Welcome to post number 499 – whatever I write and post after this post will be number 500. 500 posts and I still struggle to write everyday. 500 posts, and I don’t think I’ve gotten all that much better at being succinct or interesting or disciplined in my writing. 500 posts and I still can’t…
Category: Writing
This Moment and the Next
He was a judge in Louisiana. For me as a reader, that one line comes loaded with assumptions. Absent additional context, I immediately thought white, older, perhaps a good ol boy, perhaps racist or I assume the story will have racial tensions and hints of southern gentility. I asked my friend Stacy to respond to…
Salvage
Where salvage sits beside prized… I had just re-read Robert Hass’ poem “Cuttings” and vaguely remembered something about it being a collection of lines and poems that didn’t make it into his finished poems – like film on the cutting room floor. Or perhaps it was flowers gathered together to make a bouquet… Or perhaps…
Inscription
I remember the drum line – a vibrant procession that led the guests in to the grand bank turned banquet hall. It was one of those stately Manhattan banks from a forgotten era of grandeur. As we entered, a row of waiters and waitresses greeted us with bellinis and caviar. The floor was marble, the…
Ticking Away…
Throwing stuff away, cleaning the table, deleting spam emails. This is me wanting to sit down and be productive (write) but putting it off. I’d love to say that it’s about trying to make space or clear out… but it feels more like it’s about tackling some easy things instead of the thing staring me…
Under Construction
It’s amazing how quickly the mind jumps from one thought to something only tangentially related to something else tangentially related to that. In the span of a few minutes, I went from thinking about the vast wasteland ruins of the internet to starting a literary journal in 1996 to my long-standing interest in building things…
A Brief Thaw
Last night I started on a short art project called kickstart your art. It’s a series of prompts and short videos intended to get you moving in the direction of creating art every day. My friend Stacy is doing it and suggested I join her. It’s a 10-day program consisting of 10 minutes a day….
Icing Over
Yesterday was President’s Day. The office was closed. It was overcast and cold, but uneventful. Following along on Twitter, the news out of Memphis, where I used to live, was all about the ice and snow that was crippling the city. They’re not set up for winter weather. I think the city has a total…
Starting Over (Maybe)
Today again I am hardly myself.It happens over and over. Mary Oliver “Reckless Poem” After my ramble about music and writing and memory, I spent a few minutes trying to capture with words the colors of snow at midnight – glowing against a cloudy purplish sky as if emitting its own pale light. In what…
More of the Same
It’s dark out. I can see the silhouette of a dog against the sliding back door light of the house behind mine. I can’t tell if the dog is waiting to be let in or waiting to be let out. My cat, Nick, is sitting on the floor a few feet away from me. His…
Warming Up
In an attempt to get back in to the habit of writing, if not everyday at least a few times a week, I’ve been rereading a number of old blog posts and some of the poems and vignettes I’ve written. I always feel a little odd turning to my own writing for inspiration. To be…