Wish List I want to meet a blue parakeet that reads the future pulling Tarot cards with one delicate outstretched foot, the hanged man uncovered. I want to own a Corvette, a 1960 red and white convertible hardtop and drive around town with my dog Bud. I want to write love poems as if world […]
Category Archives: General
The Bigness of Small Poems – # 28 in a Series – The Delicacy and Ferocity of Franz Wright
April 1, 2017 – 11:33 pm
I’m trembling with fear. Just as well that what I’m about to write is already somehow written within me. What I have to do is copy myself out with the delicacy of a white butterfly. Clarice Lispector from The Hour of the Star, New Directions, 2011 I am addicted to great quotes on writing, especially […]
A Few Spaces left – 10 day Poetry Retreat in Umbria, Italy – June 23rd to July 3rd
February 26, 2017 – 3:35 pm
I am so happy to announce that the desired minimum number of registrants for this retreat has been reached! The retreat is now an official GO! I am looking forward to going back to La Romita School of Art for a second time to adventure into the heart of Umbria and to turn these adventures […]
Singing in Dark Times – #1 in a Series – Bertolt Brecht and Warsan Shire
February 4, 2017 – 7:49 pm
Epigraph from Motto In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing About the dark times. Bertolt Brecht: Poems 1913-1956, edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim, Eyre Methuen, 1976 Potent words. Words, I see quoted a lot these days. So, a danger of over use. But considering that Brecht […]
Announcing a 10 Day Retreat in Umbria, Italy – June 23rd to July 3rd, 2017
January 6, 2017 – 6:13 pm
Recovering Words Writing Retreats with Richard Osler The focus of these retreats is to create the opportunity for participants to create substantial new poems through comprehensive writing adventures (assignments) UPCOMING RETREAT 2017 La Romita School of Art Terni, Umbria, Italy 10 Days June 23rd to July 3rd, 2017 To Discover a Wider Eye Oh, the […]
Gone So Quietly, Unexpectedly – But Listen! Her Poems Still Sing! Brigit Pegeen Kelly (1951-2016)
October 24, 2016 – 12:19 pm
The Leaving My father said I could not do it, but all night I picked the peaches. The orchard was still, the canals ran steadily. I was a girl then, my chest its own walled garden. How many ladders to gather an orchard? I had only one and a long patience with lit hands and […]
The Bigness of Small Poems – #20 in a Series – Hyaena Season Launches!
September 29, 2016 – 2:19 pm
Cherish This World The daughter, for a time, who wouldn’t talk or look at him, that daughter, tells of her days and nights on Mandarte Island, barely more than a rock in the Salish Sea. He touches his tongue to the sound Man-dart-eh makes in the mouth. Says it again and again. Something cracks open […]
A Poet/Saint! Happy 88th Birthday to Jean Vanier on Sept. 10th
September 9, 2016 – 8:48 pm
I grieve to speak of love and yet not love as I should. I ask forgiveness of the many I have wounded. And of the many I have passed without seeing their wounds. Pray for me, my brother. Jean Vanier from the foreword to Tears of Silence, Griffin House, 1971 For me, it seems absurd […]
What’s New
August 26, 2016 – 10:47 am
Poetry Writing Retreat in Italy – Summer 2017 What a time we had! You can check out my Facebook page for pics and blog posts by Sheila, one of the retreatants! Another retreatant, Tonya, wrote this about her experience: Being at La Romita, in the hills of olive groves, within the deep history of Umbria […]
The Bigness of Small Poems – # 14 in a Series – May 15th, The Death Day of Emily D.
May 15, 2016 – 1:39 pm
I Reason, Earth is Short #403 (Franklin Edition) I reason, Earth is short – And Anguish – absolute – And many hurt, But, what of that? I reason, we could die – The best Vitality Cannot excel Decay, But, what of that? I reason, that in Heaven – Somehow, it will be even – Some […]