Theater 150‘s “Sneak Peek Writers’ Showcase” brought to light an outstanding lineup of students in Deb Norton‘s prose and play-writing classes earlier this month. As a poetry teacher in their fall lineup of arts classes, I also read a couple of poems. The following poem received an honorable mention in the 2008 Rattle Poetry Prize, …
“Road Sign on Interstate 5,” which received an honorable mention in the Rattle poetry prize and first appeared in Rattle #30, is now available on the Rattle website both as text and as an audio recording of me reading the poem. The simplified tale of this poem’s creation is that I wrote it almost entirely …
“Road Sign on Interstate 5” Now Available Online Read More »
Martha Sprackland, editor of Cake, took a critical eye to my collection Human Shade in the latest review for Sabotage. She made deeply insightful observations, the likes of which could only have come from reading closely and thinking carefully about the work. For this, I am honoured. And because this collection is so achingly personal, …
The Silence Teacher Seeing friends for the first time after his death tested the silence a room could hold. The rest was a kindness like holding our breath. My wife’s oldest friend offers her best brave smile, tells us about the first time her daughter, in new hearing aids, passed a nest. Pitched as high …
Normally, as the weeks roll by, I get up early to write, read in the evenings after work, and collect the occasional acceptance or rejection slip from the mailbox. By contrast, this week felt like the equivalent of some kind of poetry hyperdrive, including: Receiving two rejection slips on the same day. Being asked to …
