from Albuquerque

from Albuquerque, thinking of Jim and his family and his network of friends --

JB Bryan and I were lucky in the mid-oughts to have a slew of visits from Jim and Stefan, around the publication of Snows Gone By (oú sont les neiges d'antan). Sometimes Jim alone would stop in and stay a night on his way to visit one of his kids – on to Arizona and CA. We realized his dedication to them from these frequent trips. What ease and kinship feelings amongst us - all the conversations - some are so good that they are vivid companions to this day. In March of 2005, we traveled around the state together a bit, too, for readings - got caught in blinding snow driving from El Rito one night over the road back to Ojo Caliente. That same trip, Jim and Stefan read for the very first Duende Poetry Reading at Anasazi Fields Winery in Placitas - poetry series that JB and I, along with Jim Fish, Larry Goodell and Gary Brower, began.

Thanks for making the blog and for your updates, Bert and Jed and all. JB had forwarded the first to me while still in Des Moines Iowa tending his mom who has ALS pretty bad. After he arrived back home to Burque early Monday morning, we were talking upstairs in his office and there appeared our seldom seen Roadrunner on the deck railing inches from the window. Even with our dog Maggie, pesterer of birds, lying also on the deck 5 feet away, this Roadrunner was preening, moving its feathers on its head, coming closer to the window, probably looking at its reflection, stayed there doing that for a long spell. I said to JB, "That's Jim Koller."

Well, we do that - in our house, we identify between the living beings  - like the pink mum and my aunt Betty, like the spiders and my mom, like a particular star and my grandma. And that's something we would enjoy sharing with our good friend Jim. He appreciated the connections - through species, through centuries and decades - brought them out along with his thinking - brought them out with words out loud and with words written down. We are so lucky to have his way of connecting. 

I write this to join in the cyber circle of telling stories - to join in with all of you to honor someone very special at the most particularly hard time for him and his loved ones. Looking forward to your stories. And sending love and solidarity - solidarnösc!

Here is a photo from June, 2006 when CB our daughter was 12 - this same place hasn't seen this amount of moisture since that time 8 years ago. Stefan Hyner, JB Bryan, CB Bryan, Jim Koller.