WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

ethics

July 22, 2026

Looking Away

. . . that story does not make sense. Babies can “report their experience” and they do. They do so loudly. Persuasively. The “medical establishment” apparently managed to ignore the screams. How? Were there no women in the room? No parents? Continue reading

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Consciousness, Digital Collage, ethics, Science, Thinking, Unpopular Opinions

artificial-intelligence, consciousness, digital collage, ethics
May 4, 2007

No Integrity for Some Bloggers

The money is tempting, for sure, but is it good blogging to get paid to review something? http://www.reviewme.com It’s particularly disappointing to see such high-traffic sites listed there as member blogs. Continue reading

ethics

Blogging, ethics
February 6, 2005

Late Night Thinking

I look and look for my notes on a lecture (years ago) by Pattiann Rogers; then realize that even if I find them, there is no certainty that my notes accurately reflect what she said. What I remember is: Science is the new religion. It is what we believe in, even when we do not… Continue reading

poetry, religion, Science, Spirit

ethics, myth, poetry, religion, Science, Spirit

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.

ethics

Looking Away

No Integrity for Some Bloggers

Late Night Thinking