Thanks to the great audience who came out for the first annual north45east reading last night, held at Art in the Loft, a beautiful wide-open gallery space in Downtown Alpena, with huge windows and a view of the lake. I was honored to read with such a lineup of poets, and lucky it was a book-buying crowd, especially as I drove the nearly 3 hours both to and from the reading. Though I didn’t need the confirmation of our state’s beauty, it was a gasp-inducing drive across the fields and forests of Northern Michigan. And I was lucky to not hit an elk or a deer on the way home, winding the back roads beneath the sprawling stars.
The event’s founders. Anne Bastow Heraghty and Joe Bastow, a brother and sister team, are Alpena natives who have returned to the town of their childhood and are working hard to stir up the poetry fire there. I hope to be fireside in that lakeshore town again as soon as possible. Thanks, Alpena! 
Published by Robert Fanning, poet
Robert Fanning is the author of seven books of poetry, including five full-length collections: Cage, (forthcoming, Salmon Press), Severance (Salmon Press, 2019), Our Sudden Museum (Salmon Press, 2017), American Prophet (Marick Press, 2009), and The Seed Thieves (Marick Press, 2006) as well as two chapbooks: Sheet Music (Three Bee Press, 2015) and Old Bright Wheel (Ledge Press Poetry Award 2003). His poems have appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, Gulf Coast, Waxwing, Thrush, The Atlanta Review, The Common, and many other journals. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Sarah Lawrence College, he is a Professor of Creative Writing at Central Michigan University, where he is an awardee of the CMU President's Award for Faculty Excellence in Community Engagement, as well as a two-time winner of the CMU Excellence in Teaching Award. He is the Founder/Facilitator of the Wellspring Literary Series in Mt. Pleasant, MI., and the Founder/Director of PEN/INSULA POETRY, a resource for Michigan poets.
View all posts by Robert Fanning, poet
ROBERT FANNING: POET 
Just now seeing this post, Robert. What a lovely evening that was. Thanks so much for coming.
Anne, it was a wonderful evening I won’t soon forget!
Sheesh! You must be wrecked. That is a long drive! Love you more than words…except for vituperative. (Shit. Now I’m gonna have to look it up.)
Mary-Clare