Down with Bowne (The Uncut Version)

Composed in 1994 to his girlfriend, and soon wife, Mary Jane Murphy. 

Walter Bowne confronts Grey Mr. Death in the North of England while being a little Morrissey in 1990. 

What grammar has taught me. 

A poem for Nancy when she was 9 months old in 2002.

A free verse poem. 

Never trust your inner navigator when traveling in the wilderness. Scenic Jersey and Arizona are quite different —  scenic in Arizona may just mean death. A simple line on Google maps, in Arizona, doesn’t necessarily mean quicker — just potentially — the end of the line for your family.

The Very Best in Show. 

Happy Every Day, Madeline, Five, Twenty-Five, or Eighty-Five

Composed for Noelle and Andrew on their wedding day: August 10, 1997

A story I wrote in 1989 when I was twenty, traveling across the Big Horn Mountains with my family. It sat alone at the bottom of my drawer until I started to use its basic good structure and frame and imagery and updated for 2021 at 51. I hope you enjoy.