t. kilgore splake

t. kilgore splake (the "gray dancer") lives above the omphale art gallery in the ghost copper mining village of calumet in michigan's upper peninsula, last year "thunder sandwich" publishers produced backwater graybeard twilight, a 192-page collection of the best of splake poems, short stories, and black-and-white photography.

splake has published numerous poetry and prose chapbooks, the most notable titles are the kerouac upper peninsula diary, tailings, cliffs, and morning mourning, splake's most recent chapbook production, rainbow diary is a prose length narrative that was influenced by richard brautigan's watermelon sugar.

in the spring of 2003, dave engel, editor of the "poetry towers" press in rudolph, Wisconsin created a dvd titled SPLAKE. the splake dvd featured poetry readings at the calumet theater, old ste anne's church, and the historically famous shute's bar in calumet.
there are splake literary archives at michigan technological university in houghton, michigan, brown university in providence, rhode island, Ohio state university in columbus, Ohio, and the university of new york in buffalo, new york. the most extensive collection of splake notes, letters, e-mailings, writing drafts and photographs is administered by marcus c. robyns, archivist at northern michigan university in marquette, michigan.

during the upper peninsula season in the "long white" 2003 into 2004, splake will be working on his new dvd SPLAKE II, and his winter diary personal memoirs.

contact him at t. kilgore splake.

gray cat in the window

free
growing fat
steady diet of mice
wanning window naps
derelict store front
"do gooder" edna
humane shelter
intervention
feline fighting for life
formaldehyde vapors rising
barrel full of cats

take it to the limit one more time

"eagles"

early morning dawn
hunkered in stony crevice
graying quasimodo arthritic pain
hit of oldjohnnie
whiskey breath steaming
witnessing mountain truth
winds always find you
early mallory and irvine ghosts
passing in darkness
racing down north ridge
everest death and legend
bardic summit climb
soaring among eagles
feasting with angels
one more once
leaving below
jerkoff civilization
rote television-advertising speak
next new fad mediocrity
masses secure personal comas
satisfied ordinary lives
name tag validation
petty behind desk nazis
waiting "walk" sign permission
locked-step wax museum figures
poet abandoning
steady drift toward immobility
catheters evacuation tubes
electronic monitors beeping
withered axons sending
weak muscle signals
cane wheelchair gurney
mortuary dead zone
heart of darkness
waiting on clearing clouds
continuing gradual ascent
hiking through
black light graying granite tapestry
dark caravaggio canvas depths
ansel adams print lightness of being
restless graying poet
final dream questing
carrying wisdom learned late
college doesn't teach talent
degrees provide epiphanies
not ashamed
never feeling satisfied
wanting more
embarrassed over
leaving a memory
something important to endure

waiting false spring

waking icy sweat
endless tortured nightmare
black highway miles turning
lost inside death poem
brain skull mad kaleidoscope hummm
flashing memories fading
living room radio adventures
dick tracy torn mix jack armstrong
republican father
Saturday driveway car washings
never time for a game of catch
high school algebra impossible x's
small town teenage girls
windmill drive-in romances
mother waiting at home
young poet finally leaving
seeking adventures on the road
lonely brown bottle evenings
kraft cheese glass whiskey escape
bardic danse macbre
never one with god
achieving something great
red zone failures
under goalposts arena finis
too soon old man mornings
red wing cap
steadying walker balance
leaving UP PUB "gregg's taxi"
drunk again before 11 am

t. kilgore splake