Black Bear Holds a Hole in His Paws

Robert Lee is the author of the epistolary novel, Guiding Elliott (Lyons Press 1997). His writing has appeared in Montana Magazine, Cut Bank, Connotations, Talking River Review, Cold Drill, MO (now Front Range), Cedilla, Northern Journeys, and in anthologies, New Montana Stories, and Poems across the Big Sky. Robert teaches poetry for the Missoula Writing Collaborative in Montana, Idaho and Alaska and tutors writing at the University of Montana. He was honored to spend September 2012 as Writer in Residence for the Island Institute in Sitka, AK. In October 2008, Robert accepted residency in Hydaburg, a small Haida Indian Village on Prince of Wales Island. By the time he got there, both the administrator and English teacher quit so Robert was put on payroll to teach four hours of English every day, one hour of PE, and one hour of Alaska Survival Cooking. This didnt faze Robert, who answered the call: Oh boy. Hydaburg, here I come.