I told you a month or so ago that I've been asked to design and lead a student writing program in Piscataquis Country during this upcoming school year. The organization I'll be working for is Monson Arts, a new arts center in central Maine that offers month-long residencies, shorter workshops, and community programs. The director is Stuart Kestenbaum, who led Haystack Mountain School of Crafts for many years and also happens to be our state poet laureate.

I've known Stu for a long time, and taught for him occasionally at Haystack. But this venture is a different kettle of smelts. His vision for the experiment is an intense mentoring situation for twenty young writers and twenty young visual artists. He wants the atmosphere to be anti-classroom: that is, for students to exist inside art as vocation, not art as school subject. He doesn't want me to write out a detailed curriculum or meet state learning goals. He wants me to show students what it feels like to be a poet.

The painter Alan Bray will be leading the visual arts branch of the endeavor. Alan was born in Monson and still lives locally, but his work is internationally renowned. Working alongside him on this project is a huge honor.

So there you have it: an amazing, impossible job. My heart is racing.