OYO, The Beautiful River

Mark B. Hamilton is perhaps the only living person to have traced the entire Lewis and Clark Expedition route on their approximate time-table, traveling as they did by paddle and pack mule, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to the Pacific Ocean, and the return to St. Louis, Missouri-a 3-year, 8,000-mile journey. Honored in recognition by the National Park Service, his efforts in this field continue with research and writings centered on cultural environmental values. He has been a shipwright, English professor, editor, and caseworker for Children and Youth Services. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in the small town of North Granby, he attended university at Miami, San Diego, and Missoula, earning the MFA in poetry with extensive work in literature and American studies from the Writers Workshop, University of Montana. His poetry has won state and national awards, being published widely in the US, and abroad in the UK, Japan, Greece, Germany, and Austria. Select honors include: a Matthew Hansen Endowment for Wilderness Studies, the National Panhandler Chapbook Award, a National Poetry Anthology Contest Award, an Indiana State National Endowment for the Arts for Visiting Artists, an Indiana Governor's Award, and two Colorado Annual Poetry Awards, along with a readership at the American Antiquarian Society, and literary fellowships at UCROSS and the Center for Art & Ecology. -¿markhamilton98643@yahoo.com -¿www.MarkBHamilton.WordPress.com