Category Archives: poetry

My Two Husbands

I finished reading Second Nature by Michael Pollan last night and I will miss it. In fact, I’ll probably keep it by my bed for late-night reading in the winter. It’s a tour de force of thinking about Americans and … Continue reading

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Fieldstone

A recent visitor from the UK asked if this part of the country was “the prairie” and if there were any very large farms around. She had heard of these corn and wheat farms that stretched from horizon to horizon … Continue reading

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The Habits Broadside Project

OK, so it turns out we weren’t exactly north of the storm… In the end, we got 10 inches of heavy snow over 30 hours. This morning, the sand hill cranes were very quiet, delaying their mating rituals until the … Continue reading

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Park Slope

Here is a draft of a new poem. Often I start with a concept or a line. I was thinking about my bedroom, which has a very large desk in it. I never end up using that desk, however, because … Continue reading

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The Women

My last semester of college, in 1986, I took a course on American women poets that had a profound effect on me– as a writer and as a reader. The few poets I’d been introduced to by the more traditional … Continue reading

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The Sadness of Poetry

At the poetry retreat last weekend in Texas, there were many fine moments. The 10 people who gathered for a weekend of reading and writing brought full hearts and were ready to dig deep, to play, to listen and respond with generosity. … Continue reading

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Poetry

Since finishing Habits, I’ve been trying to get back to writing poetry. I’m facilitating a poetry workshop this weekend in Texas, and although the prospect was at first very anxiety-producing, as I’ve prepared, I’ve gotten more excited about it. Trying to figure … Continue reading

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The Ice Man

Today I have two poems to offer, one my own, but deeply indebted to Wallace Stevens’ poem, “The Snow Man.” Really, that poem could be about the ice fishermen who sit, always alone, on the small ponds and lakes around … Continue reading

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Self-Publishing part 2, the publicity edition

Today is a big day at my house. My book, Habits, a collection of 100-word stories about nuns, is receiving major publicity this weekend. The article written by Frank Lee for the  St. Cloud Times that appeared last weekend was picked … Continue reading

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Searching for Sugar Man and finding Jim Croce

Probably one of the most important early music memories I have is of Jim Croce’s death. In 1973, just as his career was taking off, he died in a plane crash in Louisiana. I was nine years old, and my father … Continue reading

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