Some Things Manage to Return

Much to my surprise, over the weekend I heard from the creators of the literary blog Wood Coin who were making contact with authors who had appeared in the literary magazine of the 1970s to 1980s, CENTER. It was especially surprising to hear from or about something where I was published three and a half decades ago when I was a teen. The piece was, if memory serves me well, called "A Spin Around Town" and was the first piece of fiction I had published and for which I received payment. Ten dollars, again if memory serves me well.

CENTER was published by Carol Berge, whom I think I heard speak on campus and gave great praise to me at the time as a "promising, emerging voice from the prairie." Adding to the headiness of being published was hearing complimentary letters unexpected places that included Lucerne and Tierra de Fuego. I was said to learn that Carol died in 2006 but pleased to find the above linked site to her life and work.

When I spoke over the phone to Rich Bachelor while in Portland last fall, he mentioned that his blogging was preceded by publishing 'zenes -- real words on real paper. Sometimes I regret the passage of such publications and literary magazines and mix tapes. And then I will think that I will abandon the blogging and return to real writing again. In the meantime, I'll check out more of Wood Coin and try to track down that first published piece that I know is somewhere in my troves of ancient script.