Here’s my true confession for today. Way back when–almost 20 years ago–I admit that as a student I wrote some sonnets. That is what students do, right? Recently one called “A Berryman House” was published in an online journal. It’s strange to see your older work getting published. My friend Cynie Cory published American Girl… Continue reading A Berryman House
Category: Poetry
Look
Emily Dickinson starts one poem, “I’ll tell you how the Sun rose–/ A ribbon at a time–.” Probably for many of us, our visual perception of the world around us prevails over the other senses. At least it wouldn’t surprise me if that were true. I wonder if anyone remembers the Noon Quilt? I’m not… Continue reading Look
Artifacts
I think a big part of my motivation as a writer is that I love making things. Truth be told, I still dye Easter eggs every year (sometimes with a niece and nephew to legitimize the process, sometimes not), and it brings me joy. Artwork I’ve done at every age still hangs on the walls… Continue reading Artifacts
“blue: the sea, the sky, the unknown”
"blue: the sea, the sky, the unknown" a stone to pound open greenalmond husks — white inside the seed inside the seed finding the moon reflected in waves .. . another mystery: the deep bluesea made of clear water how our eyes create love by Meredith Stricker, from tenderness shore© Meredith Stricker
2 Dead Poets
The first poetry reading I ever attended was by the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz . He died this week at the age of 93. Milosz read his poems in both Polish and English in a small chapel on my undergraduate college campus. At the end of the reading, he gave the audience a deep namaste-type… Continue reading 2 Dead Poets
Green Lizard, Green Broom
In science they call it camouflage, the ability to blend into one’s surroundings. To make one’s body invisible and yet there, alive, breathing. I have an idea, a project du jour that goes like this. Let’s collect green poems. We’ll make a collage out of them. I will get us started with a little bit… Continue reading Green Lizard, Green Broom
MoJo
Signifying in this instance: more on joy. This just in. The most recent online issue of the Mississippi Review is called The Happiness Issue. Jane Armstrong edits this edition. In her introduction, she confesses that she expected a very limited response. Instead she got inundated with poetry. When I posted the call for stories, essays,… Continue reading MoJo
Joy
Lucinda Williams does a great song called Joy. Do you know that one? This song, like most of Lucinda’s, is not gleeful. But she is a blues singer. One of my friends who teaches poetry workshops told me that he made an assignment once to a group of graduate students. Simply put, he asked everyone… Continue reading Joy
Pieces
Christa’s post has encouraged me to keep adding to my own story, so here’s a little more of it. After the 2 semesters of freshman English I was really at a loss. By hunting for orange spines or skinny books, I was often able to find some kind of poetry, but I didn’t know a… Continue reading Pieces
How to Stay Curious
I’ve been considering the possibility of starting a blog about all-things-poetry for many months now. It’s not that I think I have the answers. Or even the questions. I’m not looking for a soapbox. But I am interested in the blog as zocolo, as town square, a place of exchange and conversation. I attended two… Continue reading How to Stay Curious
