Great poem. Years back, I worked on a screenplay adaptation of Young Men and Fire for Warner Brothers. Hung out with Missoula smoke jumpers for a couple days (at headquarters not in the woods!).
Beautiful wild land images, Josh! I love the contrast between the precarious, wavering helicopter, seeming too lightweight for the forces of air drafts and rock and dangerous power lines, and you grounded with the burned cedar and the known work of sawing and heaving wood “For now.” The poem is full of uncertainty, but there is presence in the work of “now.”
I appreciate the many paths you allow for yourself on Substack. I wonder when I try new things here whether I am sacrificing coherence or burdening my site with too much complexity, but I remember that I’m here to venture new things. Still, it’s hard to shake the academic sense that all details “relate” tidily, or the commercial drive to “brand.” Your work is always thought-provoking and satisfying!
I am finally catching up on things... so here I am. I just listened to the Sarah Fay interview with Sophia UPS-confirmation-number-for-a-last-name, and now I know what everyone was talking about. The beauty of Substack is being able to write what you want to write and not worry so much about the subject. What ends up happening on Substack, from what I can tell, is that people just want to read good writing. Anything is interesting if you are good at writing about it. It is like how a great interviewer can pick out any ordinary Joe off the street and ask a bunch of questions and it will make for awesome radio or podcasting. The art is in the telling, in the image captured, the music created. It seems to be a bonus if we learn something (I am quite possibly only speaking for myself). And that seems to be the case for my readers. I don't know what I will write about any given week. I have no expertise in anything other than living my own life. And yet, I have people who read me. That is the glory of Substack. I didn't know I could write such things until I tried.
And RE: The Helicopter Pilot
I love that the poem shifts in time from moment to memory to possibility. The shape of the stanzas adds to the non-fiction feeling of what is being conveyed.
Great poem. Years back, I worked on a screenplay adaptation of Young Men and Fire for Warner Brothers. Hung out with Missoula smoke jumpers for a couple days (at headquarters not in the woods!).
Beautiful wild land images, Josh! I love the contrast between the precarious, wavering helicopter, seeming too lightweight for the forces of air drafts and rock and dangerous power lines, and you grounded with the burned cedar and the known work of sawing and heaving wood “For now.” The poem is full of uncertainty, but there is presence in the work of “now.”
I appreciate the many paths you allow for yourself on Substack. I wonder when I try new things here whether I am sacrificing coherence or burdening my site with too much complexity, but I remember that I’m here to venture new things. Still, it’s hard to shake the academic sense that all details “relate” tidily, or the commercial drive to “brand.” Your work is always thought-provoking and satisfying!
I am finally catching up on things... so here I am. I just listened to the Sarah Fay interview with Sophia UPS-confirmation-number-for-a-last-name, and now I know what everyone was talking about. The beauty of Substack is being able to write what you want to write and not worry so much about the subject. What ends up happening on Substack, from what I can tell, is that people just want to read good writing. Anything is interesting if you are good at writing about it. It is like how a great interviewer can pick out any ordinary Joe off the street and ask a bunch of questions and it will make for awesome radio or podcasting. The art is in the telling, in the image captured, the music created. It seems to be a bonus if we learn something (I am quite possibly only speaking for myself). And that seems to be the case for my readers. I don't know what I will write about any given week. I have no expertise in anything other than living my own life. And yet, I have people who read me. That is the glory of Substack. I didn't know I could write such things until I tried.
And RE: The Helicopter Pilot
I love that the poem shifts in time from moment to memory to possibility. The shape of the stanzas adds to the non-fiction feeling of what is being conveyed.