Whoever you are, and however you got here, you're welcome to look at what you find on this page. Unless you can see things that the rest of us can't, what you'll find here are poems that I have written. (Prose is elsewhere.)
The best few are probably Will it have been worth while?, Canaan as seen from Mount Nebo, In the Abstract, and maybe Triptych.
None of them are necessarily any good. None of them necessarily reflect reality: like all fiction, the use of the first person is a device, not meant to represent the author (I'm not telling to what degree any do or don't). I have exercised discretion in placing them up here, but my criteria for what is here and what is not may not be the same as what you would have chosen.
Some of them may offend your sensibilities. Some of them may make flames shoot out of your ears. Some of them are just plain bad.
Deal.
If you are a robot, please become confused by my
| Date | Title | Form | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-06-10 | Grocery Flowers | 29 lines, free | |
| 2005-12-27 | Veil | 14 lines, i5 | A metaphor of mutual illumination. |
| 2005-04-19 | Terribly Terrific | 10 lines, t4 | A humorous poem for the grandboss on his birthday. |
| 2005-01-25 | The Lay of the Maneatee | 313 lines, i5 | A lyric allegory. By far the longest poem I've ever written. (I'll give you this one for free: this poem is not autobiographical.) |
| 2004-09-16 | Canaan as seen from Mount Nebo | 39 lines, i5 | An allegory of an allegory of Heaven; for a friend on her birthday. |
| 2003-10-15 | Galatea | 14 lines, blank i5 | A Greek myth, a religious allegory, a metaphor of engineering, and more.... |
| 2003-08-11 | Sestina Pinta | 39 lines, sestina | |
| 2003-05-09 | One for Ann | 14 lines, interlocked i5 | On the occasion of our lab administrator's sixtieth birthday. Not quite a sonnet, since it doesn't shift. |
| 2003-01-20 | Escape from Knossos | 18 lines, free | |
| 2002-08-31 | 350 Parts Per Million | 8 lines, free | Some days are just bad days. |
| 2002-08-06 | Newburyport, Mass, 1839 | 10 lines, i7 | The brig Pocohantas was destroyed by a sudden storm on 22 December, 1839, on a sand bar about two miles outside of Newburyport, Mass. This poem was inspired by Sidney Perley's 1891 account. |
| 2002-07-17 | Blossom | 14 lines, sonnet | My first rhymed sonnet. I am fortunate indeed to have the friends I have. |
| 2002-07-05 | 530 | 17 lines, blank i5 | |
| 2002-06-14 | Triptych | 32 lines, irregular | Original idea from Stephen R. Donaldson's Stone and Sea ``poem''; Estuans Interius and Thaxted were also in my mind while working on this one. |
| 2002-05-14 | 475 | 11 lines, free | An experiment in synesthesia. |
| 2002-03-21 | Rainbow | 16 lines, free | The prototype for the wavelength poems. |
| 2002-02-09 | In the Abstract | 31 lines, i5 | As Mirage; I have that poem on my mind somehow. |
| 2002-01-27 | Mirage | 26 lines, free | A response to a friend's poem of a few months ago. |
| 2001-12-11 | Agent | 12 lines, free | |
| 2001-10-24 | The Hitchhiker | 29 lines, blank i7 | |
| 2001-10-10 | Bitter Wormwood | 14 lines, blank i5 | My first (blank) sonnet. |
| 2001-10-06 | The Ore-Crusher's Lament | 67 lines, alliterative 4 | Referring to Roger Zelazny's novelette For a Breath I Tarry. |
| 2001-10-05 | Answerphone | 24 lines, free | In reaction to the events of 2001-09-11. I was quite moved to hear that passengers on flight 93 had telephoned home to say goodbye. I hope I get that chance. |
| 2001-10-01 | Aaron's Advice | 6 lines, free | One evening my friend Aaron decided to mock me about not having a girlfriend; this is a distillation of that conversation. |
| 2001-09-29 | Worth Having | 39 lines, free | Written while taking a break from a poem that does not appear here, called A little more than kin, and less than kind; the idea was basically "I need to get away from this vile poem and write one that I can show to someone". An open project of mine is to write a poem for every line of this one (e.g. Folly and Novocain). |
| 2001-09-23 | Doubting Thomas | 26 lines, free | Originally Cabinet, since its original inspiration had to do with the big boss at work going on sabbatical; but it has become too exaggerated to retain that sense. |
| 2001-09-20 | Will it have been worth while? | 131 lines, irregular | Patterned after Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock |
| 2001-06-17 | Tree | 19 lines, free | |
| 2001-01-27 | Bitch, Queen, Woman | 101 lines, free | A dialogue in three voices. |
| Title | Form | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 350 Parts Per Million | 8 lines, free | 2002-08-31 | Some days are just bad days. |
| 475 | 11 lines, free | 2002-05-14 | An experiment in synesthesia. |
| 530 | 17 lines, blank i5 | 2002-07-05 | |
| Aaron's Advice | 6 lines, free | 2001-10-01 | One evening my friend Aaron decided to mock me about not having a girlfriend; this is a distillation of that conversation. |
| Agent | 12 lines, free | 2001-12-11 | |
| Answerphone | 24 lines, free | 2001-10-05 | In reaction to the events of 2001-09-11. I was quite moved to hear that passengers on flight 93 had telephoned home to say goodbye. I hope I get that chance. |
| Bitch, Queen, Woman | 101 lines, free | 2001-01-27 | A dialogue in three voices. |
| Bitter Wormwood | 14 lines, blank i5 | 2001-10-10 | My first (blank) sonnet. |
| Blossom | 14 lines, sonnet | 2002-07-17 | My first rhymed sonnet. I am fortunate indeed to have the friends I have. |
| Canaan as seen from Mount Nebo | 39 lines, i5 | 2004-09-16 | An allegory of an allegory of Heaven; for a friend on her birthday. |
| Doubting Thomas | 26 lines, free | 2001-09-23 | Originally Cabinet, since its original inspiration had to do with the big boss at work going on sabbatical; but it has become too exaggerated to retain that sense. |
| Escape from Knossos | 18 lines, free | 2003-01-20 | |
| Galatea | 14 lines, blank i5 | 2003-10-15 | A Greek myth, a religious allegory, a metaphor of engineering, and more.... |
| Grocery Flowers | 29 lines, free | 2008-06-10 | |
| The Hitchhiker | 29 lines, blank i7 | 2001-10-24 | |
| In the Abstract | 31 lines, i5 | 2002-02-09 | As Mirage; I have that poem on my mind somehow. |
| The Lay of the Maneatee | 313 lines, i5 | 2005-01-25 | A lyric allegory. By far the longest poem I've ever written. (I'll give you this one for free: this poem is not autobiographical.) |
| Mirage | 26 lines, free | 2002-01-27 | A response to a friend's poem of a few months ago. |
| Newburyport, Mass, 1839 | 10 lines, i7 | 2002-08-06 | The brig Pocohantas was destroyed by a sudden storm on 22 December, 1839, on a sand bar about two miles outside of Newburyport, Mass. This poem was inspired by Sidney Perley's 1891 account. |
| One for Ann | 14 lines, interlocked i5 | 2003-05-09 | On the occasion of our lab administrator's sixtieth birthday. Not quite a sonnet, since it doesn't shift. |
| The Ore-Crusher's Lament | 67 lines, alliterative 4 | 2001-10-06 | Referring to Roger Zelazny's novelette For a Breath I Tarry. |
| Rainbow | 16 lines, free | 2002-03-21 | The prototype for the wavelength poems. |
| Sestina Pinta | 39 lines, sestina | 2003-08-11 | |
| Terribly Terrific | 10 lines, t4 | 2005-04-19 | A humorous poem for the grandboss on his birthday. |
| Tree | 19 lines, free | 2001-06-17 | |
| Triptych | 32 lines, irregular | 2002-06-14 | Original idea from Stephen R. Donaldson's Stone and Sea ``poem''; Estuans Interius and Thaxted were also in my mind while working on this one. |
| Veil | 14 lines, i5 | 2005-12-27 | A metaphor of mutual illumination. |
| Will it have been worth while? | 131 lines, irregular | 2001-09-20 | Patterned after Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock |
| Worth Having | 39 lines, free | 2001-09-29 | Written while taking a break from a poem that does not appear here, called A little more than kin, and less than kind; the idea was basically "I need to get away from this vile poem and write one that I can show to someone". An open project of mine is to write a poem for every line of this one (e.g. Folly and Novocain). |