A new book to celebrate Poet William Stafford’s centennial birth year has been released by Portland’s ACS Publishing. Everyone Out Here Knows: A Big Foot Tale, is a delightful and sumptuously-illustrated Stafford poem for children of all ages and a collaboration between two SE residents – artist Angelina Marino-Heidel and poet and scholar Tim Barnes.
Stafford, was for nearly thirty years, professor of English and literature at Portland’s Lewis & Clark College and became America’s first Poet Laureate. He owned a cabin in Sisters, Oregon in the heart of Bigfoot country and was no stranger to the land of Sasquatch.
Barnes describes Marino-Heidel’s illustrations as “visual alchemy”. Her vivid collage-like landscapes are rich with vibrant forests, mountains, streams and plants of the Northwest’s open country. Bigfoot’s illustrated presence here is mysterious and evocative and just as Stafford describes “disguised as a shadow”.
The book is available at local bookstores and through artspa.us.