Author Archive

‘Sweeney’s Pond’

This week’s rain and thaw are not good for ice on local ponds, brooks, and lakes, but January is hockey season, so I thought I’d dig this composition out of the vault this morning. The poem was first published in my second full-length collection of poems, Middle Distance (1989). Sweeney’s…

Read More »

‘Radio, Radio’

“Wonderful radio, Marvelous radio, Wonderful radio, Radio, radio . . .” —Elvis Costello When I was a kid I had a black transistor radio about the size of my hand that I would take to bed and listen to until I fell asleep. My stations across the dial played rock…

Read More »

‘Manny’ by Tom Sexton

This poem, from Tom Sexton’s recent book Bridge Street at Dusk (Loom Press, 2012), connects to the “Moody Gardens” post below.—PM . Manny He was a minor god of the underworld whose euphonious name brought no reply if mentioned during the day, a lounge singer, a god of sirens and…

Read More »

No Kidding: Change the Battery

With snow flying outside, at 5.45 a.m. today all the smoke alarms in our house began beeping in a way that seemed extra loud.  My wife, son, and I threw on some clothes and rushed into the hallway upstairs to check for smoke. Nothing. My wife sped over to the…

Read More »