Whale Sound is an online project where poems of various contemporary 
writers are read aloud by Nic Sebastian.

A few months ago I submitted my piece Tree Reader and this morning it 
came online. You can hear it read here:

‘Tree Reader’ by Gabriel Orgrease « Whale Sound http://ow.ly/5QkqI

A writer can write a whole lot of junk and every once in a while they 
will find a gem. This is a gem. When I hear the piece read it makes me 
shiver.

The story behind the story.

I had a new smart phone and I was riding on the Long Island Railroad 
when the scene occurred. One of the stops for the line is Pinelawn Cemetery.

I like the concept that at one time people were more sparing in their 
written words because they had to be set in type (or carved in rock or 
pressed in clay). In my case with this piece it was composed slowly on 
the smart phone, thumbs and all.

It never touched pen or pencil to paper.

Uncharacteristic for me I submitted it to an online publication. It was 
accepted with one minor change. That felt good.

Subsequently I was contacted by a textbook publisher who asked if they 
could include the story in an anthology of American short stories. Like 
from Washington Irving forward to Gabriel Orgrease.

I like the idea that HS students somewhere on the planet will get to 
read my story.

When I first was contacted by the publisher I thought it was a joke. I 
got paid $200 for it. The fee paid for the smart phone.

Ken

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