May 7, 2009

Poet Craig Arnold still missing in Japan

by

Craig Arnold

Craig Arnold

American poet Craig Arnold has disappeared in Japan, where he was visiting on an artist’s fellowship program. As a brief item in the New York Times details, Arnold has been missing since April 27, “when he went hiking up a volcano on Kuchinoerabu, a small island near the coast of Japan’s southern Kyushu island.” The Times item, by Dave Itzkoff, says “police said they had ruled out the possibilities that Mr. Arnold had fallen into the volcano’s crater or was stranded at its peak.” An Associated Press report, meanwhile, notes that Arnold had been in Japan because he was “working on a book about volcanoes and has been visiting volcanoes around the world.” Now, the AP reports says, “searchers picked up Arnold’s trail near a volcanic crater and followed it to an area with deep ravines.” But it gives no further details.

A more detailed report in the Salt Lake Tribune, meanwhile, says Japanese police have stopped their search after going three days beyond their legal limit, but that the new search, being conducted by an independent team “hired by friends and family of the missing poet,” believes it has picked up his trail.

Peter Parolin, dean of the University of Wyoming’s English department, where Arnold teaches, says, “We’re staying optimistic. We know from stories all around the world that these kinds of stories can end happily. There’s a lot of hope they’ll be able to find Craig.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

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