Books
Walking Woodstock
Journeys into the Wild Heart of America’s Most Famous Small Town
by Michael Perkins
and Will Nixon
Illustrated by Carol Zaloom #1 Paperback Bestseller of 2009, Golden Notebook, Woodstock, NY
The Pocket Guide to Woodstock
An Insiders' Guide with Suggested Hikes, a Walking Tour of the Historic Village, Maps, Photographs, and the Best Tips for a Memorable Visit
by Michael Perkins
and Will Nixon
Illustrated by Carol Zaloom #1 Paperback Bestseller of 2012, Golden Notebook, Woodstock, NYBooks
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About the Author
Will Nixon grew up in the Connecticut suburbs, spent his young adulthood in Hoboken and Manhattan, then moved to a Catskills log cabin in 1996 complete with a wood stove and mice. For years, he wrote environmental journalism, then turned to poetry and personal essays. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and listed in Best American Essays 2004. He now lives in Woodstock, NY with a wall thermostat for heat, but still can't get rid of the mice.Quotes
“Are you familiar with the writing of Woodstock poet Will Nixon? If not, you should be because of his funny, wistful, poignant poems.”
-- Catskill Mountain Region Guide“The Hudson Valley has produced some of the great peregrinations of our time, most notably by John Burroughs, an inveterate walker. Add Michael Perkins and Will Nixon to the list—these are charming essays, some of them with a bit more bite than you'd guess.”
-- Bill McKibben
Tag Archives: “My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse”
Two Poems About Boys Eating Cigarettes
Karen J. Weyant’s poem, “The Boy Who Ate Cigarettes,” from her chapbook, Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt, reminded me of one of my own. The Boy Who Ate Cigarettes Some said he lived under the Mill Street Bridge, burning … Continue reading
The Catskills Bigfoot: My Sighting Story
I’ve long thought that the Catskills needed a Sasquatch to add some hairy mystery to our mountains. Apparently, I’m not the only one. The June issue of Hudson Valley Magazine reports on the Bigfoot enthusiasts in our region. Here’s my … Continue reading
Two Poems About Boys Eating Cigarettes
The Boy Who Ate Cigarettes Some said he lived under the Mill Street Bridge, burning cancelled checks and lotto tickets to keep warm. Other said he stayed behind the town’s tattoo parlor, pushing old syringes up the banisters, just to … Continue reading
Love in the City of Grudges, Reviewed by Bruce Weber
(Here’s Bruce Weber’s review from the Winter 2011/2012 issue of Home Planet News. Thanks, Bruce!) Will Nixon’s second book of poetry, Love in the City of Grudges, returns to the fertile, dysfunctional family territory of his first collection My Late … Continue reading
What is a Ruffed Grouse?
(Here’s the bird behind “My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse.”) Woodland hikers in my part of the world (the Northeastern United States) know ruffed grouse as the birds that nearly give us heart attacks when they shoot out of … Continue reading
Who Was My Mother?
(December 13th is my birthday. Really, it should be my mother’s day. Here’s the woman who became “My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse.”) Born Anne Fletcher in 1926 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but Nancy Nixon by the time I arrived, … Continue reading
How I Wrote “My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse”
In the early 1990s, I wrote my first poems on a whim one weekend at a Zen monastery in the western Catskills. At the time I lived in Manhattan with my wife, worked at a small environmental magazine, and didn’t … Continue reading
“Read Local”: My Holiday Appeal
Among the nicest gifts I received this year were two heartfelt appraisals of my poetry books by Marc Schuster of Small Press Reviews. Many critics love to show off their smarts, but not so many share their real feelings as … Continue reading
Saul’s Gifts, Part Two
(The July/August 2011 issue of The Country and Abroad has published my earlier reminiscence about my late friend and mentor, Saul Bennett. There’s one more piece to the story…) Saul’s Gift, Part Two I dreamed I stood outside my death … Continue reading
Why You Should Stand on a Mountain, from Joseph Wood Krutch
(By chance, the cover of my edition of Joseph Wood Krutch’s The Desert Year, first published in 1952, has a beautiful photograph of orange poppies flowering far into the distance below the towering pinnacles of Mount Ajo in southern Arizona. … Continue reading →