In other posts, I’ve talked about poems that take years to finish. Today’s poem, “This Land,” is one I started writing in the mid ‘90s but didn’t finish until 2020. Over the decades, it went through many rewrites, none of which I was really happy with until the last one. “This Land” was always meantContinue reading "This Land"
Denial
This week’s poem, “Denial”, will be in my upcoming book The Anonymity of Waiting. I don’t want to say much about it because I’m curious to see what readers think it’s about. In some degree, poetry is always about balancing transparency with ambiguity. Poems fall all along this continuum, with some being explicit and othersContinue reading "Denial"
Useless
This week, I started working on a new luc bat poem. Luc bat is a Vietnamese form of poetry I learned about a few years ago. Since I’ve got luc bat on the brain, I decided to post a luc bat poem from my second book, Event Horizon, entitled “Useless.” UselessI’m glad some people careforContinue reading "Useless"
Happy Birthday, USA
On July 4th, 1776, the second Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. This document announced our independence from England and marked the birth of The United States of America. Since Americans celebrated the birth of our country on Thursday last week, I thought I’d share a poem I wrote about July 4thContinue reading "Happy Birthday, USA"
Long in the Tooth
Almost every day, my kids tell me I’m old, gray, or decrepit. My son is fond of saying I have dementia if I have the slightest memory lapse, while my daughter comments on my “old man hobbies” because I use a birding app. Aging is real and unavoidable. Below is a somewhat whimsical reflection onContinue reading "Long in the Tooth"
Ron
My day job is in social services. Through my job, I get to know people in all kinds of situations. Most of them have health problems and need caregivers. Some are financially well off, some are supported and insured by the state. I work with people who have mental health issues, substance use issues, and…justContinue reading "Ron"
Fatherhood
Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there! This year, I received the gift of poetry. My wife has been known to write a poem when the mood takes her, and she wrote me a lovely haiku for Father’s Day ❤️ Haiku is a favorite form of mine, and in this sparse space, myContinue reading "Fatherhood"
Empty Hands
Change is something we all live with. It’s inevitable, and we react to it in our own ways. If I’m honest, my reaction is often grief, or, at the very least, reflection. The longer I live, the more change I go through. For me, that means a lot of grief or reflection, even over thingsContinue reading "Empty Hands"
Unpaired Words
Every poet (probably every writer) is, on some level, a word nerd, a grammar geek. True to form, I have been learning about unpaired words. These are words whose root form has fallen out of use and only survive in our language as words paired with a suffix or prefix. For instance, we might sayContinue reading "Unpaired Words"
in Just
When I mentioned “the goat-footed balloon man”, my daughter gave me a quizzical look and said, “Whaaat?” Something she said made me think of him, though I can’t remember what it was now. To explain, I looked up E.E. Cummings’s poem [in Just] and read it aloud. The childish innocence of this poem always makesContinue reading "in Just"
A Wandering Minstrel 