Ever since I first searched like hell for a poem I’d written by the title that isn’t obvious, I knew there would be a problem. How the hell do you find that one poem in a cache of hundreds? I tried sorting by date, even putting the date in the title. Yeah, that lasts as… Read More Organizing Poetry Files
Here’s a weird idea I had when I was on vacation recently — I would write a poem that included the phrase “this exalted life.” Soon that poem turned into a title. That’s what I would call my poetry manuscript. But wait. There’s more: What if I wrote an entire volume of poetry where each… Read More The One-word Poetry Volume
I was talking with a friend last week when she expressed interest in seeing my blog. She wanted to see my poetry. That’s one thing you won’t find on this blog — my poetry. But Lori! You write a poetry blog! What are you thinking not putting your own poems on it? I’m thinking I… Read More Poems & Sabotage: Are you guilty?
It wasn’t until I went on vacation last week that I realized just how blocked my life is. Was. Let’s say was because now, some of those blocks are gone. Permanently. I’m not just a poet, and few people are. My day job is writing. That’s right — I write all day long. For a… Read More Removing Writing Blocks
How a borrowed ladder can be elevated in poetry.… Read More The Moment as Poetry
A lot has changed since my last post. More than a lot. And unless you’ve been living off the grid for the last year (at which point, you’re probably not reading this), I don’t have to delve into what’s been happening. There’s been one bright spot among the pandemic, and that’s the plethora of livestream… Read More Poetry Livestreams: June 2020
“What I thought was an end turned out to be a middle. What I thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel. What I thought was an injustice turned out to be a color of the sky.” ― Tony Hoagland Maybe this is Tony Hoagland’s middle. Hoagland died on October 23, 2018,… Read More Season’s End
Sometimes, writers just get stuck. I won’t call it writer’s block — in my world, that doesn’t exist. I think it’s a handy excuse for writers who’d rather bitch about not writing than explore why they’re not writing. But sometimes, the words take their damn sweet time getting onto the page. In those times, I… Read More Prompting for Creativity
I have reams of poems that are rich in detail, haunting, full of promise and definitely worth sharing. They remain, however, unpublishable. See, the subject matter is one that involves another person. And there’s little doubt who I’m writing about. While the poems aren’t unflattering (well, not all of them), they are from my perspective,… Read More The Unpublishable Poem (or is it?)
Sometimes the best writing I’ve done comes from the worst instances in my life. Personal instances, actually. When my father became ill, I became prolific at writing poetry. There’s so much emotion swirling in your head when you’re seeing the mortality of one of your parents and you’re helpless to stop or even slow down… Read More Writing About the Shadows
Poet Under Construction 