Elling House hosts reading of Montana-focused original poetry
Author and poet Lee Robison will be reading his poetry and signing his book Have at the Elling House Arts and Humanities Center in Virginia City on Saturday, September 4th. The event begins at 7pm.
While Robison’s writing draws on experiences of his full life, much of it circles back to round up, retell and make sense of – corral, if you will – what Montana means to him.
Montana author Marcia Melton writes, “Lee Robison’s poems are as varied as life in paths and pasts, longings, leavings, findings, loves, losses, questionings, and reflections. … This poet’s ‘haves’ are shared gracefully with images from many places, though especially from Montana’s Madison County, and from many inner geographies … .”
Many of the poems in Have draw from Robison’s ranch experiences for their subject matter and imagery. He uses these experiences to examine what it means to have something, to take something, to belong somewhere. In the poem “Native,” for example, ranch and farm imagery is contrasted with the imagery of Montana’s pre-history to ask to whom does this land belong, and what validates that possession. What is it that make this Valley, this River, these Mountains ours? In “Requiem for a Rancher” the question becomes what can an old cowboy take with him when he dies? And just how much of him remains in the land and the landscape he formed in his lifetime?
Brian Kahn, author of Real Common Sense and host of Montana Public Radio’s Home Ground writes “Robison’s words span cultures, place and time, ringing deep and true. These poems are rich in often hard sentiment, there is no sugared sentimentality. In Robison’s world, human life is hard, sometimes good.”
Montana author and publisher Janet Hill says of Robison’s book Have, “I can’t remember enjoying reading a collection of poetry as much as I enjoyed reading Have. Inspirational and deeply moving.”
Robison was born in Bozeman in 1948. He grew up on a ranch in McAllister, working cattle and sheep, irrigating, and working in the hay fields. After graduating from Ennis High School, he earned a Bachelor’s and then a Master’s Degree from Brigham Young University. He is retired from the U.S. Federal service, having spent thirty years working for the Indian Health Service, first on the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, Arizona, and then at the Rockville, Maryland, IHS Headquarters. For those thirty years he wrote poetry in the evenings and on the commuter trains and busses. Lee and Kathy, his wife of 44 years, moved back to Montana in 2013, and now live near McAllister.
In his retirement, Robison has continued with his writing, working on both fiction and poetry. He is currently working on organizing and finding a publisher for a collection of his short stories. He is also preparing a collection of his Haiku, which has a working title of Montana Zen – Cowboy Haiku.
Admission to these events open to the public. Learn more about the venue and other upcoming events at www.ellinghouse.org. The Elling House is located at 404 E Idaho St. in Virginia City. •