Poet Reporter
A different kind of reporting, through the eyes of a poet.
Notes to Self
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of hidden messages. Secret compartments, hidden treasures, following clues to find things tucked away, these are fun places for the imagination to go.
Notes passed in class were always exciting. I don’t know about you, but the notes I wrote and received were always about something fun…
All Downhill
I hit my pinnacle in Grade School. No kidding. I was smart and organized and I had all these great ideas and energy to put into those ideas. Yes, the world was my oyster and anything was possible. And I knew it…
Space Cadet
Creative writers have a way of writing stories in our heads while observing the world, so reality tends to be a blend of what’s real mixed with some fun fiction. But lately, as I’m doing my usual notetaking of the world around me, I’m noticing a definite reality to the space that I occupy in the world and the space that others take up…
Memory Space
I went to a weeklong writing retreat years ago. One of the exercises we did was to imagine a house full of rooms that we could go to anytime we liked just by closing our eyes. Each room could have any function, purpose, décor, or reason that we liked. In a way, each room was like a different story that we could tell. And some…
Overworked and Underslept
People who don’t know me ask where I come up with my story ideas. People who know me know my stories are about me. In Writer School, they tell you to start out by Writing What You Know. My stories are usually about something that affected me—either deeply or on a humorous level, and so I tell the story so that you can share in that feeling with me…
We Remember
Today we remember our brave men and women who’ve given their lives for our country.
Abraham Lincoln famously said in his Gettysburg Address that our fallen soldiers gave their last full measure of devotion to their cause: Their country. They did this, he said, so that the nation might live.
A Rich Inner Life
I’m at a cocktail party. Shiny marble floor, sparkly beige ceiling, light piano music playing. There’s one of those focal point staircases in the center of the room, with a carved wooden bannister and wide marble stairs. There are people of all ages in suits and office dresses, gathering in small groups on the lower floor, gathering on the stairs, and the balcony above. Many are snacking on mini crab cakes and…
The Underdogs
People understand when you say you’re “going to work” and they mostly leave you to it. But when your work is not so mainstreamed, like writing, you raise a lot of eyebrows. Still, a bad day writing is better than a good day doing anything else, so I’ll take it…
From Here to There
Living in the moment. Right here. Right now. When we’re young and carefree these things come naturally. But as we take on more responsibilities, we shift our sights to the future and focus on how to get from here to there.
Song and Dance and Candy
Holidays give us the chance to step outside our normal lives. Our daily routine is gone, replaced by a balancing act of relatives, chaos, food, messes, and sometimes a few friends showing up in the mix. In an offhand way, this gathering of personalities is like one big Easter basket of flavors and textures, all crammed into one place.
Phoning It In
I recently had a disastrous run-in with tech support, and it reminded me of a time when I was waiting tables and the phrase “phoning it in” was popular. As opposed to “dial it in” which has the opposite effect, phoning it in is all about a lack of focus, about doing the minimum and avoiding the real work.
