The living was easy over the summer as I assessed Round Bend's potential. K.C. Bacon’s second book, Morandi’s Bottles, went to press, followed soon thereafter by Charles Deemer’s In My Old Age.
Both books were immediately assigned to RBP’s Lulu and Amazon pages, safely out of the hands of their meddling publisher.
I thought both books outstanding and sought to express as much here.
In My Old Age was given deliberate scrutiny by the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Association in consideration of its 2012 awards, giving the press an unexpected shot in the arm.
Alas, it did not make the final cut, but as I explained to the chagrined author—the PNBA’s decision shouldn’t be construed as a vote against what he and I both knew— the book was first-rate, lacking only familiar poems about Oregon’s deserts and mountains, flora and fauna, and sacred salmon—the stuff Snyder gave us fifty years ago.
My theory was soon proven by the interest in the book reflected at this blog, where people constantly type in “old age poems” at Google and land at RBP.
Something about aging has universality, whereas the Pacific Salmon doesn’t always play well in Azerbaijan or Cairo—except as perhaps a very expensive food fish.
Deemer has, as football coaches love to say about a good linebacker, a non-stop motor. He soon took his poems to Lewis & Clark College to archive them at the Oregon Voices Project.
He also organized a reading at the Blackbird Wine Shop for October as part of the shop’s monthly First Wednesday art venue.
It was around this time, too, that Charles informed me that his brother Bill was interested in publishing a print-on-demand book. Would I be interested?
At the risk of sounding overly poetic, I said, “Does a bear shit in the woods?” I made this cunning blog entry.
I felt the summer was progressing swimmingly when I began to talk seriously with Charles Lucas about producing a book of his recent paintings.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't note that Buddy Dooley also reappeared to give me hell about things, as you'll note in this conversation.
I haven't seen Dooley in awhile. I wonder where he is?
(to be continued)
TS
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