Every Day Zen
Whether it is voice recognition, dictation, or Siri, predictive text is not given to the poetic in us. Rather, artificial intelligence assigns labels, predicts patterns. But humans always break the mold, no matter how predictable we appear to be. We fight for words, stretching sentence structure for all it’s worth. Fragments rearrange and clauses connect until... Continue Reading →
Today’s #LongerView is about “Staying in the Game” when the rules change. I’m writing about writing and how its process is not is not as staid as I once thought but then, neither am I. Maybe that’s the key. As always, I offer the swinging bench. Enjoy. Aim for Even posts offer equanimity a dose... Continue Reading →
I am a reader of Louise Erdrich, usually during difficult times, not for solace surely but for life at low tide. Hers is no fictional escape but story, hard and raw, word by word. “You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to... Continue Reading →
In “Every Time He Shakes His Tail,” I remember my last year in graduate school, specifically the month of March, just six weeks before graduation. I almost didn’t graduate, and I would have been fine with that but it was not to be. Mostly what I remember from that time is discovering writing. That alone... Continue Reading →
I did not find them by the sea but in a forest deep. They sat path-side. A fossilized shell, wave-smooth, with a wooden wayfarer having lost all but itself. As one, they appeared a fish, head of stone, body and tail of crêpe myrtle. On that day, they left one path for another. Who knows... Continue Reading →
This Sunday’s #LongerView, “Sail More, Land Less,” is about finding relevance in 1865 among a group of pirates. It’s been easier for me to reside there these days. Of course, it is not mine to stay in the land of fiction, for then I would become something I am not, a pirate. I am just... Continue Reading →
I am having trouble finding words but this is not a time for silence, yet what words to choose. Words are known to return readily--especially in tweets--but more than reminders of past usage, with words we turn life inside out and upside down in search of…? Whatever it is we don’t have. I read an... Continue Reading →
Today’s #LongerView is special to me. Friend August McLaughlin and I talk about Girl Boners and Zen, an ongoing conversation, as you might imagine. “Zen and the Art of Girl Boners” offers you a look into the world of GB, as I refer to it, and what a wonder it is. As always, the swinging... Continue Reading →
I submitted a poem for publication that was not ready. It was barely a poem, far from what it could be, but my focus was making a deadline, and I did. I am testing my theory of aiming for even, meeting each day’s energy, high or low, and finding the middle within. Evening it out,... Continue Reading →
