My sister mentioned this poem at a party over the weekend, long after I’d forgotten having written it. She had shared it with her friends, and even now she can vividly recall both the metaphor and her response to it. It’s nice when a work means enough to someone that they remember and talk about … Read more
Something I really love about the Russian language is that states of silence and color can be verbs. For instance, if something is white, you could express it as a static description — it is white — or, more poetically, as an action: it whites. It’s the same with silence. Someone can be silent, or, on the other hand, … Read more
It’s almost fall (aka poetry season), so I thought I’d get the poetic tinder going with an oldie from the archives. This was originally written in 2013, revised multiple times, and then finally put in this form in 2016. The source? Thursday night Adoration at Our Lady of Victory in State College, PA. Adoration of … Read more
Ignore, for a minute, the tremendous irony of the title. Some time ago, a friend of mine who is a Benedictine monk (and priest) shared with me a remark made by his novice master: “Every now and then, try to have an unpublished thought.” That small remark has stuck with me in the back of … Read more
Well, now autumn has come to Novosibirsk … which means it’s time for poetry again. For whatever reasons, I can’t bring myself to write poetry in the summer. Prose, fine. But the moment I try to sketch out a poem, it usually putters out like an old car running on fumes. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s … Read more