The Far Field

The Washington State Poet Laureate Presents…

Main menu

Skip to primary content
Skip to secondary content
  • Home
  • About
  • Archive
  • Carver/Roethke
  • Events
  • Index
  • Map

Tag Archives: Michael Spence

Michael Spence

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Kathleen Flenniken
Reply

ADDENDUM TO THE SAFETY OFFICER’S ACCOUNT

.                                                 When the spanwire
Snapped like a line mooring Seaman Holt
To this world, the severing released a flood
Of paper from his body. I had to fill
Every sheet with words.
 .                                       A month washed by–
I’d written the letter to his family,
The accident report, the memoranda
To the various departments that had fed
And clothed and paid him, my journal entry.
His face began to lose its puzzled look,
Dissolving in the darkness of my thoughts.

The Shore Patrol had fished him out of bars,
Disorderly and drunk; he’d been written up
For ragged dungarees, skipping watch
On the quarterdeck and unrep duties
On fueling details. His final day, though,
He was on that rig.
.                                And then Personnel
Called for a Terminal Evaluation.
In every category on that form–
Skills, discipline, personal appearance–
I wrote a 4.0. The yeoman typed
From this a “smooth eval” which I proofread:
The comma at its end I whited out
To a period.

 

“Addendum to the Safety Officer’s Account” is reprinted from Crush Depth (Truman State University Press, 2009) and The New Republic.

 

Michael Spence has driven public-transit buses in the Seattle area full-time for twenty-eight years.  His poems have appeared recently in The Gettysburg Review, The Hudson Review, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, and Tar River Poetry; other work is forthcoming in The New Criterion and Tampa Review.  A bus-driving poem of his was chosen as a finalist for the James Hearst Prize and will appear in the Spring 2013 issue of The North American Review.  His third book, Crush Depth, appeared in 2009 from Truman State University Press.

Posted in history and events, mortality, poem, Uncategorized, work | Tagged Addendum to the Safety Officer's Account, Michael Spence | Leave a reply

Blogroll

  • A K Mimi Allin
  • Aaron Silverberg
  • Anastacia Tolbert
  • Ann Spiers
  • Anne Pitkin
  • Annette Spaulding-Convy
  • Arlene Kim
  • Bark: A Blog of Literature, Culture and Art
  • Beth Bentley
  • Bethany Reid
  • Betsy Aoki
  • Brian Culhane
  • Broken Word–Spokane
  • Bruce Beasley
  • Caitlin Elizabeth Thomson
  • Charles Potts
  • Christianne Balk
  • Christopher Herold
  • Christopher Luna
  • Claire McQuerry
  • Clark Crouch
  • Coldfront
  • Crysta Casey Memorial
  • Dan Peters
  • David K Wheeler
  • Deborah Woodard
  • Dennis Caswell
  • Duane Niatum
  • Ed Harkness
  • Ed Skoog
  • Elizabeth Austen
  • Emily Pérez
  • Eric Ode
  • Erin Malone
  • Esther Altshul Helfgott
  • Frances McCue
  • Gloria Burgess
  • Greg Bem
  • Hans Ostrom
  • Heather McHugh
  • Hunger of the Artist (Mimi Allin)
  • Jack McCarthy
  • James Bertolino
  • Jane Alynn
  • Janée J. Baugher
  • Janet Norman Knox
  • Jeannine Hall Gailey
  • Jeff Encke
  • Jeffrey Morgan
  • Jesse Minkert
  • Jill McCabe Johnson
  • Joan Swift
  • Joannie Kervran Stangeland
  • Jodie Marion
  • John Burgess
  • John Olson (Tillalala Chronicles)
  • Judith Roche
  • Judith Skillman
  • Julene Tripp Weaver
  • Julie Larios
  • Karen Finneyfrock
  • Kate Lebo
  • Katharine Whitcomb
  • Kathleen Flenniken
  • Kathryn Hunt
  • Kathryn Rantala
  • Katrina Roberts
  • Kelli Russell Agodon
  • Kelly Davio
  • Kim Antieau
  • Kim-An Lieberman
  • Kristen McHenry
  • Lana Hechtman Ayers
  • Langstonify–800+ poetry videos recorded by Hans Ostrom
  • Laura Gamache
  • Laura Jensen/Spice Drawer Mouse
  • Laurie Lamon
  • Lenora Rain-Lee Good
  • Lorraine Healy
  • Luke Johnson
  • Lyn Coffin
  • Mario Milosevic
  • Marjorie Manwaring
  • Martha Clarkson
  • Martha Silano
  • Mary Lou Sanelli
  • Matt Gano
  • Matthew Nienow
  • Maya Jewell Zeller
  • Megan Snyder-Camp
  • Michael Dylan Welch
  • Michael G. Hickey
  • Michael Schein
  • Mike O'Connor
  • Mimi Allin
  • Molly Cook
  • Molly Mac
  • Monica Schley
  • Nance Van Winckel
  • Nance's Photoems
  • Nancy Canyon
  • Natasha Moni
  • Neile Graham
  • Nicole Hardy
  • Oliver de la Paz
  • Olivia Dresher
  • Our First Language : Why Kids Need Poetry
  • Patrick Dixon
  • Patty Kinney
  • Paul Fisher
  • Paul Nelson
  • Peter Pereira
  • Raúl Sánchez
  • Red Shuttleworth
  • Respuestas: The Neruda Project
  • Richard Wakefield
  • Sarah Mangold
  • Sarah Zale
  • Seattle PI Literary Events
  • Seren Fargo
  • Sherman Alexie
  • Shin Yu Pai
  • SPLAB
  • Spokane Poet Laureate
  • staring poetics
  • Stranger's Reading List
  • Subtext Reading Series (defunct)
  • Susan Rich
  • Suzanne E. Edison
  • Suzanne Paola
  • T. Clear
  • Tammy Robacker
  • The Round
  • Typing Explosion
  • Vashon Island Poet Laureate
  • Vis-à-Vis Society
  • Writers in the Schools blog

Events

  • apertureSTOP
  • April Festival
  • Beacon Bards at The Station
  • Boynton Poetry Contest
  • Breadline Poetry Series
  • Broken Mic–Spokane
  • Burning Word
  • Cascadia Poetry Festival
  • Castalia Reading Series
  • Cheap Wine and Poetry
  • Chuckanut Writers Conference
  • Claustrophobia Series
  • Claustrophobia Series
  • Da'daedal
  • Field's End
  • Five Alarms Greenwood Crawls
  • GetLit!
  • Ghost Town Poetry Open Mic–Vancouver
  • It's About Time Writers Reading Series
  • Lit Fest
  • LitFuse
  • Northwind Arts Center Port Townsend
  • Off Hours Reading Series (Seattle)
  • Poet at your Table
  • Poetry is Everything
  • Poetry Night
  • Poets and Writers Calendar for Poetry in Washington
  • Poets on the Coast
  • Port Townsend Writers' Conference
  • Possession Sound Writers
  • Puget Sound Poetry Connection (Tacoma)
  • Seattle Arts and Lectures Poetry Series
  • Seattle Poetry Panels
  • Seattle Poetry Slam
  • Seattle Poets Gathering
  • Seattle Spoken Word Calendar
  • Skagit River Poetry Festival
  • Soulfood Poetry Night
  • Spokane Poetry Slam
  • Striped Water Poets
  • Whatcom Poetry Series
  • Whidbey Island Writers Conference
  • Writers on the Sound

Local Poet Laureates

  • Auburn Poet Laureate
  • Clark County Poet Laureate
  • Redmond Poet Laureate
  • Seattle Poet Populist
  • Spokane Poet Laureate
  • Tacoma Poet Laureate
  • Vashon Island Poet Laureate

Magazines

  • A River and Sound Review
  • Anemone Sidecar
  • Barnwood International Poetry Mag, The
  • Bellingham Review
  • Bellowing Ark
  • Cascade
  • Cascadia Chronicle
  • Cascadia Review
  • Clover
  • Coldfront
  • Conversations Across Borders
  • Crab Creek Review
  • Crosscurrents
  • Drash
  • Elizabeth Austen–Audio Poetry on KUOW
  • Filter
  • Floating Bridge Review
  • Frag Lit Journal
  • Geospatial Poetry
  • Golden Handcuffs Review
  • Image
  • Monarch Review
  • Pacifica Literary Review
  • Pageboy Magazine
  • Poetry Northwest
  • Raven Chronicles
  • Rock & Sling
  • Seattle Review
  • Seattle Writes
  • Shark Reef
  • Snow Monkey
  • Spindrift
  • StringTown
  • Switched On Gutenberg
  • Vain Magazine
  • Willow Springs

Organizations

  • 826 Seattle
  • African American Writer's Alliance
  • April Festival
  • Artist Trust
  • Artsmith
  • Bellingham Haiku Group
  • Conversations Across Borders
  • Floating Mountain Poets
  • Friends of Nelson Bentley
  • GetLit!
  • Haiku Northwest
  • Hedgebrook
  • Humanities Washington
  • Independent Writers' Studio–Bellingham
  • Jack Straw Productions
  • Olympia Poetry Network (Facebook)
  • Olympia Poetry Network website
  • Open Books: A Poem Emporium
  • Poetry Night
  • PoetsWest
  • Pongo
  • Puget Sound Poetry Connection (Tacoma)
  • RASP
  • Richard Hugo House
  • Rivers of Ink–Richland
  • Seattle Poet Populist
  • Seattle Poetry Slam
  • Seattle Poets Gathering
  • South King County Literary Groups
  • SPLAB
  • Striped Water Poets
  • Washington Poets Association
  • Washington State Arts Commission
  • Willapa Bay AIR
  • Writers in the Schools
  • Writers’ Workshoppe
  • Writing it Real
  • Youth Speaks Seattle

Presses

  • Black Heron Press
  • Blue Begonia Press
  • Brooding Heron Press
  • Cave Moon Press
  • Cedar House Books
  • Concrete Wolf Press
  • Copper Canyon Press
  • Dwell Press
  • Egress Studio Press
  • Empty Bowl Press
  • Exquisite Disarray
  • Floating Bridge Press
  • Gazoobi Tales Publishing
  • Grey Spider Press
  • Gribble Press
  • Impassio Press
  • Lynx House Press
  • Minor Arcana Press
  • MoonPath Press
  • Peasandcues Press
  • Pixelita Press
  • Printed Matter Vancouver
  • Ravenna Press
  • Rose Alley Press
  • Sage Hill Press
  • Seattle Letterpress Guide
  • StringTown Press
  • Two Sylvias Press
  • University of Washington Press
  • Wave Books
  • Western Poetry Publications
  • Whit Press
  • Windowpane Press
  • WoodWorks Press

Archives

  • February 2016
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
Proudly powered by WordPress