Lou Solitske
In March of 1980, I memorized The Raven. I have recited it every day since. I embarked upon an eighteen year career as a night driver with Sacramento Yellow Cab in 1987. This was a perfect job because it provided me with captive audiences for my poetic offerings and harmonica. After over 15.000 recitations (mostly to myself but often to others and sometimes to the poor souls trapped in my taxi,) I believe that I have come to understand Edgar Allan Poe's iconic masterpiece in a way that few others have. My long suffering wife, Jackie, said that I had turned the word raven into a verb. She maintained that I "Raven" people and once they hear it, they are never quite the same. In 2001 I published Taxi Tales a fact based collection of short stories recounting some of my more memorable adventures in Cabland. Jackie and I moved to Half Moon Bay, California in 2005 where I entered into a collaboration with artist Joyce Eakins. I currently live in Seaside, Oregon where I am actively pursuing my passion for photography. I recently surpassed 1,000,000 archived shots.
Lou Solitske