One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large

by Chris LaTray

Winner of 2018 Montana Book Award
Winner of 2019 High Plains Book Award (Best First Book)
Finalist of 2019 High Plains Book Award (Best Book by Indigenous Author)

"This is a sunrise book, a book of revelations, of creekwalks and roadfood and ordinary sadnesses, ordinary joys—which are, in the end, the only kind. ‘I have a stake in this,’ La Tray writes. And so do you. So do you.”
— Joe Wilkins, author of The Mountain and the Fathers, When We Were Birds, and Notes from the Journey Westward


"Chris La Tray's One-Sentence Journal is a celebration of words, and the way even very few words, in the right hands, can capture the wonder in every single day.”
— Ana Maria Spagna, author of Uplake: Restless Essays of Coming and Going; Now Go Home: Wilderness, Belonging, and the Crosscut Saw; and Potluck: Community on the Edge of Wilderness

​

“Chris LaTray is the real deal – authentic, with a heart as wide as the big skies of Montana."

— Gary Ferguson, author of The Carry Home, Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote Heart of Yellowstone, and Through the Woods: A Journey Through America’s Forests

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Essays, Nature, Memoir

158 pages, Paperback

Published July 21, 2018

About the author

Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

His third book, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, was published by Milkweed Editions on August 20, 2024 and has received a number of accolades including a Pacific Northwest Book Award and a Writing the West Award and Best Memoir of the Year selections from both People and Esquire magazines.

His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. His book of haiku and haibun poetry, Descended from a Travel-worn Satchel, was published in 2021 by Foothills Publishing.

Chris served as the 2025 Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana and was awarded the 2025 Montana Heritage Keeper Award by the Montana Historical Society. Chris writes the weekly newsletter "An Irritable Métis" and lives near Frenchtown, Montana. He was the 11th Montana Poet Laureate, holding that post for 2023–2025.

https://chrislatray.substack.com

Reviews

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm friends with the author so my opinion might appear biased, but I love this book. I read some of it as he wrote and posted on his blog, but putting it together in this format gives it more weight and depth. Short koan-like poems are interspersed with longer pieces. All of it is great. Definitely recommend to anyone who loves the northwest/outdoors.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharp and soft, insightful and poetic, this is a marvelous work by a terrifically interesting author. Highly, highly recommended.

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful morning of sunshine,
the most silvery of hard frosts,
and Old Man Coyote pauses opposite
on a ditch bank, gifts me a brief stare,
then disappears down the other side.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent a long, sun-soaked afternoon with this book, savoring it in a single setting because I didn't want to put it down.

Seasonally arranged, these short, heart-full pieces distill the beauty and pain, contentment and grief, push and pull of inhabiting our particular humanity in our particular places.

I love books that feel like wise companions on the journey. Here's one such. In this case, the flavor of the wisdom is funny, dark, and utterly unpretentious. I'm keeping this book close, and looking forward to whatever Chris LaTray writes next.

[Sara Habein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this shortly after two different trips to Missoula (during one of which I purchased the book) almost certainly colors my immense fondness for it, but so what? It's great all the same. It's got a lot of Montana nature, but said nature is not made exotic. Maybe I am just similarly-concerned, but-not-THAT-concerned-about-bears, but sometimes it's nice to read about a place you're deeply familiar with that is written by someone who is also deeply familiar, but no one is here to romanticize it. For every beautiful expanse of sky and leaves and running rivers, there are also the days where your socks keep getting wet and you're in a fight with the wind.

The bits about Missoula are also good because, yes, we do actually have civilization here, even if it's on a smaller scale. Written from the point of view of a local who lives at the edge of a small city, this snapshot of a year and a mixture of other thoughts inspire a desire to slow down, to really look at where you are, to find a good story to tell later. I'm glad I finally read it.

[Tomi Alger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book won the 2019 Montana Book of the Year Award. Some of the poems and essays are quite poignant and others not so much. Most were observations of nature and of the joy, peace, and wonder, and contentment it can bring. It gave me pause to think of how many times I may think of something to write about and not get that thought written down. Writing things down was how LaTray got this book started.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. It was the winner of the 2018 Montana Book award. It's a collection of poetry and short essays on various subjects, but mostly having to do with a relationship to nature. There are many almost photographic moments captured in the poetry, a lot of feelings of connectedness to nature, some touching interactions with the author's cherished dog, and quite a few snippets of wisdom for a contemplated life. Highly recommended.

[Echo Hayder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read in a long time!

[Anna East · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to experience the world deeply, drink what it offers whether bitter or sweet, allow it to fill you and satisfy you and then seek more tomorrow...read this book. Then try your own practice of observation and reflection, consider how you might strengthen your connection to nature and other humans, and find new ways to create your own fullness in the world. La Tray is a master at modeling and guiding, without trying to do either. He lives, and he writes. And through his writing, we live better.

[Bobbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was unexpectedly good. The essays are brilliant and insightful. I found the book inspiring. So glad I read it.

[Heidi Barr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just re-read this, after remembering a line in it from the first time I did, and I can't wait for the author's next book.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

One-Sentence Journal is engaging and thought provoking. Chris La Tray takes his observations of moments in his daily life and assembles them into neatly crafted phrases — offering his readers quick glimpses of the beauty he’s noticed in the ordinary.

[Heather Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real, honest-to-goodness, genuine human is increasingly hard to come by these days, but Chris La Tray is one of them. Here is not an Author creating a Persona but a regular guy authentically and humbly sharing his world. The magical beautiful moments and the ordinary bits and the grumbly gripes and the amusing quirks, expertly yet subtly crafted into poems and essays that in themselves act as meditations, reminders, to all of us, to pay attention. To pay attention to all of it– the quality of light, a foul mood, an evocative sound, an inter-species connection, or the experience of a whole landscape.

La Tray writes that he ‘feels like the world just gives and gives and he’s not doing a damn thing to give anything back’, but he is; he has. He’s given the gift of his attention, his reflections, his mutterings and epiphanies, and with them, he’s validated animals and wildernesses and his fellow feral humans who, like him, live inside our heads, rejoice in solitude, struggle with restlessness, and seek and find wildness everywhere.

[Claire Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris La Tray is one of my favorite writers to admire from afar. This is such a wonderful sampling of his poetry and writing, and I especially loved reading about Montana and being able to travel to the places he wrote about in my own head. This is a highly re-readable book, and I’m so glad I own it so I can return to it again and again. Some of my favorites from it include The Lightning Tree, Creekside Drama, and, of course, The Sacred Art of Dog Walking.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and gutting at times - I love this book and the poignant reflections of the day to day in Montana. A beautiful, meditative, relatable read reflecting often on how the human world intersects with the natural world for good or bad. Also SO many quotable one-liners. This is an important read for anyone grappling with the world and our place in it.

[Pam Gardiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich language and well-grounded imagery bridge the genres of poetry and pose. The author offers fresh insights rooted in everyday experience. The writing is nice blend of warm-fuzzy and occasionally edgy. I suggest reading it slowly and letting it sink in one sentence at a time.

[Branwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read this slower, to savor every word. I could not help but devour it, devour Chris’ view of the world. I’ll likely return to this often especially in the changing of the seasons. Above all, I have a renewed appreciation to bird watch and walk outdoors.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. This is a celebration of the simple moments of life, the ones we might miss if we're not careful. His short poems are authentic, well composed, and rich in image. I found myself nodding, yes, as I read and re-read them.

The super moon managed/only a veiled appearance/every time I looked,/but time and effort/with a gaze turned skyward/is never a waste.

This is going to be one of my well thumbed books.

[Alan ten-Hoeve · Rating 5 out of 5]

One-Sentence Journal is a meditative read that puts a much needed emphasis on the non-human world. Through beautiful poems and essays that capture moments big and small, soothing and painful, Chris invites readers into his world like an honored guest. By the time I was done I felt as though I had visited his Missoula, even though I’ve never set foot in Montana.

[Tyler Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris La Tray has given Montana attention in the vein of the great Montanan writers. Yet, the nuance of a one sentence journal, coupled with short essays, allows for a deep exploration of the mundane, which is to say, the everyday things that make us human. This expands the readers understanding of Montana and the West, rounding out the characters who populate it.

[Charity P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS SO GOOD. LaTray creates what poems and essays should be--conversational, imagery that sticks to your insides, relatable content that delivers all the feels. I mean come ON--I teared up at a sentence that mentioned Carhartts and hard candy.

I used to have only two books I've kept returning to through the years...now I have three.

[Alex Mattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book from an MT author that so perfectly captures the experience of being a Montanan. Even the parts I didn’t personally relate to painted the perfect picture of Montanas I’ve known, loved, and hated. If I ever need to show someone what Montana is like, I’m making them read this book.

[Cassandra Cridland · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are things that the author and I wouldn’t agree upon if sitting across a table from each other; however, I think we’d agree on enough to make the conversation lively and engaging. I enjoyed the read.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of years of book chat books, this is the first one that made me want to order a copy. Immediately.
It helps that the author is local but it is mostly about the way he turns a thought.

[Sydney Bollinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris writes with an unparalled candor and humor. Truly appreciate this one.

[Carl Setzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of poetry and essays. I adore LaTray's crisp writing style and his explorations Montana.

[b]

Enjoyed this book.

[Jacqueline Haskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book!

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written!

[Kathy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

La Tray has the ability to give a gut punch to your emotions and such insight that you need to sit with that for awhile. Very good.