readers (I'm sure that it is a plurality) of my other blog (Rockets and Sentries) will note frequent reference to aliens and to West Virginia. the alien thing just has been a thing. I don't find myself particularly fascinated by aliens, in the sense of studying up on Area 51, or working out an appropriate greeting when 16Greezl'po lands in my chimney. my sensibility is more attuned to Tom Swift Jr. and "Plan 9 from Outer Space". but the aliens have a serious meaning for me, whatever the hell it is. West Virginia is (I was going to say represents but) an evocation of place, in absolutely an Olsonian sense. gee, we had to take sick kitty to a different vet, up North to Beverly, which is to say, we were heading towards Gloucester. southbound on 128 was choked with traffic as we headed north, and I thunk of Olson's line, 128 a mole to get at Tyre. but anyway, WV is where Beth's father lived, and died. the land is so beautiful there, yet it is so poor. resources have been sucked almost dry there, including human resource. and yet life burgeons. a couple years ago we attended a fiddle festival, or whatever it was, in Glenville, which is the county seat. the county has a population of 7000, about what the little town I live in has. there was fiddle music, and snappy clog dancing in the streets, and real crafts and food. lots of energy and excitement. last fall, Bedford, MA celebrated Bedford Day, the 274th anniversary of the town's existence (previous to that it was part of Billerica, which turns 350 this year). by the town hall a cluster of booths were set up. insurance companies, laser dentistry, maybe the scouts or whatever. Beth, Erin and I slid thru the crowd, looking for interest, got none. that aint community. the only connection is thru the organizations to which your child belongs, mainly school. when I think of the poetry community, I think of an exclusive club of similarly minded. a network of likeminded. maybe that is how it should be, but that aint community. WV is a potent sense of place for me, American place at that.