It’s probably been 20 years since I first read “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden (1913-1980). I read it now through the lens of a 48 year old parent rather than a 20-something with no kids. But it’s impact is no less. If anything, it’s grown. The story of the poem is simple: Hayden isContinueContinue reading “Those Winter Sundays—Robert Hayden”
Category Archives: Free verse
Process
Someone, (whose name escapes me) said, “All writing is re-writing.” This is the most succinct summary of the writing process I’ve ever heard. And, it is sooo true. Recently, I read Dylan Thomas’s Collected Poems. One of the poems was unfinished at the time of Thomas’s death. The editor included the most finished version ofContinueContinue reading “Process”
I Know the Moon
Writing doesn’t happen in a straight line, at least not in my experience. Some poems are like slipping on the ice; others like digging out of prison with a spoon. Most poems fall somewhere between these extremes. My first book, The Wind and the Shadows, has at least four poems of the “digging out ofContinueContinue reading “I Know the Moon”
“Anxiety” Published!
In a previous post, I shared that I’ve been submitting poems to journals and that one journal has agreed to publish one of my poems. I’m happy to say that my poem “Anxiety” has been published in this month’s edition of Better than Starbucks. “Anxiety” uses the image of a spider and its prey toContinueContinue reading ““Anxiety” Published!”
The Fence
The Fence is a poem I wrote in 2020. It’s about a fence (surprise, surprise) and the property behind it that I passed while walking to high school. It’s funny how mundane things imprint on our psyches. I can’t account for it except that it’s one way everything can point to ultimate meaning. Plato saidContinueContinue reading “The Fence”
A Wandering Minstrel 