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 peopleContinue 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. IContinue 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.Continue 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 IContinue 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 isContinue reading "Visionaries"
Not a Car
Recently, I mentioned I started setting up my cat chapbook for publication. It is pretty much ready to go but I made the decision to delay its release. Why? Without thinking, I submitted one of my cat poems to a journal. When I started sending poems to journals, I learned quickly that most won’t publishContinue reading "Not a Car"
County Fair
My wife proudly describes herself as “an instigator.” This means she drops an idea in earshot of a person or two, lets them carry it out, and disappears (especially if there are consequences involved 😆). Sometimes, my wife instigates poems, usually by saying, “I have a poem idea….” or “You should write a poem aboutContinue reading "County Fair"
The Pale Lady
Over the years, I’ve come to enjoy sonnets. Being a long-standing form of poetry, some might find sonnets dull and played out. I would’ve included myself in that crowd at one time. But as I’ve tried my hand at sonnets, I’ve found I like wrestling an idea into the restrictive rhyme and meter. The brevityContinue reading "The Pale Lady"
April Come She Will
Song lyrics combine two of my favorite things: poetry and music. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Simon and Garfunkel—gorgeous music with words full of poetry, philosophy, and reflection. I play guitar so I’ve been challenging myself to learn several songs by Simon and Garfunkel. Anyone who’s listened to Simon and Garfunkel knowsContinue reading "April Come She Will"
Sun God
“Sun God” is the final poem in my new book, Shadow and Memory. It is a tanka, a Japanese poetic form of five lines. Similar to its three line cousin, haiku, each line has a set number of syllables. Before presenting this poem, I thought I’d say a few words about my approach to writingContinue reading "Sun God"
A Wandering Minstrel 