WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

summer

June 21, 2026

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice, Sitka, 1993 This day bloomsunder wide meadowsof sky. We layour sun-stunned bodiesin constellationsof clover and buttercups. Salmonberry bubblesof sweet red lightbreak on our tongues.Shooting starsin the flowerbeds,pollen in our sheets. Continue reading

Digital Collage, Poems, summer

digital collage, poem, solstice, summer
July 2, 2004

Summer SolsticeSitka 1993

This day blooms under wide meadows of sky. We lay our sun-stunned bodies in constellations of clover and buttercups. Salmonberry bubbles of sweet red light break on our tongues. Shooting stars in the flowerbeds, pollen in our sheets. For an audio post of this poem, go here. Continue reading

Poems

poem, poetry, solstice, summer
April 11, 2004

june 6, the last spring,first summer day this year

the river has stopped rising trees are in it up to their hips there are no islands anywhere only birch and aspen swaying in water their hair a shimmer of green and yellow… Continue reading

Poems

birthday, poem, poetry, summer

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.

summer

Summer Solstice

Summer SolsticeSitka 1993

june 6, the last spring,first summer day this year