Nestucca Spit Press Meditations – Page 33 – A Blog by Matt Love

walden

December 11, 2018

Thoreau Radio

December 10, 2018

Rain and a Nativity Scene

whiskey

December 7, 2018

Jameson Writing Workshop

elk_2

December 6, 2018

Elk Coffee Shop

rope

December 4, 2018

Beaverwood Christmas Tree

concretemamacover

December 4, 2018

Concrete Mama

blue-exclamation-point

December 3, 2018

Exclamation Point Anniversary!

grifters

November 30, 2018

Green…Then Not Green

November 29, 2018

But She Don’t Care

November 28, 2018

Church Fort

November 27, 2018

Trump at Low Tide

November 26, 2018

Dusty at Dawn

bialette

November 23, 2018

Earl’s Portable Coffee Shop

potatosoup

November 22, 2018

A New Thanksgiving Tradition

clarkwaved

November 21, 2018

Rain, November, 21

yellowboots

November 20, 2018

A Novel in a Roadside Attraction

November 19, 2018

A Morning Stroll

barcarditpint

November 18, 2018

On Football (Part 7)

turkey

November 17, 2018

On Football (Part 6)

barry

November 16, 2018

On Football (Part 5)

Football_7

November 15, 2018

On Football (Part 4)

universalnewmanfootball

November 14, 2018

On Football (Part 3)

butkascard

November 13, 2018

On Football (Part 2)

elkfield

November 12, 2018

On Football (Part 1)

truthcover

November 10, 2018

Truth at the Tideline

choc

November 9, 2018

Corporate Coffee Musings

H_harbor-seal-water

November 8, 2018

Dear Seal Friend:

beartrimmer

November 7, 2018

Youngs Bay Barbershop

lauder

November 6, 2018

Yard Work

November 5, 2018

A Great Dog Notion

November 3, 2018

The Mushroom Hounds

November 2, 2018

On Becoming a Visual Artist

vodka

November 1, 2018

At the River

grapefruit

October 31, 2018

Oregon Tavern Age: Stalling

americangraffitti

October 30, 2018

Oregon Tavern Age: Sex Stop

rain flow on the roof

October 29, 2018

Rain Hammers the Roof

leaffalls

October 29, 2018

Falling Leaves

aerosmith

October 26, 2018

Rain Coffee Shop Notes

jelloshots

October 25, 2018

Oregon Tavern Age: Jello Shots

ashbio

October 24, 2018

Patio Thoughts

NEVER STOP PRE

The Enduring Inspiration of America's Greatest Sports Legend

Buy the Book: Print $21.99 + $5 shipping

"Never stop Pre. When he's no longer relevant in Oregon, Oregon is dead."

On May 31, 1975, Coos Bay, Oregon native Steve Prefontaine died in an automobile accident. At the time of his death, he held 14 American records in distance running.

Pre was 24 years old and already a legend in Oregon and the world of track of field.

Read More - Click here to buy the ePub or Kindle Editions

Support Meditations Blog

The Old Crow

Book Club

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.

$15.99 + $4 Shipping

Choice Cuts

of Oregon Fiction

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.

$22.99 + $3 Shipping

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.

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.

$19.99 + $3 Shipping

Sonny the husky discovers a homeless encampment destroying a creek in a Portland city park. She alerts her owner and a park ranger and inspires a community clean-up of the damaged riparian area. Neighborhood citizens and residents of the encampment join Sonny to restore a tiny part of a watershed and later celebrate their collaboration.

Buy Bundle Direct From Author (PDF & ePub Download)

Buy eBook on Amazon