From a feature on Earle in Real Change:

"Communication is All There Is."

I write because I like to write," said Earle Thompson. The 45-year-old Washington native grew up on the Yakima Indian Reservation, and has been a winner of the Written Arts competition at the Annual Bumbershoot Festival.

His work has been included in numerous anthologies and magazines, including 20th Century Native America Poets, Dancing on the Rim of the World, Akewon, AtlAtl, Argus, Blue Cloud Quarterly, Contact II, Greenfield Review, and Prison Writing Quarterly.

"I never learned the 9-5 work ethic, but I learned a lot from my grandfather," said Thompson. "He was a fisherman, a farmer, a gambler; he adapted. I learned you have to accept yourself and never feel bad about what you do." Thompson, recently released from prison, is presently homeless, and is learning from the experience.

"I've been writing for 20 years, but only now an realizing what's out on the streets. I never understood the survival ethic until I was on the street. It's alien to anyone unless they've been there."

"Really, all I care about is that someone is going to read my stuff and understand it. Communication is all there is."