NSP Blog Categories

Astoria

Weyerhaeuser clearcuts in the Spring of 2004. Oregon Coast Range foothills.

November 4, 2017

Topless to the Clearcut

August 19, 2017

Meditations Overlooking Youngs Bay 2

August 17, 2017

Meditations Overlooking Youngs Bay

cannedcorn

June 12, 2017

What I Miss About Teaching

chilltank

June 1, 2017

The Chill Tank or My Ten Days on the Boat in Jail

brownsmead1

April 21, 2017

Brownsmead Dreaming

tspcletter

April 9, 2017

On the End of My Classroom Teaching Career

hummingbird

April 6, 2017

Hummingbird Healing

Bonnie and Clyde Files

bcbooks5

May 2, 2019

Bonnie and Clyde Files Launch (4)

bcboxes

May 1, 2019

Bonnie and Clyde Files Launch (3)

bcstout

April 30, 2019

Bonnie and Clyde Files Launch (2)

The Bonnie & Clyde Files.

April 29, 2019

The Bonnie and Clyde Files Launch (1)

November 5, 2018

A Great Dog Notion

August 6, 2018

Dogs Raining (Reigning) in My Mind Part 13

August 2, 2018

Dog Sanctuary Ruminations

May 25, 2018

Sanctuary Back Yard Musings

May 22, 2018

Letter to Clyde

May 7, 2018

A Walk With Bonnie

Corona Virus Thoughts

February 1, 2021

Corona Virus Thoughts #21

December 18, 2020

Corona Virus Thoughts #20

November 16, 2020

Corona Virus Thoughts #19

November 3, 2020

Corona Virus Election Thoughts

October 26, 2020

Corona Virus Thoughts #18

October 9, 2020

Corona Virus Thoughts #17

October 2, 2020

Corona Virus Thoughts #16

September 29, 2020

An Essay on America (Part 2)

September 28, 2020

An Essay on America (Part 1)

September 25, 2020

Corona Virus Thoughts #15

Driftwood Forts

August 10, 2020

Some Fort Meditations

April 30, 2020

Roasting Cans and Bottles

April 16, 2020

Fortitude

January 7, 2020

Fort Questions

December 12, 2019

Fort Sober

November 12, 2019

Three Fort Haiku Sunday

October 1, 2019

A Fort Fight

September 10, 2019

Fort Kelp

August 26, 2019

Citadel Fort

July 22, 2019

Deep into the Destroyer’s Domain

Fiction

January 6, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 3)

January 4, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 2)

January 2, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 1)

December 23, 2022

A Short History of Christmas in an Oregon Logging Camp

December 16, 2022

Takin’ it to the Streets Hallmark Homeless Christmas (Part 6)

December 14, 2022

Takin’ it to the Streets Hallmark Homeless Christmas (Part 5)

December 12, 2022

Takin’ it to the Streets Hallmark Homeless Christmas (Part 4)

December 9, 2022

Takin’ it to the Streets Hallmark Homeless Christmas (Part 3)

December 7, 2022

Takin’ it to the Streets Hallmark Homeless Christmas (Part 2)

December 5, 2022

Takin’ it to the Streets Hallmark Homeless Christmas (Part 1)

Lost and Found

April 20, 2017

Lost and Found 7 / Losing Friends, Finding Friends

April 17, 2017

Lost and Found 6 / Back and Forth

April 12, 2017

Lost and Found 5 / The Parable of the Lost Sheep

April 10, 2017

Lost and Found 4 / Improvisation with Monk and Coffee

April 4, 2017

Lost and Found 3 / Drifting the Oregon Coast with Bob Dylan

March 26, 2017

Lost and Found 2: Rescuing Dogs, Reality and Metaphor

March 25, 2017

Lost and Found in Our Lives; the Beginning of My Journey

NSP Correspondents

August 21, 2018

Artifacts Upon Artifacts–A Poem (March 2010)

November 24, 2017

The Legend of Drain Gravy Part 2

September 11, 2017

Bonnie and Clyde Files 21

June 24, 2017

NSP Correspondent / Matthew Sproul / Twofer

June 7, 2017

NSP Correspondent / Matthew Sproul / Cross Current

April 24, 2017

NSP Correspondent / The Oregon Shot / Gerry Lewin

April 24, 2017

NSP Correspondent / Bill Hall / Oswald West and Tom McCall Meet in Heaven

April 24, 2017

NSP Correspondent / Earl Mohr / A Writer’s Womb

April 24, 2017

NSP Correspondent / Matthew Sproul / GAME TODAY, 4:00 p.m.

April 24, 2017

NSP Correspondent / Jane Endres / Nature Communicates

NSP Meditations

March 25, 2024

Oregon Tavern Age: Afternoon Images

March 20, 2024

Oregon Tavern Age: The Caregiver

March 18, 2024

Full Moon Homeless Rider

March 15, 2024

Walk This Way!

March 13, 2024

Prayer Group

March 10, 2024

Thoughts on Turning 60

March 6, 2024

Piano Man

March 5, 2024

Elmer the Tavern Dog!

March 4, 2024

Oregon Tavern Age: Waiting

February 28, 2024

SPLAAAP! BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Of Walking in Rain

February 27, 2020

Rain Thoughts

February 24, 2020

Note from a Rain Reader

January 15, 2020

Of Thinking In Rain

April 22, 2019

Rain Coffee Shop

April 12, 2019

Notes for a Rain Novel

April 3, 2019

Of Thinking in Rain

March 11, 2019

Thoughts While Driving in Rain (again)

February 26, 2019

When the Weird Turn Pro

February 25, 2019

Driving In Sunday Rain

February 15, 2019

Rain, Rain, Rain

Oregon Beaches

November 9, 2020

Pick Up Your Trash

October 1, 2020

Kelp Consciousness

September 11, 2020

When Fog Met Smoke

September 8, 2020

Country Music Morning Fog

September 4, 2020

The One-word Trucker Outreach Writing Project

August 5, 2020

On the Hieroglyphics of Gull Tracks

August 4, 2020

Caves, Cliffs, Erosion and Shit Going Down

June 19, 2020

A Tribute To Alfie the Dog

May 31, 2020

A Modest Proposal in the Spirit of Tom McCall to Reopen Coastal State Parks

May 20, 2020

The Drummer

Oregon Coast_History

December 23, 2022

A Short History of Christmas in an Oregon Logging Camp

June 29, 2022

Frank Beavers Endorsement from Tom McCall

June 27, 2022

Frank Beavers’ Haiku Campaign for Governor

June 22, 2022

Frank Beavers’ Personal and Political Statement

June 20, 2022

Frank Beavers for Governor!

March 25, 2022

Killing Time

February 4, 2022

RIP Bud Clark

October 21, 2021

Golden Falls

May 24, 2021

Fort Tarot Reading

February 26, 2021

Some Memories of Lincoln City

Oregon Tavern Age

October 9, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: The Great Escape

October 2, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: The Narrows

September 27, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: Lorna

September 25, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: FDR

May 4, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: Death and More Death at the Sea Star

April 24, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: Poetry

April 12, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: Heritage Pub

April 7, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: Bassmaster Classic

March 13, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: Birthday

February 8, 2023

Oregon Tavern Age: The 82^nd Avenue River

Pioneer Pride

March 28, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 19-Tennis Team II

March 25, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 18-Tennis Team I

March 22, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 17-Scenes

March 22, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 16-Senior Skip Day

March 18, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 15-Dump Run

March 18, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 14-Journalism

March 16, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 13-The Promenade

March 16, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 12-Coin Flip

March 15, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 11-Creative Writing

March 14, 2020

Pioneer Pride: Part 10-Rum Night

Poetry

October 25, 2022

Elizabeth Bishop and the Homeless of Portland

May 13, 2022

A New Poet for Oregon—Lee Meier

May 2, 2022

Sunday Morning Walk

August 5, 2021

Things People Living in Homeless Encampments Have That I Wouldn’t Mind Having

June 28, 2021

Ode to Uncle Pinball (On the Death of My Uncle Dale)

April 19, 2021

Dad and “Dover Beach”

April 8, 2021

Daffodils with Dad

April 2, 2021

First Dandelion

February 19, 2021

Talking Poetry With Dad

December 22, 2020

December 15, 2020, Noon, Rural Oregon Grocery Store

secret coast radio

March 31, 2020

Secret Coast Radio 16

February 26, 2020

Secret Radio Radio 15

January 29, 2020

Secret Coast Radio #14

January 22, 2020

Secret Coast Radio 13

December 17, 2019

Secret Coast Radio #12

November 18, 2019

Secret Coast Radio 11

November 8, 2019

Secret Coast Radio 10

September 27, 2019

Secret Coast Radio 9

September 4, 2019

Secret Coast Radio 8

August 19, 2019

Secret Coast Radio #7

Sports

February 22, 2023

Scenes of Steve Prefontaine (Scene 2)

February 20, 2023

Scenes of Steve Prefontaine (Scene 1)

January 11, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 5)

January 9, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 4)

January 6, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 3)

January 4, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 2)

January 2, 2023

The Short History of an Oregon Seventh Grade Football Season (Part 1)

September 9, 2022

Single Wing Formation

July 7, 2022

Watching Wimbledon

July 5, 2022

Satan’s Halftime (A Story Idea)

Writing

August 1, 2022

Sometimes a Great Notion Writing Workshop in Astoria Oct. 8

July 18, 2022

How to Become A Writer Who Writes About the Homeless Crisis

May 18, 2022

Notes for a Short Story

May 9, 2022

For the Good of the Writing Order

April 4, 2022

Denis Johnson and a Writing Methodology for the Homeless Crisis

March 24, 2022

May 7 Writing Workshop in Portland: “Firing Up Your Writing Project”

March 13, 2022

Sartre on My Writing Mind

March 2, 2022

The Storytelling Genius of Gunsmoke

February 21, 2022

A Philosophy of Walking

February 9, 2022

Rereading East of Eden

Support Meditations Blog

The Old Crow

Book Club

$11.99 + $3 Shipping

In December of 2020, author Matt Love moved to Portland to care for his elderly father.

Returning to the Rose City jolted Love after 23 years residing on the Oregon Coast. In the Sellwood neighborhood where he lived, Love met a homeless man named Mark. They formed a friendship over literature and the unforeseen magical discoveries in street libraries. They created The Old Crow Book Club, and yes, sometimes that involved drinking Old Crow on a sidewalk.

The club also included several other Sellwood homeless men and women cut from John Steinbeck's Cannery Row cloth.

In due course, Love learned the members' stories of homelessness and how they survived. He wondered what happened to his beloved state of Oregon and attempted to help Mark get off the streets only to run up against the seemingly futile policies to address the crisis.

Along the way, he had the best conversations about books in his life and wrote The Old Crow Book Club, where he recounts his interactions with the homeless people in his neighborhood and offers some suggestions how to alleviate what he considers the greatest man-made American humanitarian disaster of his adult life.

The Old Crow Book Club is available for purchase here and select independent bookstores in Oregon.

Choice Cuts

of Oregon Fiction

$22.99 + $3 Shipping

Choice Cuts of Oregon Fiction by Matt Love contains 20 stories, all set in Oregon. The cast of characters includes a depressed Santa Claus, Steve Prefontaine, Jack Ramsay's fast break offense, socialist squirrels, a clearcut, a dead deer, a junior high football team, a high school tennis player, a dissipated teacher, a man who evolves into a beaver, a homeless vet, a jilted preacher, a double date to a prom, rural degenerates, a wily caterer, and much more.

The publication of the collection culminates a quarter century of the author's writing about Oregon and rambling around the state.

Choice Cuts is available for purchase here, through Amazon, or select independent bookstores in Oregon.

The Savage

of State Street

Nestucca Spit Press is proud to present The Savage of State Street: The Thieving and Literary Lives of Smoky Epley. He is the greatest unheralded writer in Oregon history and also one of its more mediocre, colorful and persistent thieves.

$19.99 + $3 Shipping

In 1973, Oregon State University Press published Men in Exile: An Anthology of Creative Writing by Inmates of the Oregon State Penitentiary. Twenty-two of Smoky Epley's pieces appeared in the book.

Smoky spent most of his adult life in state and federal prisons for robbery. In 2008, during one of his brief stints of freedom, Smoky became friends with Matt Love, an Oregon author and publisher. They met after Love discovered Men in Exile and wrote a newspaper column about the landmark book. Smoky read the column and reached out.

He returned to prison in 2009 after forging a check. Upon his release in 2011, Love encouraged Smoky to write a memoir. He completed half of Auto before dying in February of 2013.