Enhancing, Fudging, Protecting, Lying?

One of the big issues in writing autobiographical poetry is that, as a poet, I can rarely write only about myself. To write about and from my reality, I am inevitably writing about other people. And sometimes what I am saying about them is harsh, strong, and revealing. So, as a writer and as a [...]

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A poem has two subjects

from Richard Hugo, Triggering Town a poem has two subjects: a triggering subject that gets it going and a generated subject that the poem discovers along the way. The first subject is finally just a way of accessing the poem’s true subject. The first subject is the map, the second the treasure. Billy Collins adds: [...]

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New work up – Psalms and Piyyutim

I’m starting to upload a new section of work – more psalms about assorted subjects from my daily life, and piyyutim, or prayer poems. The latter are, so far, a genre I’m calling “collages,” poems created by weaving together words from many different poets to create one piece that is a kind of dialogue about [...]

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not the fundamental I but the deep you

from “Proverbs and Songs” Dedicated to Jose Ortega y Gasset Antonio Machado IV But look in your mirror for the other one, the other one who walks by your side. V Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it. XV Look for your other half who walks always next to you and [...]

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