I am super chuffed to have a new prose poem in issue 2 of Strings literary magazine. Written during the summer of 2024. I found inspiration in reading various translations of Rilke. I also acquired a new technique of writing in pencil. Rilke brought to mind my days in Trieste as a dog walker.
I moved to Trieste after spending a year teaching in Turkey. Trieste had a statue of James Joyce and I kissed it in the mornings. I wore some sort of balloon trousers (semi hippy) and walked a big golden retriever and a small pug. The bora howled. I was pulled in two directions. It was semi-romantic.
This collage prose poem is about travel. Travel can sometimes help with beginner’s mind and that’s the place that feels fresh. Travel literature as language in movement. Also impermanent like my pencil. Poetry is about freshening up the mind via language. Opening our perceptions. Visual art freshening the eyes. Music freshening the ears. Poetry can freshen the ears, eyes, heart, mind, language. And so on.
Who doesn’t want to feel fresh. It is a continual process.
You can read the poem here (check out the terrific issue as well).
Here is a slap dap reading of the poem this morning. Happy Friday folks!!
Never Mind the Beasts 
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