Folks have beenDigging and working and firingClay here for hundreds of years.The story of how the clayCame to be though,How it arrived here is, of course,–A long story.–It is also a violent andEternally silencedBy time story.–(Violence is not always full ofSound and speed—The most violentthings—things that can push upAnd pull apartGeography are usually–Silent and slow.)–Before […]
Art and Craft
Her left hand is in mine as weAre awkward and in aSlow-motion dodge and weaveThrough what the kiln delivered-now set in loose rowson the sparse grass lawnunder the nine-thirty a.m. white oak trees behind the white house.-E runs her right index finger around the mouth of a big brown potWith four lug handles.She can reach […]
The Reader is the Part of the Poem the Poet Cannot Write
The reader is the part of the poem the poet cannot write.The poet chooses the words and places and replaces them,hides them in the basement,slides them between photographs in the attic,brings them out for anoccasion.-The poet finds sequences of words—She feels she has discovered them, as if they wereAlready made and waiting to be found.Sometimes […]
Designing a Course Around an Object: Thinking Locally as a Way to Think Globally (Part Two)
In my last post, “Designing a Course About a Point on the Map: Thinking Locally as a Way to Think Globally”, I described a course centered around a specific location. The spark for that thinking was a purchase I made at an auction recently of a large pottery five gallon churn made by pottery makers Kline […]