The Owner of the Red Wheelbarrow

Being a William Carlos Williams fan, this story was a natural for me. A scholar by the name of William Logan, a professor at the University of Florida, (with help from a local historian) did the research to find the identity of the man who owned the red wheelbarrow in...

The Joy of Postcards

I’m back in that mode again, a time of year when poetry gets right to the front of my daily consciousness. Some who know me would argue that it is that way anyway, but during the annual August Poetry Postcard Fest this becomes more pronounced. Walks, news...

Postcard Update, Independence

First an update on the 2015 August Poetry Postcard Fest. We have 70 signups in the first 44 hours and the first two groups are complete. Lists have been sent out to groups 1 & 2. Participants in the first two groups represent: Mobile AL, Tuscaloosa AL, Castlegar...

Poetry Postcard Fest (Year 9) Call

The August Poetry Postcard Fest was initiated in 2007 by poets Paul Nelson and Lana Ayers. 2015 marks year nine and this is your official call. Directions to participate in the fest are linked here.  This year poets will be organized in groups of 32 and the list will...

ATJ 65-68

I love this notion of pre-bedtime suggestions. I have been doing that the last few months, or more based on the latest poems to be posted here from the ongoing series After The Japanese.  I have been posting the poems in hunks of four the last few months and it...

50 Days til Postcards

I am starting to get emails about the August Poetry Postcard Fest. Questions like: 1) Is the fest on this year? (Yes). 2) Can you sign me up now? (No). 3) What are the main changes this year? (This year we’re charging for the first time. It’s a $10 dollar...

Top Ten Posts of 2014

I did this last year, a post of the top ten posts/pages of the year. I excluded American Sentences and all individual pages associated with that daily practice and also Organic Poetry and individual essays under that rubric. I’ve also included only two of the...

501. Hawthorne Presence

WooHoo! The last 2014 August Poetry Postcard! (See all here.) And with only 221 days until the next call goes out. Hawthorn Presence uses an image I took on my cellphone of the house Denise Levertov lived in, images of my visit with Charles Potts in Walla Walla and...

500. Passing Lane

Passing Lane is another 2014 August Postcard Poem, but this one reflects a life firmly back home after my visit to Mexico, firmly into the routine of taking walks in my Hillman City/Seward Park neighborhood, learning the names of local plants (which may not be local)...

499. Literary Bruxism

Driving the Redwood Highway is one of the most wonderful road trips I could ever imagine. Starting from Grants Pass, Oregon, stopping at Dutch Bros coffee to get an Irish Creme latté, you soon head southwest and go through stands of old growth Redwoods and along...

497. Levertov Butterfly Nation

Not too many postcard poems from 2014 left. (Whew!) This one features another Germán Montalvo image and is an homage to Denise Levertov. Long live the organic! (Well, until it decomposes.) A link to all 2014 August Postcard poems here.

496. The Occasional Chicharrón

496. The Occasional Chicharrón has more Congress and Puebla reflections, another reference to Vargas Lugo’s butterfly nation flags and the impending USAmerican football season, the advent of which signals the end of summer in many different ways. The intense violence...