Category: Gist of Writing

A look at my writing process, poetry, and the process of self-publishing my books.

All Our Struggles Are Interesting

I was nine years old and a fourth-grade student when I wrote a short story in writing composition class about two astronauts going to a faraway planet. I don’t recall the story’s details very well, but I do recall it had a beginning, a middle, and an ending. In the beginning, my astronauts blast off … Continue reading All Our Struggles Are Interesting

Macroscopic Death, Poem 2023-0703

Tomorrow is our annual celebration of Independence Day in the USA. Independence means many things to all of us, and for many of us it means freedom. When I was in the Navy, my commanders and drill instructors taught me how to fight for freedom by defending the country I was born in. They taught … Continue reading Macroscopic Death, Poem 2023-0703

In Memory of My Mom, Poem 2023-0608

My mom died 18 years ago on Wednesday, June 8, after complications from surgery. She was 66. When she died, I wrote the following poem for her funeral. In Memory of My Mom In this lamentful family moment When heads of the living are slumped forward, Tears flowing, Tongues completing tender prayers — our final … Continue reading In Memory of My Mom, Poem 2023-0608

Siriasis, Poem 2023-0603

Below is a poem I wrote long ago when a days-long hot summer sun baked more than the land around us. You are full brazen, Your swollen tan lies crisp on sunbaked sand. You call attention to a distraction and her snug rounded smooth firm thighs But you take her breasts in hand instead. Seductive … Continue reading Siriasis, Poem 2023-0603

An Easter Passing, Poem 2023-0409

The light of a hot Sunday sun reflected off brick buildings and mirrored from a parkway where a hospital sits deep brown and yellow in its last degree fading like the old woman inside dying with a smile on her face happy to be leaving. But I with a burlesque smile am sad to watch … Continue reading An Easter Passing, Poem 2023-0409

Melted Ice, Poem 2023-0407

Night in the city has a strange sound The way roof ice speaks before it melts, Pools down, Rushes gutters, Raises the river’s rage below me. Melted ice flows over my boot tops, Down interwoven streets with city signs that claim they take us to Somewhere, Anywhere, Everywhere that is nowhere If you choose to … Continue reading Melted Ice, Poem 2023-0407

Watching Foxes, Poem 2023-0206)

This is an old post from February 2011. Words awoke me the other morning, repeating in my mind loudly, obtrusive. At 4:27, I snapped on my lamp and scribbled them down. Faces sharp Red coal eyes Gold afire Watching Waiting I tried to remember the dream that had birthed those words, but it had vanished. … Continue reading Watching Foxes, Poem 2023-0206)