WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

mantaray

November 20, 2004

The Smile

the smiling stingray Originally uploaded by neb. We are warned to not impute human feelings and motivations onto other animals, and I think there is sense in this. Better to step back far enough to watch and learn from them who they are, on their own terms. Surely it is also sensible to not fear… Continue reading

Critters

image, mantaray, smile, stingray

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.

mantaray

The Smile