As a Christian, Jesus is a very real presence in my life and writing. Spirituality isn’t the only subject I write about, but it is the backdrop for everything I think or pen. Christians believe every person born has good and evil hopelessly combined within. It is like a cup of water that someone hasContinueContinue reading “The Difference Is the t”
Category Archives: Free verse
Valentine’s Day 2017
This May, I will have been married 23 years. Over the years, I’ve written a number of poems for my wife. (Can you really be a poet without a few love poems lurking about? LOL). When my wife and I were married, we chose to use the traditional vows. While these might seem hackneyed toContinueContinue reading “Valentine’s Day 2017”
Wildfires
The past 20 years, horrific wildfires seem to have become the rule rather than the exception in the United States. My home state of Washington has lost hundreds of thousands of acres to fires. I live in a valley. During fire season, smoke often floods our valley and is gets trapped by our surrounding hills.ContinueContinue reading “Wildfires”
For Sale
Robert Lowell (1917-1977) is a poet I became acquainted with by accident. I was trying to find a hymn I thought was by Robert Lowell—“The Angel’s Song”—only to realize later it was by Robert Lowry. Lowry is famous for hymns like, ”Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.” Lowell, as I came to learn, was aContinueContinue reading “For Sale”
Those Winter Sundays—Robert Hayden
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”
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 