What’s real? Collecting likes on social media or taking in nature? Being outside, breathing fresh air, scooping up an apple, biting into its juiciness, gently scratching the base of a horse’s neck . . . bring on the dopamine flow. That’s why I wrote the poem “Apple Chill.”
Tag: nature
Hey ATL! Would Love to See You at the Decatur Book Festival
I’m thrilled to be a part of the Decatur Book Festival (20th anniversary!) October 3-4. It’s one of Atlanta’s premier literary events. I’ll be signing copies of The Tears of Things: Poems. Whether you live in Atlanta or you’re passing through town, please stop by and say hello.
On the Fragility And Glory of Autumn: “Royal Wind Riders”
This poem is about monarch butterflies experiencing a long-term decline due to threats from habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. In pre-Hispanic legend, the migrating butterflies carried ancestral souls visiting from the afterlife.
Coneflower Sequence: Finding Harmony in a Fractured World
Last spring, I wanted something trouble-free and found it in coneflower seed packets, buying into the midsummer promise of self-sowing sun lovers—now overrunning the garden with nature’s lavender turns. Seed heads bristle symmetry, measure upon measure, Fibonacci’s weathered tune luring goldfinches to August feasts.
Creative Flow Takes You off the Clock—into the Infinite
I wrote this letter to a colleague who dedicated years to writing a novel. It was not easy. When you chase something meaningful while navigating daily existence, you feel time’s tick. Yet there are moments when we slip wholly into creative flow that frees us to step out of time and connect with something greater.