WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

bird

August 17, 2004

Magpies

There was a tiding of magpies in the park this morning; young ones, I think. One caught my eye, then flew directly at me and rolled in the air about six inches from my face, showing me its lovely belly. I did not flinch, wince, cringe . . . (Digression: flinch, wince, cringe — aren’t… Continue reading

Critters, Noticed

bird, magpie
June 6, 2004

Raven

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Concrete, Poems

bird, Concrete, poem, poetry, raven

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.

bird

Magpies

Raven