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"Cold Mountain" wins Subud International Cultural Association (SICA) Poems for Peace Award

"Just Like John Glenn" is semi-finalist in Knightsville Poetry Contest

Poem will be published in the 2012 issue of The New Guard.

"Psalm 656" wins 2012 Mark Fischer Poetry Prize

My "beatific and irreverent" poem was awarded First Place in the Telluride, Colorado competition, and "Shooting the Apple" earned an Honorable Mention.

Read my poems online!

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Bio

I was born in Abbotsford, B.C., and raised in Bellingham, Washington. I earned my B.A. in English and M.A. in Theatre/Dance from Western Washington University.

I am married to poet/painter Alice Lee and live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I work as an editor and educator. I have one daughter (Molly), two stepdaughters (Mica and Annie), one son-in-law (Johannes), one granddaugher (Luisa) and one dog (Austin). Life is good.

My poems have appeared in Tupelo Press, The New Guard, Slipstream, Conversations Across Borders, The Floating Bridge Anthology, Uphook Press, New Millennium, The Ledge, The California Quarterly, New Mexico Poetry Review, Santa Fe Literary Review, Adobe Walls, Malpais Review, Mas Tequila Review, Fixed & Free, New England Anthology of Poets, Poets Against the War and other journals and anthologies.

My awards have included the 2012 Mark Fisher Poetry Prize, the 2012 SICA Poems for Peace Award, and the 2006 Santa Fe Reporter War Poetry Contest, and I have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and three Best of the Net awards.

My hobbies and interests include yoga, meditation, reading, travel, gardening, chess, music, swimming, and I am an elder in the ManKind Project.

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Doggerel & Caterwauls: Poems Inspired by Cats & Dogs makes a perfect gift for the animal lovers on your list. Order here

Cold Mountain

Han-shan says after a moment of bliss,
this is better than where I live. I see
Cold Mountain disappearing into mist,

my life among these thousand-meter cliffs,
my days of hermitage and poverty
evanescing in a moment of bliss.

I look in the mirror and I see wisps
of white, like clouds among the leafless
trees,
Cold Mountain disappearing into mist.

This day and the years gone by are
mindless
ripples, like rivers flowing to the east--
Han-shan vanishing on moments of bliss.

I have no desire now to reminisce
about my profession or family
as Cold Mountain disappears into mist.

Some may ask, did Han-shan ever exist?
Yes, I did, but now I have been set free--
a puff of smoke in a moment of bliss,
Cold Mountain disappearing into mist….

WELCOME!

Thank you for visiting my website. Whether you're here to read poems, order books, find out when my next reading is, attend a class or workshop, hire an editor, locate a wedding offic-iant, peruse photographs or quotations, or just pay a visit, welcome!

My intention is to provide a portal for visitors to share in my work (and play).

If you want to leave a comment, or if
you have a suggestion or request re-garding the site, please let me know by visiting the Contact & Links page.

Also on that page, feel free to suggest
any links you would like added to the Links list. This is, after all, a work in progress, so come back often!

Namaste.

Words of Wisdom

"Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."
--Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea

Georgia Straight, British Columbia, 2009

Santa Fe Solstice

Our cats stretch out asleep by the window

The longest shadows

     fall on the shortest day

My wife sets out seed for the pinon jay

a flash of blue

     and gray against the snow

We listen for news on the radio

they say another blow

     is on the way

We may be housebound for the holiday

hibernate like bears

     in our bungalow

but though it’s eight degrees below

we’ll celebrate

     this season of grace

light a fire and survive the only way

we know by staying dry

     and lying low