17th Reading

Hatch says that shortly after he was born the Stock Market crashed. He grew up in the Los Angeles area in the Santa Monica Mountains. During high school he was into acting and recited Shakespeare in local contests. He was interested in poetry but wrote little until he married Judy Taylor Graham, who was already a published poet.

His job as a Forester and Wildlife Biologist took them to Alaska for five years, then to the Washington, DC headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service, back to the California Regional Office, and finally to the El Dorado National Forest, where he retired.

Along the way, he and Judy became expert dog handlers in search and rescue, pioneering the use of dogs in water search and improving techniques for airscenting, as well as trailing dogs. Hatch also spent eleven years as County Coordinator for the California Bluebird Recovery Program.

Judy Taylor Graham, by now, a widely published poet, runs a weekly poetry workshop in El Dorado County, known as Tuesday @ Two. So, Hatch says he is “Driven to Poetry, Weekly.”

Hatch has an award-winning poem on the Western Folklife Center's Cowboy Poetry website. His poetry has been published in the Song of the San Joaquin, Rattlesnake Review, The Acorn, and elsewhere.