Desert Cenote
There is sadness among the stones
today, the rabbits are silent.

No wind. The heat bears down.
It has not rained for one year.

We have faith out here, desert
people, we wait, knowing with sureness

the swift cross of clouds, the blessings
of moisture (to deprive a man is to give

charms to him). I love this dry land
am caught even by blowing sand, reaches

of hot winds. I am not the desert
but its real name is not so far from mine.

Keith Wilson

Come hear friends and cohorts read their favorite Wilson poems and share stories to offer tribute to one of the Southwest's most influential poets, the Poet Laureate of Las Cruces, Keith Wilson.

Coming to read their favorite Keith Wilson poem are Bobby Byrd, Wayne Crawford, Tony Mares, Leo Romero, Heloise Wilson and more!

Drive up to the Anasazi Fields Winery in Placitas and get to taste and purchase their wines made from local fruit, and be inspired by the region's wealth of poets. Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages available, too.

Suggested donation of $3 will pay the poets.

WINE BAR --TASTY SNACKS -- GREAT PLACE
Drive out for a good time and a fistful of literature.

To get to the Winery, take I-25 to the Placitas exit 242, drive 6 miles east to the Village, turn left at the sign just just before the Presbyterian Church, follow Camino de los Pueblitos through two stop signs to the Winery entrance.

Bio
Keith Wilson, a native New Mexican poet and short story writer, is the author of many books. He is Professor Emeritus in English at NMSU, and has received numerous awards, among them the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, the Premio Fronterizo from the Border Book Festival for Lifetime Achievement, and the NM Governor's Award in 1988 (Wilson was the first poet to receive it). Wilson was named Poet Laureate of the city of Las Cruces. His memoir, a compendium entitled The Cause of Rite was published in October of 2001 by Pennywhistle Press, and his Collected Poems are forthcoming by Clark City Press. 

Wilson attended UNM and the U.S. Naval Academy, and after military service during the Korean War, became not only a writer of both prose and poetry, but a professor at the University of Nevada at Reno, University of Arizona, and, for many years, at New Mexico State University. He has also taught as Visiting Professor/Poet at the University of Kansas, Utah State University, and the Universities of Sibiu and Cluj, in Romania, as well as Visiting Poet at the William Joiner Writer’s Conference, University of Massachusetts.

Other awards include a PEN American Center Grant; PEN-West Book Award; D.H. Lawrence Creative Writing Fellowship; Senior Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship to Romania; and his book Graves Registry, was nominated for the National Book Award in poetry.

Among Wilson’s many books are: Graves Registry & Other Poems; Sketches of a New Mexico Hill town; Homestead; The Shadow of our Bones; Some Faces for America; The Shaman Deer; While dancing feet shatter the earth; Bosque Redondo; Streets of San Miguel. 

The June 15th afternoon event will be a homage reading for Keith (now 80), who can no longer speak but is very active, still writing, publishing and going to poetry readings. His wife, Heloise, has become his voice and reads his work very well. She will read some of his work, then poets from all over New Mexico will come to the podium to read a tribute poem for him.

The next reading in the series will be Sunday September 14th, 2008 @ 7 pm: 
The Sound a Raven Makes - Catherine Ferguson, Michelle Holland & Sawnie Morris read from their book published by Tres Chicas Books 
Duende Poetry Series -- quarterly poetry readings --
Contacts: 
Jim Fish 867-3062 anasazifieldswinery@att.net 
Cirrelda Snider-Bryan 897-0285 cirrelda@laalamedapress.com 

Winery located at 26 Camino de los Pueblitos in historic Village of Placitas, 6 miles east of I-25, Exit 242

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