About John Burgess
John Burgess grew up in upstate New York, worked on a survey crew in Montana and taught English in Japan. He now works 9-to-5 in corporate communications for an insurance company in Seattle and rides the bus to work everyday. His influences include 1970's punk music, Montana bars, haiku and his family. His poems have appeared in the King County Poetry on Buses project, Sidecar Anemone, Pontoon, elimae and Chrysanthemum among others. He's a 2006 Jack Straw writer and co-founder of the Washington Poets Association's Burning Word Festival. He's currently the editor of Snow Monkey literary journal.
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from the ground up supports the creation and presentation of the written and spoken word through our reading series "Cheap Wine and Poetry" and print publication, when it rains from the ground up. By offering cheap wine and free admission at our readings as well as a free publication, we make literature accessible to everyone from the avid reader to the average non-reader.
THERE IS NO MYTH IN HIS LIFE
by John Burgess
For 5 blocks he wonders how the elk got there. The only way into the city from the mountains is Interstate 90 so he guesses they took the commuter lane. Rode someone's bumper all the way to town. Used their antlers as horns. When he spots them they're grazing the green belt at the north end of the community college. His peripheral vision catches the sandy brown of elk hide against the row of poplar trees that buffers traffic noise. They're chewing as if counting to 15 before swallowing. Everything else rushes by too fast to notice the care they're taking. In fact by the time he stops at the traffic light just 5 blocks away he's no longer sure he even saw elk.