mrteague

Honesty Is a Dog

Last week, I announced the release of my cat chapbook, Cat Show, which is available on Amazon. To continue celebrating its release, I’m sharing…a dog poem 😆 “Honesty Is a Dog” is a new poem and will come out in my fourth book, The Anonymity of Waiting, which I plan to self-publish in 2024. HonestyContinueContinue reading “Honesty Is a Dog”

Cat Show Now Available!

As I type this, my cat Nilli is circling and fussing at me. Does she sense that my chapbook about cats, Cat Show, is now available on Amazon? Heck no. She’s reminding me that no one has set out her lunch, and she’s starving, possibly (probably) near death. OK, I’ve fed her. Now I canContinueContinue reading “Cat Show Now Available!”

Babies Are for Locking Up

Back in September, I was poised to release a chapbook of cat poems. However, I had to delay the release because I inadvertently submitted one of the cat poems to a journal. Well, the journal declined to publish any of my poems, so I’ll be releasing the cat chapbook soon. I just need to doContinueContinue reading “Babies Are for Locking Up”

The End of the World

In every generation, circumstances arise that seem to be harbingers of the end. One day, a generation will come that is right about this. But so far, harbingers of the end are followed by a new generation and a bunch more orbits around the sun. Poets are often channels of feeling. As such, apocalyptic pathosContinueContinue reading “The End of the World”

Nothing to Sneeze At

I’m about half-way to finishing my fourth book, The Anonymity of Waiting, which I plan to self-publish in 2024. Below is a poem about something that goes through my mind from time to time when people sneeze. (Yes, there is philosophy even in a sneeze 😆). Because of its timelessness, wisdom is often mistaken asContinueContinue reading “Nothing to Sneeze At”

At the Old Mission

My in-laws used to live in North Dakota. On our way to visit a couple times, we stopped at Old Mission State Park in Cataldo, Idaho. The mission (which was founded by Jesuits in the early 1850s) sits atop a beautiful, grassy hill. As a Christian, it is a testament to the sacrifices God’s peopleContinueContinue reading “At the Old Mission”

Bang Head Here

It’s official: This week, I beat my personal record for rewrites. I’ve been working on poems based on the Psalms, and got a nice draft of Psalm 137 going. Twenty versions of the poem later, I’m almost done. Most of those 20 versions were spent trying to get the first stanza to my liking. IContinueContinue reading “Bang Head Here”

Driving through the Fog

There’s a bit of the Romantic in me, so I’ve always loved fog. For me, it conjures a sense of mystery (bordering on the supernatural), solitude (my favorite!), and introspection. Below is a poem from my first book, The Wind and the Shadows. On one level, it’s a poem about driving on a foggy day.ContinueContinue reading “Driving through the Fog”

Spring Images

A few months ago, I mentioned I’m reading through James Wright’s Collected Poems. Peter Stitt (as quoted in The Poetry Foundation’s overview of Wright’s life) says Wright’s Collected Poems parallels the development of poetry in history: both trace the movement from rhyme, meter, and higher literary style to less structured, more conventional language. When IContinueContinue reading “Spring Images”

Visionaries

In my neck of the woods, we are staggering towards fall. High temps lurch between the upper 80s and mid 70s but the lows are in the 40s. A few leaves have already fallen. “Visionaries” is a poem I wrote in the early ‘90s. It isn’t in any of my self-published books, but it isContinueContinue reading “Visionaries”