Tag Archives: Poetry

All Poetry is Local…

Well, not really. That’s something that is true of politics according to former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill. Actually poetry is international, universal, or possibly even galactic. I just used it as a title for this post because I … Continue reading

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A Poem for Winter Solstice

We lost the tungsten stream through fracturing birch limbs as we scouted by road. And (now is the time and place to admit it) we were wrong. Wrong in the way a cat miscounts or a fish is fooled by … Continue reading

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Weeding as a Source of Poetic Inspiration

I am pleased to have my poem, Weeding, currently featured in Repeat Poetry. It originally ran in Waccamaw Literary Journal. I like what Repeat Poetry does, which is to breathe new life to previously published work. It’s a site well worth following. The … Continue reading

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Fed by Birds in Winter

          Caught on a stoop rail is a bundle-gift of seeds and leaves hand-woven into a grass basket by birds, a thank you, I think, for years of lugging seed to the feeders—millet, black-oil, sunflower, nyjer, … Continue reading

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On Being a First Reader for The Antioch Review: An Interview with Poet, Benjamin S. Grossberg

As assistant poetry editor for The Antioch Review, is it the job of Poet Benjamin S. Grossberg, along with another first reader, Melissa Berton, to read the poetry submitted to the journal. They advise poetry editor, Judith Hall, on poems for potential … Continue reading

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The Villanelle–A Poem Video

In preparation for the upcoming Midwest Writer’s Workshop, at which I will be privileged to get to work with poet, Kathleen Rooney, I was assigned an article to read on the villanelle form that we will be discussing. I’ve attempted villanelles before with … Continue reading

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Poetry-Speak — The Re-Launch of Poet’s Quarterly

My essay, The Inexplicable Math of Good Poetry, in which I discusses the language used to describe poetry, is available in the most recent issue of Poet’s Quarterly.  Poet’s Quarterly is an online journal that publishes reviews, interviews and essays. … Continue reading

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Tips on How to Read Poetry Aloud

For several weeks during the fifth grade our teacher read aloud to us from The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. She read right after lunch, so I would rush from home back to school after eating to get settled in … Continue reading

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Osage Orange Tunnel

Osage Orange Tunnel

You can stand at its entrance and see
hundreds of bows, the bow trees arching
holding cows at bay, the hedge
mainstay of first farmers. So complete
the interlock, the large fruit,
heavier brother—more orange
textured than apple. More green-
apple colored than orange. Orange
rooted and firm, more branch-bowed
than straight, more arch-like,
like two lines of soldiers
rifle-crossed for a bride-walk
or for early morning
hikers awe-struck.

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The Poetry of Maintenance Manuals

Years ago, I started my writing-for-pay career as a technical copywriter, delving into something I knew nothing about—an industrial line of pumps for the waste treatment, oil and gas, and food industries. It might not sound very glamorous, but to … Continue reading

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