WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

Personal

August 14, 2026

IT COULD BE WORSE

We have encountered a bit of an obstacle, the kind that line up on the road of aging. And as we often do on that road, we keep going, though perhaps not as quickly nor as gymnastically as we did on the younger roads. Continue reading

Aging, Digital Collage, illness, Personal

aging, illness, managing illness
August 8, 2026

Caturday | Cousin Sue & Little Bibs

Today is Sue’s memorial, and I am not there in body, but I and her many many cats and dogs and horses are there in spirit. Continue reading

Aging, Cats, Caturday, Digital Collage, Family, Memory, Personal, Photograph

Caturday
August 7, 2026

Our Anniversary !!!!!!

Today was our sixth wedding anniversary. We spent the morning, into the afternoon, in the emergency room. Continue reading

Aging, Digital Collage, Domestic, Family, Memory, Pandemic, Personal

digital collage, elope, pandemic, wedding announcement
August 2, 2026

Caturday, in memory of Sue Pinkerton

My cousin Sue died last month. We were children together, a shared becoming. Her death is a shock to me, even though we both approach the reasonable time. Continue reading

Aging, Cats, Caturday, Digital Collage, Family, Memory, Personal, Photograph

cat, death, loss
July 27, 2026

Ordination

I dream: Three monks are to be ordained. Continue reading

dreams, Personal, poetry

dream, Poetry

Ancestral (Artificial )Intelligence

I do not use AI to write. For me, writing is how I think, and I prefer to do it myself. If/when I post anything here that I suspect or know to be AI generated, I will tell you.

I have changed this from Artificial to Ancestral, after Abi Awomosu @ Substack. This medium was made with human history, human thought. All of it, bright and dark. It is ancestral.

Poems

Please do not assume that I am the speaker/ subject of my poems.

In these times of creative nonfiction and fictionalized memoirs, I think of the poem itself as true fiction: it is most likely not factual, but it must be true.

It is likely to be — it is best if it is — a truth I did not know before I wrote, and may not understand even then.

A poem is my way of discovering (dis-covering) what I feel; sometimes, what I think — but it is not necessarily biographical.

Personal

IT COULD BE WORSE

Caturday | Cousin Sue & Little Bibs

Our Anniversary !!!!!!

Caturday, in memory of Sue Pinkerton

Ordination