Kaci and I bought our land in O’Brien in 2007 but before moving here fulltime, we were in San Diego for grad school (starting in 2010). While down there, I would google the goings-on up here. I found an article about an award-winning writer living in O’Brien. Since I was in school for creative writing, I was excited that there was another writer in the tiny town, so I sent Michael a friend request on Facebook and he accepted. I congratulated him on his award and we shared 1 or 2 more messages.

After graduating, Kaci and the boys and I packed up and made the permanent move to O’Brien, landing here on July 4, 2013. Later that month Rusk Ranch had a nature festival and I saw Michael for the first time in person. “I think that’s my facebook writer friend!” I said to Kaci. She encouraged me to go say hi. Michael and I talked a bit and within an hour or so he was giving a poetry reading at the event. “I’d like to dedicate this one to my new friend,” he began. It was a poem about packing up everything and moving to O’Brien, Oregon.

Soon Michael and I were meeting regularly in the back left corner of Wild River, taking turns buying pitchers of Double Eagle Stout, scheming about various writing ventures. He always with his back against the wall, me always opposite. Less than a year after we met, we created “Cobra Lily,” a local literary magazine of poetry, art, and more, first as an online quarterly, and then a print journal starting in 2015. We put that together for 8 years. I called him my “Co(bra) Editor.” Inspired by this publishing collaboration, I started Left Fork, a tiny press with the goal of publishing a few books each year.

Michael had presses around the country wanting to share his work with the world, but I was honored that he chose my Left Fork for his next book, “Ravenwood,” a collaboration of his poetry and Deborah Dawson’s wonderful art. We had so much fun, we did it again 2 years later, putting out their children’s book, “Woodwoo: The Little Sasquatch.”

In 2016, we created a brand-new press for Michael. While Left Fork was focused on our little corner of the planet, Flowstone gave Michael the chance to share the greatest poetry he could find, from all over the country. He worked with the poets as editor-in-chief while I handled the design work. Over 8 years, we published 29 great collections from an amazing assortment of writers, too numerous to mention them all here. Counting the issues of Cobra Lily as well as some Left Fork titles Michael worked on with me, he was my co-editor for 43 of the 63 books I published during that time.

For several years, Michael and I put together an Annual Local Author Holiday Reading & Sales event in early December, first at the library and later at the Southern Oregon Guild. That ran for 6 years, giving writers a space to share their work with the local community, and hopefully sell a few books.

I’d say that over the 11 years I knew him, Michael became my best friend in the IV (other than Kaci). But really it didn’t take that long. In and among drinking stout and talking and making books, we shared moments of just living. We celebrated when he’d win another award or residency or get another publication. We shared the ups and downs of relationships, including the sad times of ending relations and the excitement of new ones. For a short time when money was tighter, he hired me to help out with his work. When Kaci and I were losing our office space in town, Michael was the one to quickly make a new connection for us and get us a new spot.

Speaking of the excitement of new relationships, the last few years we got to know Jazmine Blu, Michael’s partner and love. It was always great seeing them and the joy they brought to each other. In July of this year, we all got together camping at Florence Keller, north of Crescent City. Great times, great memories: sitting around the fire, drinking Frida Kahlo tequila into the night, Michael and Jazmine and Kaci and me. The next day, seeing Jazmine’s awesome glass-blowing on display in Brookings before trying to get a stout at the Irish pub in town (they were out!).

We saw Michael for the last time in early October. I carried along a can or two of Double Eagle Stout, to see him and Jaz in Brookings. Not thinking that he’d be able to drink, but perhaps as something to just hold on to as my own security blanket for when I saw him. He hadn’t been doing well in the days before, but Jazmine said he did show improvement during our short time there. When we left, I knew he was in great hands with Jazmine doing her everything to take care of him and make his last moments comfortable (really, doing her damnedest to make them *not* his last moments).

Sadly, the forces of cancer are sometimes more than anyone can handle. Michael passed away in the night of October 30. So Goodbye to my Co(bra) editor. I forever raise a Double Eagle in your honor. Tears for you as I write this (and tears for those left behind). So much love to you on your journey home. And thank you so much for being my friend.