Musings

Poem Caching

PoemCachePhotoOne of my favorite memories from childhood was when our Mom made a treasure hunt for our birthday party (my sister Kelly and I share the same birthday—born same day a year apart). I remember particularly getting to the end of it and finding one of those wild-haired troll dolls in the wellhouse. Continue reading “Poem Caching”

Musings, Poems

Everybody Needs Poetry

Aware of Birds Missing What the world needs is another book of poems, huh? Yeah, right. Actually, YES, RIGHT! What the world needs is people stepping out of their monkey-brains long enough to listen to poetry. It may surprise you with what it has to offer. And if you aren’t surprised, if you are a poet yourself, you know what you need to do? Read other people’s poetry. It will make you a better poet . . . and person. Continue reading “Everybody Needs Poetry”

Events, Musings, Poems

The Cruelest Month: Coming Attractions

wildindigoApril is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

–T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

What to think of April? Is it the cruelest month? The “idiot, babbling and strewing flowers” as Millay called it? The time when the “shours soote” bathe “every veyne in swich licour”  (the sweet showers bathe every plant vein in such liquid), as Chaucer spoke of? Well, it’s all of this and more with cummings’ goat-footed balloon-man whistling far and wee through the “puddle-wonderful” world. Continue reading “The Cruelest Month: Coming Attractions”

Poems

Holding Your Hand

KensHandsWe parked the truck and stepped out
Onto the road that used to be a highway
Of my childhood, winding through Mayes County
To the Grand River bluffs, where my mother
Said hobos made cave camps and where a train
Ran a solitary line amidst the blackjack
And sawbriar. I am holding your hand. Continue reading “Holding Your Hand”