Richard O. Moore and Jenny Shank

This week's Monday Poem, "By the Lake," was written by Richard O. Moore, poet, producer, and co-founder of the first listener-supported community radio station.

"Past years are figures in old glass
wobbly in a lake
wrinkled by a stone."

And this evening, The Write Question features Jenny Shank. Her new novel, The Ringer, opens on a typical Saturday. Denver police officer Ed O'Fallon spends the morning coaching his 6-year-old daughter's tee-ball team, the Purple Unicorns. Later, he leaves home to join up with the S.W.A.T. team, to assist on a residential search warrant. But during that no-knock raid he shoots and kills a Mexican man. In the aftermath, Ed O'Fallon can't find typical anymore. His world becomes a tangle of guilt and pain.

The suspect's wife, Patricia, a nurse and mother of two, carries her own guilt: If she hadn't separated from her husband, he wouldn't have been in the house, which is exactly how her teen-aged son, Ray, sees the situation. Desperate to keep Ray out of the gang-related culture she sees him gravitating toward, Patricia signs him up for a competitive baseball league. [read more]

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The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio. It is also broadcast over the Yellowstone Public Radio network, and it's available at the Public Radio Exchange.

The Write Question is supported by Humanities Montana, Montana's Cultural Trust, and by public radio listeners.