ve added an Events page to this website. You’ll see it as a menu option on the Irritable Métis home page but you may also access it HERE. I’ll continue to mention things as they approach but if you ever want to see what is going on all in one handy location, this is the place to look. For example, did you know I’m doing another in person workshop at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park in December? I am! Details for that are HERE.
Some day I’ll have a decent real website that will also have all this stuff, but until then, this is where it’s going down.6
And Finally….
Last edition I shared a photograph of the best copy of OSJ I’ve ever seen. My friend Sarah, who owns that one, followed up with a photo of her copy of Descended as well. Clearly this book has been well-loved too, and it makes me positively giddy to see it….
Miigwech, as always, for reading, my friends, and for your support. It is everything.
It should be mentioned that this has nothing to do with how good of a poet I am or not. There are so many great poets in this state, many doing much better work on the page than I can possibly manage. People seem to like what I do, sure, and I know I can sling words pretty good. My selection has to do with a lot of things, not the least of which is I’m a loudmouth about things I care about. Poetry, my view of it, is part of that and it’s nice to be recognized for it.
This article is behind a paywall for most people. If you’re blocked and want to see it anyway, there might be A WAY AROUND THAT.
It came to me last year when his wife, Lois, who has become one of my dear friends, offered it to me. That’s not the kind of thing one turns down.
At least up in this style-studded space
I used to have the occasional beer with my yoga teacher there and really the only reason we went at all was to eat free popcorn.
I recently all but threw a tantrum when I went back to make a minor tweak and couldn’t edit what’s been my “home” page for years so I had to re-create an awful placeholder version to get by with. So if anyone is a solid Squarespace designer, I’d like to talk to you….
People subscribe because we want to know about you, your events, and success. And also I think you need at least a "I'm a fucking poet laureate" cake or something!
So jealous that you have a chair that once belonged to the amazing James Welch! Clearly, it is where it now belongs. Congratulations on being poet laureate.