WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

mosaics

April 13, 2009

Niki’s shop is open!

Niki's Etsy shop is up, and has several gorgeous things to choose from. Niki and I have been friends for more years than either of us probably want to recall; she has been steadfast through many difficult times for me. So I am delighted to see her 'go public' with her skills and talents. She… Continue reading

Art

mosaics, nikimosaic
November 20, 2007

Niki

Today I get to write, because Niki is going to the grocery store for me. Niki has been, steady and patient, in my life for twenty-eight years. She has outlasted my absences and withdrawals, my long silences and strenuous sulks. We’ve played together, at auctions and art shows; at second-hand stores and carnivals. We have… Continue reading

Family

friendship, mosaics, photo, photograph

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.

mosaics

Niki’s shop is open!

Niki