Category Archives: Poetry

A Haiku For Wednesday, August 14th

The willow droops black
against a lavender sky,
a still precipice.
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Straight to the Point: What can we learn about ourselves from the world around us?

My online speculative poetry class, Verses of Sky & Stars, is coming up on June 9th! The class changes a little each time as the group composition does, but if you want to get a basic idea, I talk about … Continue reading Continue reading

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Haiku Round-up #3

Time for another round-up of my recent haiku! (Here is an explanation about why I’ve been writing and posting haiku.) A day for walking, but I sit and try to work. My thoughts are so slow. Cats watch the birds … Continue reading Continue reading

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Patreon Content for April!

Patreon content went up this week! There’s a poem for all patrons: “To the Person Leaving,” which I wrote for my grandmother’s funeral. For $2 patrons, there’s a chapter from an unfinished novel “Haloes of Limelight.” And for $5 and … Continue reading Continue reading

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Trains, Brains, and Computers

When I teach my speculative fiction class (there’s a section this weekend, by the way!), I like to talk to the students about the most popular varieties of speculative poetry. A lot of speculative poetry is narrative, or works with … Continue reading Continue reading

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Haiku Round-up #1

Lately I have been posting haiku to my Patreon. While I was having trouble writing fiction, a friend of mine showed me a haiku they’d been working on. I couldn’t manage something like a whole story, but writing seventeen syllables … Continue reading Continue reading

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Relearning The Value of Patience in Assembling a Book of Poems

It’s the middle of August, which means summer is almost over and I have to start preparing in earnest to go back into the classroom. This is the first summer in many years–at least fifteen, I think–that I’ve been off … Continue reading

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How Long Does It Take To Write a Poem? Also, “Inside Her Heart,” and a class!

I’m teaching an online class on writing science fiction and fantasy poetry on June 30 at 9:30-11:30 PDT. It’s a fun class because it draws people from many different backgrounds with many different goals. Some are dedicated poets, looking to … Continue reading Continue reading

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A Video of the First US Launch Reading for Veils, Halos & Shackles

https://youtu.be/unDjxal1P18 Note: the poems in this video deal with sexual violence. This reading, which took place at the Long Island Writers House on April 17th, was truly powerful. It was a privilege to be the first reader among such fine poets. I hope you’ll take … Continue reading

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Poem: A Season with the Geese

This poem originally appeared in Abyss & Apex Magazine.   A Season with the Geese by Rachel Swirsky Once when we were young, we flew to Europe with the geese. Twined neck to neck we sailed the Seine chasing ripples and water bugs, lost … Continue reading Continue reading

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