Tag: writing
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Lydia
She pried open the shells all day.Or cracked them with a hammerextracting the purple veinalong the hinge of the shell.They were hard to open.She broke the handle on her little knife.She left the worm inside to dieor gave it to the poor to eat.Then wiped the white-washed walland left a purple hand. Featured Download: If…
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A Preliminary for the Identification and Classification of
Tyrian purple [ancient Greek πορφύρα, Latin porphúra] from a species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, originally known as Murex. In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labor. The main chemical is 6,6’ –dibromoindigo. One of Paul’s first converts in Asia— a certain woman named Lydia,…
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Catalogue
It was a long time ago on a farm. The cows horse pigs chickens. The pond cellar farmhouse barn sheds hay-wagon fenced-fields a definition of function. On the table a fork butter-knife coal-bucket by the stove pump- handle. The dirt road is the oldest part of memory. Wild animals roamed at night. Hyena aardvark wart-hog…
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Ten to Sven
It’s not quite 9:00am, and Stacy and John have been arguing back and forth for the last half hour, and the exchange has drawn a crowd. Ashley, Bob, and Gunther from IT watch, as Claudia, Deshaun, Smirha, and Greg rubberneck from sales. No one from HR is there. That’s what Ron and Glenda are doing.…
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Five out of Five
So, way back when I was in the second grade, they started these commercials on TV during Saturday morning cartoons when kids all over America ruled the TV dial, as you might recall. And this quip came up: “Four out of five dentists recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum” as if most…
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My Hooker Poem
My Hooker poem is from my poetry podcast. I’m reading first from my book Inconveniences, Rightly Considered — a collection of poems I wrote between 2005 and 2017. Featured Download: For a quick tutorial on how to write your own poetry, click here.
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The Speed of Sound in Water Poem
The Speed of Sound in Water poem is from my poetry podcast. I’m reading first from my book Inconveniences, Rightly Considered — a collection of poems I wrote between 2005 and 2017. Featured Download: For a quick tutorial on how to write your own poetry, click here.
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Home — from 58 poems written at 29
You yanked up years of dreaming When they pulled the plug out. Powerful longings — How they flounder in flame. But fleeting are the ways Friction frees us: it frames our pains But tames truth — is the time we spend Bitter a better base for erecting Tomorrow’s morning? Minds fashioned After the evening will ever…
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The Ballad of the Morning of the Writer
with deference to Stephen Pressfield Before she opened eyes, she heard Alarms — her shouting clock. She’d set it for her pre-dawn words. Her dry-mouth-taste: a sock? The children soon would rise from bunks And writing time would end But blank pages await. Tales trunked— They whispered, “Sleep again.” Children took out the pep from her…
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Any Money Makes a Professional Writer
Chapter seven in a series on Book and Art Business 101 wherein I show how the solid logic of art business sold me on self-publishing. If you’re too busy for the whole series, download your copy of my Cheat Sheet for Book and Art Business 101. People will tell you don’t quit your day job. Other people say do what…
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Writers Retreat and Going Off-Grid
Last week, I took a midweek writers retreat up to Salem, Massachusetts (of witchhunt fame) by way of Boston bus and train. The retreat was organized by those who organized the Writer Unboxed Uncon (the writing conference I won the scholarship to last year). It was informal and available to everyone who went to the conference, so…
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The Thing About Growing Old… • from 54 poems at 27
four gloves I’ve lost in New York City I missed their warm enclosures. One I received in tandem with thirteen three-piece suits my sister-in-law gave it — all she had to give — Though warmest, I lost it on the wettest December night walking to the train new guitar in tow in the New York…