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Pie Town is renowned for its pies and its remote location, a place where the road stretches long and the silence settles deep. It’s also where Uncle River has lived for two decades, quietly shaping a life guided by solitude, community, and the Muse.
“I am a writer who depends overwhelmingly on the Muse, who is why I have anything to say, at all,” Uncle River said.
When asked how he chose Catron County and Pie Town to be his home, Uncle River said,“ Now 77, I have been a part of Pie Town, 20 years,” said Uncle River, “Most of my adult life. I discovered Catron County in 1974, looking in my atlas for the least populous place with a nice climate.”
He arrived with a yearning for solitude and stayed for the sense of belonging. A friend from back East helped him settle on the land that would become his longest-held home.
“I’m thankful to be here, and for this community,” he said.
Uncle River’s name comes from the opening line of a piece he wrote in 1970, in his piece The Cosmic Cycle: “I am a yellow river, flowing through a broad, green valley.” He had some friends with the idea of using this opening to create a new byline for his writing.
“When the professional life I thought I was supposed to live fell apart, on moving to Oklahoma, in 1976, only to discover that a PhD I had just finished earning was being illegally blacklisted there, friends Kathleen Kesson and Earl Hatley began publishing me over the byline, Uncle River,” he said, “The name stuck.”
Writing has always been his compass. River said that he dictated poems to his mother before he could write, and he’s been spilling words ever since. When conventional paths failed, the universe seemed to intervene, offering him shelter, food, and quiet places to write.
“Solitude is my workshop,” he said.
Pie Town, though more populated than some of his previous homes, still offers the rhythm he needs. He said that he is deeply involved in the community, but he’s careful to protect the space that nurtures his creativity.
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River said the themes that recur in his work —place, nature, and transition —are reflections of the world he inhabits and the one he believes we’re moving toward.
“We are in a time of major transition,” he said. “And the creatures we are is part of how the process happens.”
His forthcoming book, “The Cosmic Cycle” and a Life It Created, is not an autobiography, though it contains autobiographical threads. It’s a poetic memoir, shaped entirely by his hand and guided by the Muse.
“The Cosmic Cycle itself is the heart of this work. It also is the piece of my writing that, for quite a while, I most have wanted to see published in my lifetime,” he said.
This poetic memoir, “The Cosmic Cycle and the Life it Created” will be published by Kelly Zufelt from Zu Homestead Publishing. They are also discussing another novel, which will be called “NITEBOX”.
“I never know, till it happens, what, or even if, new writing will pour out,” said River
Uncle River said he doesn’t separate writing from living. He doesn’t categorize hobbies or draw lines between teaching and storytelling. He simply listens, writes, and follows the dreams that bubble up from within or arrive through unexpected encounters.
“To live in ways, I can feel right with my community and my soul,” he said. “That’s the dream.”
Editor’s note: If you have a suggestion for a Local Legend feature please email jcarranza@dchieftain.com
