Unnecessary Talking : The Montesano Stories

Literary Nonfiction. In this warm and humorous memoir, the boy you meet is irrepressible, devilish, curious, rambunctious, imaginative, sports-minded, friendly, naive, and absolutely joyful--definitely the kind of boy who would get in trouble from his teacher for "unnecessary talking." Mike O'Connor's stories remind a reader of what it was like to grow up in small-town 1950's America. "With UNNECESSARY TALKING, poet Mike O'Connor leads us through the streets and neighborhoods of Montesano, Washington--circa early 1950s. These stories and sketches make up a memoir of a young boy's clean, clear understanding of a world where mystery is common sense and adult rules are slippery as a wet bar of soap. O'Connor's writings, though rooted deeply in the rain-soaked soils of the Pacific Northwest, reach out to touch, in a tender and wise way, the very heart of an America lost but still loved"--Finn Wilcox.

Mike O'Connor, a native of Washington State, is a poet, writer, and translator of Chinese literature. Beginning in 1970, he engaged in farming and forest work, followed by a journalism career in Asia that lasted until 1995. He has published nine books of poetry and translations, and his recent long poem Immortality can be found online at Narrative Magazine. O'Connor is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and he is an Honorary Fellow of Hong Kong Baptist University. He currently serves as publisher of Empty Bowl Press in Port Townsend, Washington.