I have just returned from Taos, New Mexico, where I was invited to read at the Jazz & Poetry event produced by the Taos Bebop Jazz Society and Analog Eric and Judy Katzman. I had first gone to Taos in 2000 for the Taos Poetry Circus, produced by Peter Rabbit, Anne McNaughton and Amalio Madueño, and felt immediately at ease. In my short sleeve shirt, shorts, sandals and straw hat my first year someone asked me: “How long have you been coming here?” (The Circus happened from 1982-2002.) I told them it was my first time and they said: “You fit right in.” I did, with the exception of the altitude and its affects on my tendency to be dehydrated, but I went the next two years much to the chagrin of my oldest daughter Rebecca, as the event culminated in the Heavyweight Chapionship Poetry Bout which was the night before Father’s Day each year, so I was AWOL in Slaughter.
So I was accompanied this year by Bhakti Watts and we were hosted by Amalio, who may be the most under-rated poet in the U.S. He was on the bill at the Taos Mesa Brewing Company along with Annie, the Greg Abate Quartet (which ably backed the poets who read) and Lady Laurie Buckley, the daughter of the infamous Lord Buckley and Lee Boeck, the emcee, who had Lord Buckley’s old hipster rap down pat. I read First, Breath (For Bud and Monk), some American Sentences and a poem tribute to Frank Morgan, all of which were well-received by the audience that braved an April 16 snowstorm to attend!
Some photos of the trip:
![On the road from Santa Fe to Embudo](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160413_182552.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
On the road from Santa Fe to Embudo
![At La Fonda in Santa Fe](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160413_202736_HDR-e1460994071959-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
At La Fonda in Santa Fe
![Guitar purse for sale in Santa Fe window](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160413_202923-e1460994253529-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
Guitar purse for sale in Santa Fe window
![The Rabbit Queen and her Box of Fur](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160414_105129-e1460994177951-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
The Rabbit Queen and her Box of Fur
![The Rabbit Queen awaits her Blue Corn Hotcakes at the Taos Inn.](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160414_140346-e1460998031207-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
The Rabbit Queen awaits her Blue Corn Hotcakes at the Taos Inn.
![Taos Inn, home of Doc Martin's and the Blue Corn Hotcakes which were on the menu in 2000 when I stayed there and legendary alto saxophonist Frank Morgan played in the music room.](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160414_140355-e1460997532905-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
Taos Inn, home of Doc Martin’s and the Blue Corn Hotcakes which were on the menu in 2000 when I stayed there and legendary alto saxophonist Frank Morgan played in the music room.
![View of Garca's truck and mountain as seen from Garcia compound, Embudo, NM](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_142252-e1460997452863-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
View of Garca’s truck and mountain as seen from Garcia compound, Embudo, NM
![Garcia's Dead Rat Museum](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_160258-e1460996841720-1024x576.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Garcia’s Dead Rat Museum
![Rio Grande from Orilla Verde, New Mexico https://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/taos/orilla_verde.html](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_163014.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Rio Grande from Orilla Verde, New Mexico
https://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/taos/orilla_verde.html
![Rio Grande from Orilla Verde, New Mexico https://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/taos/orilla_verde.html](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_163017.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Rio Grande from Orilla Verde, New Mexico
https://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/taos/orilla_verde.html
![20160415_170646](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_170646.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Ojo Calienta Mineral Springs
![Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, New Mexico](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_180226_HDR.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, New Mexico
![20160415_180733](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_180733.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Garcia and the Rabbit Queen
![Garcia & the Wily Splabman after a soak at the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, New Mexico.](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_180750-e1460996327824-1024x576.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Garcia & the Wily Splabman after a soak at the Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs, New Mexico.
![Greg Abate Quartet with Annie McNaughton in the foreground, April 15, 2016, Taos Trails Inn, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_190249.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Greg Abate Quartet with Annie McNaughton in the foreground, April 15, 2016, Taos Trails Inn, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
![Taos Trails Inn, Ojo Caliente, NM](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_192827-e1460995858755-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
Taos Trails Inn, Ojo Caliente, NM
![Sunset view from porch of Taos Trails Inn, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_192835_HDR.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Sunset view from porch of Taos Trails Inn, Ojo Caliente, New Mexico
![Taos Trails Inn](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_192841.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Taos Trails Inn
![Greg Abate and Pamela Post at the Taos Trails Inn 4.15.16, John Rangell Guitar](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160415_210825.jpg?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Greg Abate and Pamela Post at the Taos Trails Inn 4.15.16, John Rangell Guitar
![20160416_102753](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160416_102753-e1460995387571-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
Snow on April 16!
![The Rabbit Queen gets her Blue Corn Hotcakes](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160416_104636-e1460995188222-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
The Rabbit Queen gets her Blue Corn Hotcakes
![April Taos Snow](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160416_112854-e1460995372701-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
April Taos Snow
![The Rabbit Queen shivers in the snow outside the Taos Inn](https://i0.wp.com/paulenelson.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160416_112900-e1460995050644-576x1024.jpg?resize=576%2C1024&ssl=1)
The Rabbit Queen shivers in the snow outside the Taos Inn