How I Learned to Write Poetry at The Lake I'm very proud to announce that a new poem of mine has just been published at The Lake. My thanks to John Murphy for accepting my work. How I Learned to Write Poetry starts like this: Little boy in a yellow rain coatand galoshes squatting in the…

Pumpkin Pickins I Through the weeds the pumpkins pop like a stoplight cautioning us because Grandma hasn't given the green light to go into the garden II Musty leaves dry at the bottom of the pile where their fellows rise like the harvest moon into the smoke dancing with the swirling wind like…

Fraiku for the Deer who steals seeds from birds and squirrels Calm as an autumn lake while I yell my fool head off from a window

The Nature of Nurture at Whispers and Echoes I'm proud to announce that my poem The Nature of Nurture has been published over at Whispers and Echoes. Thanks, Sammi! The Nature of Nurture is a Kwansaba, first written over ten years ago. I'd never heard of this form before but wanted to give it a…

Autumnal Equinox 2025 Egg balanced on railroad tracks white as a late summer cloud delicate as democracy An iron train rumbles in like a storm soon to obliterate the inner sun rusted leaves swirling litter behind A lumpy swamp-colored walnut crashes to the ground just inches ahead of me as if…

Fraiku: Twilight in the ER After a long sweet summer afternoon the blood red sun falls hard on the horizon but then the stars come out

Leave me the night at Whispers and Echoes I'm proud to announce that one of my old previously unpublished poems has been posted to Whispers and Echoes. Thank you, Sammi! The first version of Leave me the night was written as part of my 2012 April Poem-a-Day Challenge, before I'd even established…

I’ll Never Finish My Autobiography at MasticadoresUSA I am pleased to announce that one of my newer poems, I'll Never Finish My Autobiography has just been posted at MasticadoresUSA. Thank you, Barbara! It starts: Keep your notebook and penat hand just in case you fall. Remember that commercial…

Fraiku: Donate Every eight weeks I conjure blood from wine one pint at a time Tomorrow morning, I'll be making my bimonthly donation at the American Red Cross. If you've received a transfusion of A+ blood and felt a little tipsy afterwards, blame me.

Table for One, Please Glass of red wine in one hand and a purple pen in the other. If I had antennae, they'd be quivering. The booth to my right wraps around two men, complaining about the wives they fear to lose. The booth to my left guards female travelers with inscrutable accents planning…

Fraiku: The Simpsons Savor your wine, Marge, thirty-six cromulent years has been long enough Inspired by Sammi's Weekend Writing Prompt, though I just wrote a haiku instead of a 45 word poem, and The Simpsons' season 8 episode "You Only Move Twice".

Just Like Writing Poetry Spent all morning washing the clothes, birds on the wing in the bright blue, I smiled back at the sun in his sky. But as soon as I hang the wash on the line the gulls and clouds fly in from the shore. Seems like whenever I get close to being done the rain revises. (A…

Fraiku: Waxing Crescent You are the crescent moon smiling in my twilight sky Written for this week's Living Poetry Prompt. Check out all the links to the poems written for this one. I've been offering these for eight years or so and never read such high quality poetry written for one of my prompts.

If you want to get on my good side Don't bring me chocolate milky smooth and rich to coat my tongue Don't bring me ice cream with a frosty spoon in a strawberry sundae Don't bring me a pie whose crust crumbles over blueberried fingers Bring me potato chips salt and vinegar laced with caramel…

Fraiku: Femme Fatale Me an asthmatic teetotaller Then I met you Now I love the taste of ashtrays (Image stolen from Sogni e poesie di una donna qualunque.)

Hope I’m only an Imagist I am delighted to report that two of my poems have been published today. Hope posted to the revived Whispers and Echoes. Thanks, Sammi! I adapted the first line, A little bird slammed into my window, mistaking it for the sky, as a Fraiku earlier this year. And I'm only an…

Fraiku: Vacation’s End Two weeks of real life then back to the job retirement just a dream

Sycophancy a Plus Consider this official notice that I'm firing the head WordPress statistician for BLATANTLY under reporting my views last month just because he doesn't understand my AWESOME poetry. If you'd like to lead that department, apply in the comments below. Tell me how you'd make sure I…

Where’s the Remote? Guess I fell asleep on the couch and sleptwalked my way back to bed without recording any memories. Knifing my hands between cushions I find crumpled paper napkins, nacho cheese Doritos and a penny, which makes me wonder how Lincoln would handle our situation, not that he ever…

Please Touch the Art Last week I visited the Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center in Hampton, Virginia, to see the Please Touch the Art exhibit by Sally Barker. It wasn't the first time I'd seen these works since the artist is my mother. Around the turn of the century, my mom had the brilliant…

Fraiku: Sturgeon Moon Rise yellow lantern light this sultry August night make sundials work late

What I Learned about Politics on the Ferry to Cape May We're past the breakers. The sea swells and rolls like my innocent belly during this grey crossing. I enter the ferry lounge, hoping for a quiet place to sit and shut out the wavering world. But my best efforts to calm myself do nothing to the…

The Day Is Done I squint because my pupils are dark as ripe walnuts on this midnight mission to the kitchen as the harsh light of the fridge bulb floods the tile floor. Rummage past the carrots, apples and leftover Chinese which I save for the cold light of day. I open the freezer looking for the…

Fraiku: Vacation The best part is Friday afternoon logging off (for this week's Living Poetry Prompt)

Fraiku: Hope I've just been waiting for life to get dark enough that the stars come out

Summer Thunder The fireflies are hiding as the storm raves in. Momma gathers us into the house like church mice and hushes us down so God can do His work. No TV. No Radio. No chattering while the rain pelts loud on the old tin roof. And I peep through drawn shades to glimpse the lightning. (A…

Fraiku: Relinquish Belief Like a cockroach in your coffee Republican corruption is fully steeped Pour it out and start a new pot (for this week's Monday Poetry Prompt)

Rotary and Dissent I am very proud to announce that my poem, Then I Watched a World Forget, received a commendation in the Rotary Poet of the Year 2025 competition. (My entry appears on page 8 of the embedded PDF.) I've been a member of Rotary for about eight years and both my parents are past…

Fraiku: Me without Poetry Cardinal without head feathers face like a chicken nugget shriveled from days under the sun (Not my photo but I do have a bald cardinal who visits my backyard regularly. Poor thing.)

Thoughtful Gifts Reed Infuser Inauguration Just wanted to make sure my dear readers are aware that my poem, Inauguration, was posted on the Chaos Section Poetry Project website yesterday as part of their promotion of the Record of Dissent anthology. Also one of my poems, Thoughtful Gifts, is being…

Fraiku: Independence Because we didn't want to be subject to the whims of a tyrant (Apparently after 250 years, we've changed our mind.)

The Six Circles of Summer In the first circle mosquitoes suck the joy out of twilight In the second circle poison ivy wraps around our bare ankles In the third circle leaves wither on branches no shade from the sun In the fourth circle sweat boils off skin and we breathe steam In the fifth circle…

Fraiku: Spectaphile I wish she'd just wear her glasses though I'll gladly catch her when she falls

Thinking about War They keep it cold in the skyscrapers so the old men can wear their suit jackets. I escape into the real and heat seeps into my skin revealed by rolling up sleeves and relax in untamed air. But delicious thaw turns to onerous melt as I sweat out the greed and search for shade…

Fraiku: Summer Solstice Let's turn up the heat under the moneyed elites and march in the streets Happy June Solstice! (Sorry about the rhymes.)

Record of Dissent Published I am very proud to announce that The Chaos Section Poetry Project's anthology, Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025, has been published and it includes three of my political poems. I also have the honor of being the first poem in the…

Fraiku: No Kings sigh After two hundred fifty years, we have to do it all again. (Find an event near you)

Support the Troops Will you thank them for their service when they gun down your neighbors for marching in the streets? Will you salute our soldiers, as they kick down your door in search of undesirables? Will you praise their sacrifice as they patrol the barbwire borders of the concentration camp…

Fraiku: Political Science Red pickup trucks run us down a wake of buzzards pick over our corpse even though we're not dead yet Discovered today that the collective noun for buzzards, specifically feeding buzzards, is a wake. I propose we also use that term for billionaires. For example, "The wake…

Dandelion Bouquet Picking the brightest flowers in the yard to present to my mother golden butter petals stems green as honey dew conquering the grass thrusting through pavement I offer the bouquet as a trophy to mom received with grace placed in a vase then discarded after I departed (This was…

Fraiku: Resistance Don’t wait for the cavalry You’re already on your horse Go rescue someone

Trusting Humans A grey explosion in my backyard as scared squirrels skitter away and fat mourning doves lumber up into the warming sky. I shake the plastic cup of seeds like a blue baby rattle, hoping to get them used to, maybe even anticipate, my morning feedings. But they've learned not to trust…

Fraiku: Poetry on Demand Just pen, paper and a word, like writing on a tightrope, instant feedback, no net. I spent the afternoon writing poetry on demand at the Grace Hartigan exhibit in the North Carolina Museum of Art. We wrote 25 poems over three hours. I did eleven of them, mostly because I…

Fenrir is Coming I think I remember seeing my breath as a kid but maybe that's just a story my parents told— like their claim I once tasted snow. The Arctic ocean mirrors the azure sky— I stand on the rail of a slow cruise ship in summer, sunny all day and all night. No more ice caps. No more…

Fraiku: Nightingale and Wolf Under the midnight moon two voices in the wilderness serenading the night

Soaring I tell my friends, I let you go, but we both know I had no choice. And now I see you soaring, silhouetted, barely recognizable even with binoculars. The solid earth must seem so pedestrian, so predictable, to someone who makes love with the wind. You could fail and fall and still have time…

Fraiku: Mother Love Like a fleece blanket warmed by the fireplace sleep easy child

Voices Unbound: An International Poetry Anthology I am very pleased to announce that one of my poems has been included in the just published anthology, Voices Unbound. Through that link you can buy a paperback edition and preview an electronic version. My poem is called Coming Undone. I wrote it a…

The Forests of Alderaan I preferred the autumns of my childhood. Spring blossoms were too poofy and bright like the ceremonial gowns I was made to wear. My favorite jewels were the flat stones I would skip across the water. My best friends, the humming moss growing on the palace wall. But I will…

Fraiku: Roadtrip I mourn the bugs I didn't have to wipe off my windshield   (Bugs Matter survey shows ongoing decline in UK flying insects.)