A day of mourning for George HW Bush
It’s a new world order.
Read moreTag Archives: Poetry
In defense of Coyote
Perhaps the iconic trickster Coyote is a symbol for the frustrations of the smart person in a stupid world.
Read moreThe sacred rose and the guns of love
View larger image at 5280 Lens Mafia… William and Maud I am haunted by numberless islands… – WB Yeats Walking by the shore at dusk, air leaden with a faith in words.
Read moreIcarus (a small self-portrait)
Icarus (a small self-portrait) Dandelions think they’re bluebells. Moths believe they’re butterflies. No one told them, or they wouldn’t listen. What if I’m mistaken, begoggled, peddling DaVinci’s madman machine toward high noon?
Read morePoem for the Trump Inaugural: "The Turning"
These truths we hold to be self-evident… The Turning – Samhain 1991 1. In this dry land crickets fear to chirp for waste of moisture. Rattlers bleach their bones, listless in the summer scald. 2. I don’t want to say too much for fear of being misconstrued or maybe for fear of being understood all too clearly so here’s your
Read moreThe Butterfly Effect: revisiting an old poem
Old men are signal. Young men are noise. When I was a young writer I swung for the fence with every syllable. I felt like any word that didn’t crush you with profound implications for eternity was a wasted opportunity. I resented articles. I didn’t understand white space, breathing room, the need for silence between beats, and I had little time
Read moreAudre Lorde: S&R Honors an icon of artistic vision, diversity and self-awareness
Audre Lorde taught us that power begins with knowing and accepting ourselves. In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower. We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t. It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. The reading list for the contemporary poetry
Read morePhotography may have saved my life
One of the symptoms of depression is an addiction to rumination. The vicious cycle of negative thinking that strips us of energy and desire. It is precisely our obsession with working out what makes us unhappy that makes us unhappy. – Chris Corner You don’t walk away from something that was central to your very being for 35 years without
Read morePoet Laureate Mark Strand dead: reflecting on something he said
Former US Poet Laureate Mark Strand is dead at 80. In a 1998 interview with the Paris Review, poet Strand said something I find fascinating: Well, I think what happens at certain points in my poems is that language takes over, and I follow it. It just sounds right. And I trust the implication of what I’m saying, even though I’m
Read moreRIP Galway Kinnell
One of our greatest poets has died at 87. I had the privilege of seeing Kinnell read while I was at Iowa State in the late ’80s. He did some new things – things he’d been working on during the flight out, in fact – but this was the high point of the evening. Thank you, Galway. Sleep well.
Read moreSummer Solstice 2014
22 is my lucky number. 22 years ago I wrote this poem, one of my best ever (or at least the one that a lot of people seemed to like). It’s a Solstice poem, and today is Solstice. So here you go. Happy Solstice.
Read moreWedding Song – a poetry reading (ArtSunday)
Apocalyptic neo-Symbolism. With some tangential comment on the pedestrian state of contemporary poetry.
Read moreOld Ethan’s quantum diary: a reading
I do not want to die.
Read moreArt is like life: you never know which direction it will hit you from next
You have to have a plan, but happiness depends on how well you roll with the punches. The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley – Robert Burns No plan, however well conceived, survives contact with the enemy. – Military Adage Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. – Mike Tyson
Read moreNaPoWriMo 2014: the importance of influence
Our own poetic voices are the product of the voices of our heroes. Guess who mine are. Here in NaPoWriMo 2014, we’re encouraging everyone to write poetry every freakin’ day. As I said last week, write like nobody’s reading. In my case, I’m not doing new writing so much as I am reflecting on writing and thinking about the times
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lullaby pit 