WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

woodpecker

March 17, 2005

Whose House Is This?

On my morning walk, I noticed that the cottonwoods at the edge of the property have some freshly drilled holes. Are these someone’s house? Or just bug-finding holes? A beautiful downy woodpecker has been visiting my garden, for the suet and sunflower seed. Perhaps he is responsible for this? [click the photo for a larger… Continue reading

Critters

tree, woodpecker
December 12, 2004

Woodpecker

A slow morning. Nearly half-an-hour to get my body to move in my bed — this is not because of pain; it’s more like pushing against great weight. I notice that my fancy bruises are fading. A hot bath to warm the muscles and ease a spasm, then downstairs where I opened the shutters to… Continue reading

Critters, Noticed

woodpecker

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.

woodpecker

Whose House Is This?

Woodpecker