"I live in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range which is located in the State of Washington. I have written in one form or another all of my adult life. I enjoy exploring the life styles and the history of people from many lands. How the land forms the methods in which people work and play. My exploring has brought me to write many poems about the State of Montana. The land, people and the history of Montana are simply fascinating. I have many friends in Montana and I have made so many trips there through the years, I feel as though I could call this land my own. The Flat Willow, Stanford, Grass Range, the Judith, Square Butte, and of course old Charlie Russell, are just a few places and people that has filled a portion of this heart of mine. It is so simple to see how Charlie Russell was inspired. The Montana landscape can absorb you, and the people of this land can inspire you in a way that is simply hard to describe. Charlie Russell had a sense of Montana; a way of life that is capture in his paintings. Although he was born a century before I was, the land and the people of Montana have changed very little.

I have also published a book called The Gathering with Janice Coggin who is the editor of Cowboy Miner Productions. The book is getting a great response. It all started with my dad taking me up in the hills ridin' horses. We rode to some of the prettiest country that you could ever imagine. Spent nights on the ground and in cabins so tucked away that no one could ever find ya. I think of how young I was then, ridin' up trails that if ya met someone, forward and back is all that ya had, because up or down just wasn't an option. My dad passed when I was eighteen years old. I think back at how short of time I really had with him and just how much he was able to show and teach me. That's him on the horse on the cover, and I guess a lot of what's in this book is me lettin' him know what kind of a son he raised.

 When I first had thoughts of putting a book together, the last thing on my mind was the title. Through the process of the book, I found myself gathering photos, poems, ideas and old stories from my family and friends. During the same time period of gathering such things I was busy heading off to one gathering after another. The Gatherings were full of folks that just finished a long ride, a steak dinner and now were settled in around the campfire to listen to me recite cowboy poetry under the bright summer stars. It really didn't take a long time for the title The Gathering to sink in. Seems I've been gathering all my life.

The Gathering is a beautiful hard cover book. It is available for $19.95 + $4.50 shipping and handling. My CD, The Long Gravel Road, contains 17 original poems is available for $12 postpaid. to purchase either the book or CD contact:

Mike Whitaker 12757 Pioneer Way E Buckley, WA 98321 windyword@msn.com

You can also obtain the book from the publisher:

Cowboy Miner Productions P.O. Box 9674 Phoenix, AZ  85068

         For further information contact me by email  or check out my web site:
                                       http://www.windyword.com/index.htm

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