Will Nixon grew up in the Connecticut suburbs, spent his young adulthood in Hoboken and Manhattan, then moved to a Catskills log cabin in 1996 complete with a wood stove and mice. For years, he wrote environmental journalism, then turned to poetry and personal essays. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and listed in Best American Essays 2004. He now lives in Woodstock, NY with a wall thermostat for heat, but still can’t get rid of the mice.
Every day before lunchtime, the boxy white mail van pulls up for a moment to the mail box across the road. Upstairs in my bathrobe at my computer with a window view of the road I’m tempted to interrupt whatever I’m writing to walk over in my slippers to see what the day has brought.
When I heard Philip Pardi read this poem aloud, I was taken aback because 1) it was dedicated to me 2) it was so good 3) it nailed me as a bear wannabe. During my five years in a log … Continue reading →
Did my mother have a fondness for ruffed grouse? Probably not. She birded in her suburban backyard or at the beach near her house in Connecticut or by the ponds and shoreline of Mount Desert Island, her summer vacation spot.
By 1912, John Burroughs, a celebrated and opinionated author on the sublime importance of nature for one’s personal character, had noticed the birth of the automobile. And he didn’t like it.
Will Nixon has a new, in-depth article up discussing the question of “Why Poets Love Walt Whitman” going into the history and life of one of America’s best poets.
Recently, I attended two professional meetings at which leading national critics, artists and other creative folk discussed the future of what, for lack of a more “cutting edge” term everyone could agree on, they called art. (Although the real purpose … Continue reading →
(Naturalist, musician, and all around nice guy, Spider Barbour writes a nature column with Anita Barbour for the Woodstock Times. On Sunday afternoon, December 4th, he will join Michael Perkins and me for a reading at 1 pm at the … Continue reading →
Among the nicest gifts I received this year were two heartfelt appraisals of my poetry books by Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews. Many critics love to show off their smarts, but not so many share their real feelings as … Continue reading →
The Hudson Valley Writers Guild supports the efforts of writers in all genres by sponsoring readings, workshops, and contests and providing a number of valuable resources for the entire literary community.
