Frances McCue and "The Triggering" Towns

The last day of April I went to a reading at our very independent bookstore, Bookpeople. Francis McCue, the founder of Richard Hugo's House in Seattle, poet and writer was reading from her new book "The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs." Very inspiring and intense evening. Her travels following Richard Hugo's footsteps brought her all over the Northwest. One of the small 'triggering" town she visited was LaPush. I have my own connections to LaPush, a small Native American community sitting on the very western edge of the Olympic Peninsula, forgoten by our civilization, surviving barely. A few years back we, my cameraman, Katherine and the crew of Indian education project, made a short documentary there, Circle of Courage". We enjoyed soaking in local culture, eating a lot of fresh ocean goodies, discovering hidden treasures.
Seems like LaPush is the begining and the end of my Pacific circle. First time I visited LaPush was on hunt after Raymond Carver's landscapes. We spent a nice time with Tess Gallagher in Port Angeles, and continued on to LaPush. All these little connections converging in LaPush.

Later on I will post a visual poem I created about this magical, for me, place.

"Writing is a way of saying you and the world have a chance."
Richard Hugo, The Triggering Town