Art Chowder November | December, Issue 24 | Page 29

GOODNIGHT FRED
C
hris Cook is an active man. You might know him because
he plays trumpet professionally with the Spokane Symphony and
has been a frequent performer and mentor to other poets in the
Spokane poetry scene. When you see him, ask him about what it
is like to be a professional yoyo demonstrator. He’s THAT Chris
Cook.
He hosts 3 Minute Mic (every first Friday at 8 pm, at Auntie’s
Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave.) and is co-host of Broken Mic
(every Wednesday at 6:30 pm at Neato Burrito, 827 W. 1st
Ave.), both of which are long-running Spokane poetry open mic
events. He often reads/performs at these events, as well as being
introducer and encourager of the other poets.
“In the great green room,
there was a telephone and a red balloon
and a picture of the cow jumping over the moon.”
On the television set,
there was a trolley car and a neighborhood
and a man in a sweater who was very, very good.
There was Daniel Striped Tiger and Lady Elaine
and patiently taking the time to explain.
There was Mr. McFeely with speedy delivery
and how to dress warm when we’re freezing and shivery;
and teaching how sneakers are properly laced
His poetry books Damn Good Cookie (Korrectiv Press, 2016)
and The View from the Broken Mic (Gray Dog Press, 2012) are
available at Auntie’s Books, Atticus, the Spokane County Library,
and through Amazon. and how to make projects with scissors and paste;
Cook represented Spokane at the National Poetry Slam in 2013
and 2014 and was the winner of the Limerick Slam at the 2014
Individual World Poetry Slam. His poems for adults and kids
have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines. explaining the anger, the guilt, the remorse;
Cook says, “I was recently featured on Pivot, the popular local
storytelling series patterned after The Moth Radio Hour. That
definitely stretched me — Pivot stories are typically 10 minutes in
length, using no notes. On the other hand, the time limit at poetry
slams is three minutes. Additionally, I was featured on Poetry at
the Podium, a program started by Spokane Poet Laureate Mark
Anderson, where poets read original works at Spokane City
Council meetings. I’ve also enjoyed hosting The Poetry Moment
on Spokane Public Radio (KPBX 91.1). The recordings from
both Pivot and The Poetry Moment are available in podcast form
at http://www.kpbx.org. Lastly, I was one of the poets featured in
photographer Dean Davis’s latest project, Pictures of Poets, which
includes recordings of original works. It can be enjoyed at http://
www.picturesofpoets.com.”
“My first poetry collection was Robert Louis Stevenson’s A
Child’s Garden of Verses, given to me when I was two months old.
Later, I got The Humorous Verse of Lewis Carroll, and Beastly
Boys and Ghastly Girls, an anthology filled with poems about
ill-behaved children. Although it featured works by Ted Hughes,
A. A. Milne, and Shel Silverstein, much of the content would be
considered highly inappropriate by today’s children’s literature
standards. Needless to say, it was one of my favorite books.”
A careful listener will catch some of this same playful and
irreverent echo in Cook’s poetry and see how the musicality and
rhyme of Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein seep into poems with more
serious topics.
and puppets, like Friday XIII, a king
and serious talks about serious things,
like the death of a pet, and disease, and divorce;
how it’s not a child’s fault and it never will be
(it’s so hard when you’re 8 and your sister is 3).
He taught us with patience and kindness and love
that despite all the bad, there’s a goodness above.
Unlike other adults, he did not condescend
so he spoke to us just as though we were a friend.
First time I saw his earnest style,
his nerdy look, his cheesy smile,
I thought, C’mon, you can’t be real —
no one’s like this — what’s your deal?
But through the years, he proved me wrong
just bit by bit and song by song.
He sang about us being neighbors and such —
how we’re growing inside, how we matter so much —
how it’s such a good feeling just being alive…
And then one day he wasn’t.
The day that Mr. Rogers died
a shaken planet stopped and cried.
So goodnight, sneakers. Goodnight, sweater.
Goodnight, show that made us better.
Goodnight, trolley. Goodnight, bed.
Goodnight, childhood.
Goodnight, Fred.
November | December 2019
29
Chris Cook