Poetry in Motion: Charles Finn and Tami Haaland's Literary Tour Hits Isle of Books

The rhythm of Montana poetry will echo through two cities this week as Isle of Books hosts acclaimed poets Charles Finn and Tami Haaland for a literary double-header that promises to slow down time and explore the landscapes that define the Big Sky experience.

The poetry tour kicks off tonight in Bozeman at 6:30 PM, followed by a Friday evening reading in Butte during the monthly Uptown Art Walk. Both events showcase poets whose work captures different facets of Montana's literary soul.

Charles Finn will read from his latest collection, A Mountain's Idea of Time, a "contemplative ode to stillness" that invites readers to reconnect with nature's patient rhythms. The former editor of High Desert Journal and 2022 Montana Book Award winner for On a Benediction of Wind has built a reputation for helping readers step off the hamster wheel of modern life and listen to geological time.

Joining Finn is Tami Haaland, Montana's former Poet Laureate (2013-2015) and author of four poetry collections. Her newest work, If I Had Said Beauty, ventures into the territory of what-ifs and alternate narratives. Haaland's poems are rooted in the natural world but go deeper, seeking to "unravel and speculate, document and lament what happens in life, and what might have been." A Montana State University professor who has taught poetry workshops from England to Germany, she brings both academic rigor and international perspective to her craft.

The pairing makes perfect sense. While Finn invites us to slow down and absorb the mountain's ancient wisdom, Haaland encourages us to examine the stories we tell ourselves about our lives and the paths we didn't take. Together, they represent the contemplative and exploratory threads that run through Montana's contemporary poetry.

For Butte attendees, Friday evening offers the bonus of coinciding with Uptown Art Walk, turning the reading into a broader arts celebration. There's something fitting about poetry sharing the spotlight with visual arts in a city that wears its cultural heart on its sleeve.

Isle of Books describes these evenings as "more than words"—a chance for reflection, connection, and honoring the voices that shape Montana's poetic landscape. In an era when community gathering spaces feel precious, these readings offer something streaming services can't replicate: the shared experience of language spoken aloud among people who chose to be there.

The Bozeman reading takes place Thursday, July 31, at 6:30 PM, with Butte following Friday, August 1 at the same time. Whether you're drawn to mountains that measure time in millennia or stories exploring human complexity, these evenings promise both community comfort and poetry's gentle challenge.