Okay, this is SMSteele writing from the west coast. I was a bit of a dog poet last year because I left mid-May to walk 800 km across northern Spain. To make up for it, I'll write some Spain pieces this year.

My big news is that I'm one of five artists chosen to be a war artist with the 2008-2009 Canadian Forces Artist Program... the first poet in the program's 90+ year history (Alec Colville, A.Y. Jackson etc. are previous war artists). I hope to be going to Afghanistan in the next 18 months. So I'll probably try some soldier pieces out on you this year too.

Thanks for the invite, I look forward to reading everyone's work and hearing what they've got to say about mine.

yours, narratively inclined,

SMSteele

oh yes, on Friday I'm reading at a reception put on by the local firechief for a bunch of firefighters who are here from Kabul... the local firechief has invited them over to train and has asked me to write something for them... I've written something called the Firefighters of Kabul... hope it works...