I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was dipping into Sleeping on the Wing by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell, an anthology of poetry and writing prompts written for children and teens. In a chapter on D.H. Lawrence, the authors note that Lawrence called his poems “acts of attention.” They prompt readers to give … Continue reading The Story of My Hydrangea Bush
Greetings! If you’re a regular reader, you know the past two weeks I’ve suggested some prayers that I’ve found helpful, and I continue to encourage everyone to write prayers and affirmations too. It’s funny, because almost as soon as the first post went up, I began to feel kind of down. And so I felt … Continue reading Continued Sheltering, part three
Hi, there!! In case you haven't heard, April is National Poetry Month, so all month I've been posting original poems. Times being what they are, I've wanted to post poems that are fun and/or funny! This week's offering fits both categories well. Enjoy! The music is salty like dry roasted peanuts. I come downstairs … Continue reading Velvet Dress
April is National Poetry Month, so I'll be posting a few poems this season. Currently I spend more time writing prose stories instead of poems, so it's been fun for me to look back at poems I wrote in past decades. This poem is from a period when I was experimenting with classic forms. … Continue reading The Bear, a sestina
I want to wish everyone a peaceful Holy Week, and a Blessed Easter. I wrote this poem a few months ago. I'd seen another praise poem, written like this, designed so the reader would read the first column from top to bottom, and then come back up and read the second column. I thought it … Continue reading Praise Poem
Hey, it's National Poetry Month, so I've decided to post a few poems this April. It's been fun for me to look back over my decades-long collection of poems to find a few that will be just right for this moment in time. None of those wild, whiny, passionate unrequited love poems I seemed prone … Continue reading How to Find the Muse
For Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought I would share a bit of Irish history (sometimes called mythology). This poem tells the story of Patrick’s encounter with a poet named Oisin. Oisin (pronounced O-sheen) was the son of Finn MacUail (pronounced M’Cool) who was a great warrior. Oisin was the poet who recorded his father’s great … Continue reading Oisin and Patrick: an Irish Tale
When I feel sad disconnected unsure of where I belong I invite the poet in. She will remember the soft yellow-gray belly of the mocking bird vibrating as he trills high above me on the outer branch of a tree at the edge of the bridge. Darn, I can’t remember what kind of tree … Continue reading Poetic License
This is a re-run from the early days of this blog, but still topical and seasonal. Enjoy! I pledge allegiance to this sand and gravel road that runs between the river and my house, clumps of California poppies rangy stalks of fragrant fennel burgeoning fig trees that grow wild on the river bank. I pledge … Continue reading Happy Birthday, USA
In early June comes a five-day period when every peach on the tree arrives at a perfect skin-splitting ripeness and you race the birds rushing into the back yard with a blue plastic bucket. You drag the six-foot aluminum ladder from the garage climb tenuously and reach for each round fuzzy piece of fruit with … Continue reading In Celebration of the Solstice: Abundance
