Michael McGriff and the Language of ImaginationMichael McGriff, author of Eternal Sentences, which was selected as the winner of the Miller Williams Poetry Prize from University of Arkansas, talks to Sam and Stacy about his childhood in rural Oregon, finding inspiration in Pablo Neruda’s surreal imagery as a young poet, and why the language of logging is the language of his imagination. Mike serves as Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho, where he was both Sam and Stacy’s mentor in the MFA program. This is Part 1 of Sam and Stacy’s conversation with Mike. Part 2 will be released in two weeks. You can learn more about Mike at his website, https://michaelmcgriff.com/. He is the author of the poetry collections Early Hour, Black Postcards, and Dismantling the Hills in additon to translating Tomas Traströmer’s The Sorrow Gondola. Mike is also the editor of a volume of David Wevill’s essential writing, To Build My Shadow a Fire, and alongside J.M. Tyree, the co-author of their linked short story collection Our Secret Life in the Movies, which was selected as one of NPR’s Best Books of 2014. Mike has two poetry collections forthcoming, Angel Sharpening Its Beak from Carnegie Mellon University Poetry Press Series and Inquest, winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize. You can order Eternal Sentences directly from the University of Arkansas Press: https://www.uapress.com/product/eternal-sentences/ Links . . . WorkWhile website WorkWhile Instagram WorkWhile Facebook Stacy’s website Sam’s website