WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

friend

August 3, 2008

Other People’s Children

I’ve never regretted my decision to not have children. I made that decision quite young, and possibly for the wrong reasons; but it was the right decision for me nonetheless. The problem is not some grief for an imaginary child, but rather, for real children. The problem with other people’s children is that they… Continue reading

Personal

childless, children, Family, friend, photo, photograph
July 30, 2004

Friendship

Some of you will have noticed a lack of substantive content here for the last week or so. I’ve had company, and now must recover from the subsequent (unregretted) fatigue. This visitor is a friend "from before" — before I was ill, the "I used to . . . " times: I used to be… Continue reading

Personal, Soul Food

friend, friendship

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.

friend

Other People’s Children

Friendship