Glass That Melts

Glass That Melts

As I compare my debut collection of poetry, A Consecration of the Wind, to the manuscript for my second book Fragmented Roots, I realize that I have included images of glass and mirrors throughout my poems, which span five decades. In both collections, the glass...
What, No Smiley Face?

What, No Smiley Face?

In my junior year of college, I wore my favorite pair of hip-hugger bell bottoms—soft denim, salmon in color—with an orange sad face patch on the right back pocket. The patch was my protest not against the Vietnam War that raged at that time, but against optimism,...
A Dream for the Decades

A Dream for the Decades

My dream of publishing a book of poetry might have begun when I was a teenager, writing overly-religious poems until graduating from high school, but it began to take deeper roots in the late 70s and early 80s when I began to write poems I considered worthy of being...
Creative Writing Classes

Creative Writing Classes

While I wait for the paperback version of my debut collection of poems to be released, I have been having some fun promoting my poetry and poetry in general.  Last spring I was invited to speak to some students at the Montessori School in Front Royal.  Earlier this...
What a Poem and an Artichoke Have in Common

What a Poem and an Artichoke Have in Common

Interpreting poetry is analogous to exploring the layers of an artichoke blossom. My least favorite way to analyze a poem is to consider the elements of rhyme, meter, form, and sound devices (alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia), so let’s categorize...