A. Anupama
What do butterflies say? If a child asked me that, I’d say “listen.” This past Sunday, my neighbor and I walked up the newly built section of trail that leads from Nyack Beach State Park to the Long Path, which climbs to the peak of Hook Mountain. We met a woman named Felicia, who teaches…
There are moments I don’t photograph or write about, though they are worthy of a creative expression. Maybe that’s partly why I took up painting and guitar this year, to see if more angles of approach could widen my praise of life. But it hasn’t really changed the level of silence I keep. A blue…
Try to get to the poem underneath a day, and the words just float on the surface sometimes. Then, it's better for me to revise and read and wonder. I'm thinking of my teen students who are sending their final submissions to Scholastic Art & Writing Awards today--our regional deadline. Those hours over the line breaks, word choices, image...…
It had not acquired one permanent wrinkle after all its ripples. ---Henry David Thoreau In poetry, circumambulating an object is the same as walking into the center of it. These two---poetry and walking near water---are my favorite ways into the deeps. And keeping a poetry notebook next to my busy life has become that necessary shortcut to serenity.
I hardly remember this---photo of a recent high school graduate and her younger sisters, visiting India in 1992. A past life, it seems. I've been reading high school seniors' writing portfolios as a volunteer juror in the Scholastic Art & Writing awards this week. I'm remembering, and happy to support those purer ideals growing into the future,…
The holiday catalogues have started to arrive in my mailbox. And while I'm admiring how pretty they are as decorations for my recycling bin, I felt the need to write a little guidance on surviving this annual season of materialism. Here's my top-20 list of reasons to make it easy on yourself --- buy poetry books for everyone on…
Continue reading ➞ Top 20 reasons to give poetry books as gifts
Time to tie poems into an offering---for you! Most of the poetry in this collection has been published here and there, in journals and online magazines. Now, these are all together again as I meant to present them, and you can pre-order the collection here on my website, or wait for the release date, October 20, when…
The blank page is a wide open gate. I loved coordinating the Vermont College of Fine Arts writing residency in Slovenia this month. The Karst region and this church at Hrastovlje, among other sites, have captivated my poem-making since. The Slovenian writers we met shared beautiful stories and poems. Here's a link to some of the glories---poems by Alenka…
Five years ago, I started over with poetry--- just like this, by writing a poem every day for National Poetry Month.
poet | artist 