In a previous post, I mentioned my poem “The Vineyard” would appear in Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, Issue Seven. Friday, May 6, was the publication date! Please check out this issue. I got a sneak peak and found several excellent poems. I look forward to reading others. Of those I read so far, myContinueContinue reading “The Vineyard Published!”
Category Archives: Modern poetry
Frames of Dust
Feelings are like precious metals mingled and trapped in rocks. They’re not always valuable in their raw form. They must be processed and refined to become something beautiful. Writing poems has provided many writers a way to process and refine emotions. My own poems reflect all sorts of states: worship, whimsy, rage, rapture…poems are passionContinueContinue reading “Frames of Dust”
A Delicious Concentrate
Sometimes, I read a poem that is everything I want a poem to be. The poem below, by Philip Larkin, is just such a poem: An April Sunday brings the snow, Making the blossom on the plum trees green, Not white. An hour or two, and it will go. Strange that I spend that hourContinueContinue reading “A Delicious Concentrate”
The Difference Is the t
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”
Richard Cory
Sometimes, a thing crashes through the skull and lodges in the brain with such force it becomes a lifelong interest. Other interests are like a person you see regularly out of circumstance until, one day, you realize you love them. While I was aware of poetry through school or family for many years, there wasContinueContinue reading “Richard Cory”
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”
A Wandering Minstrel 