Last month, I was writer-in-residence at the Bown Crossing branch of the Boise Public Library. I typed poetry onto a sculpture called Vox Poplar (“for the people”) that includes a typewriter and a roll of paper embossed with cottonwood trees.

I did an ocean theme for my residency. I dressed in a deep sea diver costume and had library patrons pick subjects from library books about the ocean to incorporate into poems while I worked.

I received 20+ subjects from library patrons. Some of them were awesome. Some of them were bewildering. I incorporated them into eleven poems.

My favorite poems were a piece about extinction on Pacific islands like Mauritius and a piece about an octopus that steals fish from nearby tanks in an aquarium.

The finished poems were placed in a display case. They are on display through the month of April.