We walk a lot, especially Elle and River. They seem to be really good at meeting people, or drawing them in. Today, outside the co-op there was an amazing cellist plucking at my heartstings. I struck up a small conversation with him that I hope to continue tomorrow at the farmer’s market. I could have listened to him all day, so that dollar I gave him was worth it, even if I could have used it elsewhere.

Then at the park, one of the many folks Elle has met, came up and re-introduced himself. We got to chatting and I learned that his wife had come to Port Townsend originally through Centrum’s workshops. As they live right next to the park she walked over and we had a great conversation about poetry. She happens to be friends with Sam Hamill and Marvin Bell. I shouldn’t be surprised that such conversations are randomly possible in Port Townsend parks, but I can still be amazed.

The only thing that might top that was the meal we ate tonight, almost entirely from our garden. The fence is near completion, and an arbor, pergola and wood-fired oven are on the way.

I still feel between worlds, but we’re getting on with things here. Working the yard, getting worked, enjoying the sun, rain and everything between. Our car battery’s gone dead a few times in recent days, which is kind of how I feel. I get all jump-started, but how to keep the charge?

Been writing like a madman. I mean, about seven—what I would call—decent poem drafts in the last few days. Working over themes of doubt and faith, revising the ms., shaping a new chapbook at the hint of an editor. Thinking about what it is that I’m really trying to say with the collection. Maybe I understand myself more fully now.

Thinking of a certain pond and raft and this poem.

It is still hard to believe that we live in such a beautiful place. We step outside and see mountains in every direction. Water in nearly every direction. And everything walkable. For dinner we go to Fort Worden beach. Lunch is at Chetzamoka. There is no rhyme or reason to these choices, only wonder.

I’ve always been drawn to writing about the places I know and love—to write from those environments in a way that is committed to understanding the subtext of the place, honoring the complexities of each small spot on the globe. And yet, more than ever, I find this writing a placeless work—one that can be done from anywhere. More than ever, my “place” is the computer.

In some ways this saddens me—though I don’t think I’ve abandoned my interest in local knowledge—and in other ways it thrills me. All the good folks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting recently also engage in this practice. We may be in one city or another working away at our words and our manias, but we also hope that what we end up with will mean something to readers all over the place. Moreover, with Facebook and all of our other virtual hangouts, it feels as if we have surpassed the need for a physical place in which to be grounded. Of course, it just feels this way because I’m sitting here in beautiful Port Townsend longing for the chance to be in the same room with friends that each live on a different part of the map. Okay, so what? Matt misses his friends? Sure.

I may be wrong—though I hope not arrogant—in thinking that we have a rare community, one that can stay connected through the personal and through the writing we get out into the world. I can wish and wish to live in the same town as a friend for the chance to talk face to face, but I don’t have to do anything more than read a friend’s work to feel that some piece of their life has landed in my living room, that for a few moments we occupy the same small piece of earth.

It doesn’t feel like a lie to say that I have lived several full lives in recent months. And though I don’t know how to connect them, I guess I remain the thread. The most recent life was an amazing one. It was in Vermont, in the mountains, where all the buildings are egg-yellow or white. It goes by the name: Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference.

The name had been legend to me before I ever knew what it was all about and then, somehow, I had the blessing of being a waiter during this year’s conference. I met incredible people who are also incredible writers. I chatted with my idols. I played a concert with the incredible Alicia Jo Rabins, Ed Skoog and Chris Tarry. I imbibed plenty and slept little. I waited tables and I waited tables. I wandered. I listened to more good readings in ten days than ever before. I gave the best reading of my life to date. I missed my family. I want to go back.

Yusef Kumunyakaa was the poetry divining rod in workshop, cocking his head slowly to the side, smiling, saying, “yeah, I think that is the line. Yeah.” He even gave me the first blurb for my future boat shop when I told him my plans: He stomped his foot on the ground made famous by Robert Frost, looked me in the eye, head atlit, and said, “Now that, now that’s damn interesting.”

Oh long lives the calendar calls short! I guess there is nothing I can truly complain about. Here is a brand new poem draft (of ten minutes ago). It will vanish soon:

****gone****

I’ve been busy with fence-work the past several days: sorting sticks, cutting them to length, whittling down the ends of posts with a machete and, finally, lashing all of it together. The fence (aside from my expert labor) has cost almost nothing, which is good because we have almost nothing to spend. We’re happy, though, making something from the nothing we’ve got.

This isn’t the first time I’ve done fence work. I built bamboo fences in New Zealand, mostly as wind barriers, good old American (tall) fences, chicken fences and now, this. Every time I get to work on a fence I think about the adage Robert Frost made famous (”good fences make good neighbors”), which, I think, is mostly misinterpreted and misused as a sort of propaganda for the building of walls. With the mind of Frost (or at least the speaker in that poem), I’ve worked to build a fence that keeps our little one away from the street, but that does not keep the neighbors out. In fact, this fence doesn’t keep much of anything out. Not light, definitely not the deer—who wander tamely all through town—and certainly not people. No, it is more the idea of a barrier for dreamy little toddlers with an interest in roads.

Even though it is simple and small, I’ve felt rather exposed in my experiment. Every car that passes and every person walking or biking by seems to crane their heads around to look. Some say nothing, some seem to scoff, but at least half of them have made a point to stop and say how much they like it.

We plan to build an arbor over the front path and get some evergreen clematis growing along it soon. And while completion will be nice—especially when we can sit back and let River roam without having to chase him down every ten seconds—the work has been good and given me time to think about our new place. It may be early to say so, but this feels like the best place we’ve lived so far.

Hey there. How are things on your end? I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad blogger. But we’ve been really busy, I swear!

Sold our car, secured housing, packed and sorted and loaded up, drove two hours, unpacked the truck, unpacked the boxes, sorted, etc., etc.

And now that we are here, life is good! Beyond the loveliness of our new place, Port Townsend is wonderful. We joined the co-op (10 min. walk), enjoyed the farmer’s market (5 min. walk), visited the most amazing park ever (10 min. walk), started digging garden beds, building a stick fence (literally sticks and lashing) and walked without a destination in mind. Our landlords (I hate calling them that) welcomed us with flowers, a bowl of fruit and chilled green tea. They are the sweetest. I already know our mailman by name—Saul—and realized this is not Seattle at all: everyone says hi to each other.

We’ve got a few more days of really digging in before I head off to Bread Loaf. I’m going to try and try to get some smaller more regular posts happening before that pause. Stick around, eh?