WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

Photos 2005

November 27, 2005

Reading for a Cold Afternoon

A review of Erin Noteboom’s Seal up the Thunder, at prairiefire. Not as good as reading the book, which is a marvelous gift, but still: Petition, dramatic monologue, Psalm, sonnet, call and response, riddle, gloss, free verse, and benediction–Erin Noteboom plunders biblical and modern lyrical styles for this original, joyous book. By turns mournful, oracular,… Continue reading

Noticed, Photos 2005, Poets

dandelion, frost, photograph
November 23, 2005

Snapshot 23 November 02005

Night Fog As the air becomes visible all that we think of as real blurs and fades, recedes into greyness. There is only this moment, one step in any direction. Frost delicate and cold on every branch and leaf — deathly ornament. Morning brings a thin and stingy snowsifting the fog away. Three crows fly… Continue reading

Photos 2005, Snapshot Poems 2005

dandelion, fog, frost, photograph, poem, poetry
November 20, 2005

Foggy Sunday

It’s an odd and foggy day, both inside and out. I’ve been sleeping restlessly, so doubled my nighttime meds last night, and woke at 1:00 this afternoon. In retrospect, not a good idea. Sometimes my dogs are too patient. We have been held in this grey fist for two days now. Local airports are closed,… Continue reading

Noticed, Photos 2005

fog, photograph
November 14, 2005

Horoscope [old poem]

The full moon rolls in the southern sky; it is time to practice your craft. You will wander through ruins, your hair unkempt, your face a long sea voyage. Cut down to the ground the bleeding heart; let roses go to hips. October will kindle the vines. Colchicum will open its lavender mouth. Continue reading

Photos 2005, Poems

photograph, poem
November 12, 2005

Weekend Reading

Today’s featured image at New West Go welcome Small Bow! God Interview Number Fifteen – an inner world tour Gleaning – one perfect moment "Does the self really exist?" – Whiskey River explores this in a series of posts Somehow, during my partial absence from the web, I missed the inauguration of the Carnival of… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Noticed, Photos 2005, Weblogs

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.

Photos 2005

Reading for a Cold Afternoon

Snapshot 23 November 02005

Foggy Sunday

Horoscope [old poem]

Weekend Reading