miller's crossing

Sticking with my New Year's resolution to read more poetry and fiction, I picked up Gary Snyder's Earth House Hold. The first part is called "Lookout's Journal." It's a collection of journal entries from 1952 when he was apparently a lookout in Mt. Baker National Forest. He's in the back country and it's mostly simple observations of nature and of other humans -- voices over the 2-way radio, in diners, etc.

I can't help but wonder whether someone could even experience the same kind of remoteness and the world falling away like Snyder writes about in today's America. How much of the wilderness has been wired and photographed. What's left for a poet to discover?

Vine Deloria, Jr. passed away on November 13 at the age of 73. Deloria authored over 20 books, including his best seller ''Custer Died for your Sins'' (1969). He made important contributions to several Native American organizations and institutions over the years, including serving as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. He also was a professor of history at the University of Colorado.

For the past year, I've kept Spirit & Reason: The Vine Deloria, Jr. Reader on my bedside pile of books. When I can't take another bullet of digitalized news or printed page of politics, I turned to it to read one of his essays about things larger than the latest outrage. His writing has helped clarify my own thoughts on first peoples and "being Indian." His philosophical and religious writings are deeply provocative.