Science rescued poetry for me. Verse had charmed me as a child. Dad often read kid-friendly poems aloud; I can still recite The Owl and the Pussycat and How Doth the Little Crocodile. Mom encouraged us to write haiku, limericks, and other forms as part of our homeschool education. My whole family loved Shel Silverstein’s … More Unconstrained By Form: Three Poets Who Studied Nature Through Verse
Red leaves, but no red cardinals. Blue sky, but no blue jays. “Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered packing my camera,” I grumbled to the autumn leaves overhead. Back in my hometown for a visit, I’d hoped to photograph favorite childhood birds, but some species seemed sparser than I remembered. New construction had further reduced their … More The Fate of the Animals: The Art of Habitat Conservation
As if writing and photography weren’t enough creative pursuits to consume a person, I also play music. Not terribly well, since I rarely have time to practice these days, but it’s still a strong frequency in my spirit. Thus when a music artist on Mastodon sought voice segments for a project, I responded. Recording a … More “After the Noise”: A Music/Poetry Collaboration
I rarely write poetry these days, but some experiences defy capture in any other form. Like last week, when I stumbled into a murder. Running along the river just after sunrise, swathed in the damp-earth smells of recent rain, the rhythm of my feet had lulled me into a meditative mind. A flash of black … More Poem: Rabbit. Raven. Runner
Where I come from, December 21 marks the winter solstice. Short, chilly days invite protracted, warm holiday meals. I always felt a twinge of guilt at gorging on holiday treats while, beyond the picture window of my family’s kitchen, birds scraped for seed in the frozen backyard. Here in the upside-Down-Under, that dynamic inverts: December … More Yeats at Yuletide: Belonging Among The Birds, Berries, and Bees
Wild Type 