Doing some editing work at the Mountlake Terrace library. Partly inspired by a poem by S. R. Mason… On this day when a lot of things don’t seem to count I went down the list and counted You have left eighty-eight pieces of yourself behind so far that I have picked up and collected in [...]
A mid-afternoon lunch at Third Place Commons this afternoon, followed by a little bit of time in Third Place Books… I am outside here on the other side from where I want to belong I do not knock but once at the entrance in that old ‘shave and a haircut’ pattern— minus the ‘two bits’ [...]
Sometimes signs appear in unexpected places… 1 Heavy rains and rising floodwaters near Echo Lake Three fresh crosses on the front lawn Three more on the façade of the church down the road 2 Easter this year is on April Fools’ Day Will we hear God laughing? Will we recognize it as laughter if we [...]
Back to not repeating words (at least, within the poem)… This suggestion of a disconnect doesn’t connect—or it does but not how you’d expect All things being equal I’d rather be anyone else with no stake in the outcome My natural inclination to hang back would then step aside and let me do what’s needed [...]
More time at Third Place Books… 1 The picture pretends a kiss happened It doesn’t know or care why What’s important are its obsessions with shadows and composition 2 I pretend the kiss never happened I know that it did because some nights I don’t sleep well trying to re-experience how it felt But I [...]
A rare sports metaphor from Kevin… We did everything else right but errors and bad calls sank the side half of the fans left early and concessions ran out of onions for the hot dogs We’ll never make it out of the basement As usual, spring training got off to a promising start— then things [...]
Spent some time this afternoon at Third Place Books… Bubblegum hot air balloons float among candyfloss clouds in a pale blue sky They pass over the marshmallow houses by the polka-dot park where dew drops glisten in the grass Ribbons in her hair dance freely in a warm summer breeze carrying the comforting smells of [...]
Written today at BookTree in Kirkland during a workshop about persona poems… I suppose I see why you might think that now— but if you’d been there when the earth died taking the crop with it if you’d been there when there was no place to go because the folks you were hoping would help [...]
Bleh.… A day spent contemplating the best representations of what it is has gone The word ‘already’ comes to mind but it’s such an obvious choice for a day spent avoiding obvious choices After all that time spent contemplating the best representations of what it is I did pretty much the same thing I usually [...]
Trying to write a poem in which no words repeat when I’m falling asleep resulted in this… 1 Fairy Tales, by Katja Kemnitz Without the white owl she is reaching for the sky to cast out the hopes and fears entangled like stray threads from her dress caught in the tall grasses and dead flora [...]
