Thanks, Jack

I first read this in August 2005, a seed Dear Layla came out in 2015, fruit That is why I want to use short chapters, each with verselike heading, and very many such chapters; slowly,…

I Beseech You, Orianne Aymard

Peace and harmony appear so closely woven in every cell of her being that the spirits of darkness would search in vain for a loophole. –Melita Maschmann, Encountering Bliss: My Journey through India with Ānandamayī Mā  …

Metta, 4.30.2017

May Neeta be happy. May Neeta be peaceful. May Neeta be liberated. –Dr. Neeta Shenai has been my student,  friend, and teacher since 2005.

Cultivating Avidity

Books of poetry will teach you more than your mentor or professor or the well-known poet you have traveled to a conference to work with. Reading is like food to a writer; without it, the…

¡Ray Pruitt, Presente!

I just found out that a classmate died last year in Japan. Ray Pruitt studied two years at Bellarmine (1978-80), then eventually finished his Bachelor’s at Harvard before doing law at Yale. Ray, Anne Walter…

After Cheese Cake

You spoil me, Maestra One visit with you in French patisserieland And I want a weekly dose of your thirty-four-year-old company: You tango philosopher You kinesthetic sage You brunette buddha But I can’t … Always…

The Endless Net

Ten years ago, I read Eliot Weinberger’s anthology, World Beat: International Poetry Now (New Directions, 2006). Looking back, I’m grateful, because that volume (re)introduced me to Israeli Aharon Shabtai, Iraqi Dunya Mikhail, and Chilean Nicanor…