mrteague

Looking Down the Road

This week, I’ll attend a funeral for one of my uncles. In 2024, I attended two funerals for two other uncles. I have lost relatives before. But losing these uncles has caused a shift in my life: of the adults I knew while growing up, half are dead. This has brought a different kind ofContinueContinue reading “Looking Down the Road”

Many Waters

In my new book, Voiceless Choirs: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, I mention that the original title was Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. My friend and fellow writer, Matt Randles, suggested making that the subtitle and drawing a title from a line in one of the poems. I decided to take Matt’s suggestion and beganContinueContinue reading “Many Waters”

The Clock Ticks

Writing is a process that even writers find mysterious. There’s no one way to write. Every poem is its own journey, and I’m usually discovering what a poem is as much as writing it. There are also many ways to approach writing. Often I start with an experience or idea I want to capture inContinueContinue reading “The Clock Ticks”

A Haunting

Happy New Year 🥳 Below is (probably) the only poem I’ve written about New Year’s. It will be in my next book, A Song of Glass. I’m about 80% done with this book so should self-publish it in the late spring or early summer of 2026. A HauntingI drift over to them, but they don’tContinueContinue reading “A Haunting”

A Christmas Carol—Christina Rossetti

Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard van Honthorst Christina Rossetti is a poet I became acquainted with in 2022…or so I thought. While reading her poems for the first time, I realized I had heard her poem “A Christmas Carol” set to music years before. “A Christmas Carol” is a meditation on how much ChristContinueContinue reading “A Christmas Carol—Christina Rossetti”

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

With Christmas just around the corner, I have carols on my mind. In my latest book, Voiceless Choirs: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, I poetically interact with sacred texts, and some of those are traditional hymns. Knowing my love of Christmas music, I knew some of those hymns would be Christmas carols, and I didContinueContinue reading “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”

Black Friday

Black Friday unofficially kicks off the Christmas season for many. We’re past Hallowe’en and Thanksgiving so can concern ourselves with decking halls…or other shoppers (as has happened now & then 😆). Black Friday is a shopping day of epic proportions. It carries the mythos of putting retailers “in the black” again. Such drama must beContinueContinue reading “Black Friday”

Wonders

Some days I feel overwhelmed by the amount of human wreckage in the world. The causes are many—selfishness, addiction, division, assault, unrest, economic strain…the list can seem endless. I often wonder how much more people can weather. But we are still here, and the original goodness of things still shows through in places. “Wonders” isContinueContinue reading “Wonders”

Psalm 126

Psalm 126 is a joyous song about the Lord restoring Israel after a time of suffering and judgment. It portrays a people so grateful they think they must be dreaming. The thought of being joyful to point of dreaming piqued my interest, so I wrote a poem based on this psalm for my latest book,ContinueContinue reading “Psalm 126”

Dyeing the Easter Eggs

Last month, I posted about a poetic form pantoum. As an example of the form, I linked to a poem by A.E. Stallings called, “Another Lullaby for Insomniacs”. I so enjoyed Stallings’s pantoum, I got her book Like, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. One thing I appreciate about Stallings’s work is theContinueContinue reading “Dyeing the Easter Eggs”