Ed Skoog is one of my favorite Seattle poets. But I'd never encountered him on a blog before; after reading this post he wrote for Coldfront Magazine, I think he's maybe one of my favorite Seattle bloggers, too. It's a long, YouTube-heavy post about the passage of time, lonely music, the allure of the banjo, and why admitting that you're sad isn't okay.

It’s very hard for people to admit that anything is sad. Maybe it’s an American or Midwestern thing. Simple and important, sadness is violently redirected. The past decade is a fantasy, now, like music and poetry. The sadness has been washed away in Old English-style warmongering, with the Department of Defense recently relabeling soldiers warfighters. A few weeks ago, a tornado destroyed a small town, Reading, Kansas, near my hometown of Topeka. It is sad. But the coverage from the Topeka Capital-Journal insists that it was not sad, it was an occasion for courage, a chance to reflect on traditions, an occasion for fundraisers with “attractions that included food, live music, games, a display of military vehicles and an evening fireworks show.”

What a fine piece of writing. Maybe we can all convince Skoog to start up his own blog? I want to happen upon lovely multimedia pieces like this on a more frequent basis.