Last year, my wife gave me a volume of poems by Mary Oliver, who quickly became a favorite poet. While looking through her books on Amazon, I discovered she wrote a couple books about reading and writing poetry. I picked up A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. This book isContinueContinue reading “A Poetry Handbook—Mary Oliver”
Tag Archives: spring
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 makesContinueContinue reading “in Just”
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 knowsContinueContinue reading “April Come She Will”
Gratitude
It’s been in the 50s lately, and our snow is almost gone. Everything thawing reminded me of “Gratitude,” one of the poems in my recently released chapbook, The State of Mercury. Sometimes I don’t know why one thing makes me think of another. “Gratitude” depicts a thaw and change of seasons but I’m not totallyContinueContinue reading “Gratitude”
A Wandering Minstrel 