WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

Snapshot Poem

September 3, 2026

snapshot poem 02 september 02026

the letters after your name are irrelevant your documents are incomplete the street signs disagree with one another Continue reading

Poems, Snapshot Poem

poem, Snapshot Poem
July 22, 2026

Snapshot Poem 22 July 02026

. . . Day after night after day deadly heat. We suffer our own detritus. It beads up on our skin. . . . Continue reading

Climate, Poems, Snapshot Poem

climate, heat waves, poem, Snapshot Poem
July 19, 2026

Snapshot Poem 19 July 02026

Snapshot Poem 19 July 02026 | we grow old / we shrink / we diminish / Continue reading

Aging, Poems, Snapshot Poem

aging, elderly, poem, Snapshot Poem
July 1, 2026

snapshot poem 01 july 02026

i slept through strawberry moon / the roses have let go / the garden is buried in petals Continue reading

Poems, small poems, Snapshot Poem

poem, small poem, Snapshot Poem
June 17, 2026

Snapshot Poem 17 June 02026

Another restless night. Persevere is a virtuous word. Perseveration is not. Grief is a stone in the gut. It does not rest. ~sb Continue reading

Poems, Snapshot Poem

poem, Snapshot Poem

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.

Snapshot Poem

snapshot poem 02 september 02026

Snapshot Poem 22 July 02026

Snapshot Poem 19 July 02026

snapshot poem 01 july 02026

Snapshot Poem 17 June 02026