WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

Poets

August 4, 2004

The Nothing

A very special gift today, from WhiskeyRiver. Continue reading

Poets
May 17, 2004

Collaborative Poem Dancing

On Thursday, I posted this small poem both here and on the PoetryEtc Listserve: at the altar an old woman counting breaths Now look at what the PoetryEtc poets did with it! at the altar an old woman counting breaths inspiration, expiration – one purl, one plain one pearl, one pain one… Continue reading

Poem Dancing, Poems, poetry, Poets

collaborative, Poem Dancing, Poems, poetry
May 7, 2004

Questions

I consciously decided to not write about politics on this weblog; there are so many who can think and write about it better than I. I know, I read them. But I find it more and more difficult to think about anything but the war, and to write about anything at all. In some ways… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Poems, poetry, Poets

Abu Ghraib, evil, poetry, terrorism
April 30, 2004

The Next Story

Today is and also and also FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING DAY So I have chosen a favorite poem by a favorite poet and a favorite teacher, Pattiann Rogers; in which a cat makes a brief, but critical, appearance: Continue reading

Friday Cat Blogging 1, Memes, Poems, poetry, Poets

blog, poem, poet
April 20, 2004

Playing With Shape

I know that concrete poetry is out of fashion, but I think that sometimes a poem demands to be shaped in this way. Now and then I find some I really like. Here are two, the first by Jon Corelis and the second by Anny Ballardini (posted here with their permission): Continue reading

Poems, Poets

concrete poem, poem, 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.

Poets

The Nothing

Collaborative Poem Dancing

Questions

The Next Story

Playing With Shape