Livingston poet Marc Beaudin will read from and discuss his new collection, “Life List: Poems” on Saturday, Oct. 16 at the West Wing of the Seeley Lake Community Foundation. The free event begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.
A kind of field guide to the birds in poetry, “Life List” includes over 70 poems that each feature a bird from Beaudin’s own life list (currently at nearly 400 species). According to the publisher, the book “pays tribute to the birds that have flown through Beaudin’s years of watching and listening, through his attempts to render in language the precarious circumstances of being alive. With a sharp critique of environmental, social and political issues, along with haunting ruminations on loss, love and the passing of time, these poems fill the skies with a feathered grace.”
Rick Bass notes, “In ‘Life List,’ Beaudin combines the eye of the poet with that of the naturalist. Passionate yet mature, this is Beaudin’s most inspired and finest work.”
“Life List,” a 2020 Montana Book Award Honor Winner, includes the Spur Award finalist for Best Poem of the West, “25 Bears.” It also contains over 20 monotypes created by Livingston artist Storrs Bishop to accompany select poems from the collection.
“The poems are exquisite and full of life like the birds themselves,” writes Terry Tempest Williams. “In each poem we find clarity and compassion as we stand on the razor-edge of uncertainty. This is a tender and generative book.”
Beaudin, an Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Foundation artist-in-residence, is also the author of the hitchhiking memoir “Vagabond Song: Neo-Haibun from the Peregrine Journals” and several other books. His work has appeared in numerous journals including “Cutthroat,” “High Desert Journal” and “Whitefish Review.” He has been widely anthologized in publications dedicated to environmental and social justice. A frequent performer of poetry and spoken word, Beaudin has worked and recorded with a variety of jazz and rock musicians at venues across the country. More information is at CrowVoice.com. Due to the COVID pandemic, masks are strongly encouraged. Questions? Contact [email protected].
