Left Hand Poetry

"Hubris and Roller Skates" is my ode to Physics, of which I am a fan (still rooting for that FTL workaround that's sure to come any day!), but alas only have a very basic grasp. Like, I get vector math and grasp the concepts, but I'm not up to the math. Respect and love to all the physicists out there, you make Space Exploration and all this amazing technology possible!

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I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

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The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

Sad, wistful, metaphorical even. "The Growing Season" is a poem I wrote while going through some things many years ago, and now I'm sharing it with you! Well, to be fair, it's been available in my book "Blue." for a while, so.

It was also featured as a spoken-word piece a local college dance company used in a recital, but I can't find the video to share with you! If this rings a bell for you, share a link in the comments!

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

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Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

After last week's dramatic reading, I've chosen something a bit more dialed back, though philosophical in nature. I also promise that I wasn't high when I wrote this week's poems -- this is how my brain naturally works, if you haven't figured that out for yourself by now. "Pistachios and Life" and "A Response to Pistachios and Life" punch above their weight and while it's well-trodden philosophical ground, I think it's also a universal experience we've all shared in one way or another. Right?

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

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Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

Things get a little personal this week with "Fracture." I get low-grade headaches fairly often (yaayyyyy) but rarely, a full-blown migraine comes on. Less so now that I've learned to avoid certain triggers, but the experience inspired this poem. Also, Trigger Warning: If you're a migraine sufferer, listen with caution.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

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Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

It's a couple of mouths-full of titles for this week's episode, which I'm offering as a tribute to NASA and the JPL for all their hard work in getting another rover onto the surface of Mars. Well done all!

"Retinal Pressure..." is as much a poem about longing for Spring after tiring of Winter as it is about Mars, if not more so.

"Adherence..." is a celebration of the landing, pure and simple. My office got mighty dusty when I saw the cheer rise up from the control room last week, again I say well done all!

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

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Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

As promised, this week it's the later version of the same draft that I forgot to remove from my list of draft poems. It's in many ways the same poem, and maybe in my next book I'll blend the two together and make some sort of super poem from them. Anyway, it's a nice little bit of verse and I'm happy to have shared it with you. I'll close on this by quoting John Mulaney: "Well that's the same joke twice!"

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

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Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

This doesn't happen often, but occasionally I'll pull together a draft of a poem and then rework it into its final form, even publish it in a book, but keep the original draft filed away. And then I later discover that draft after the first poem is already out there in the world. And then I rework the draft again and publish it in another book. So far, this has only happened with one poem, of which I am reading the first iteration to you this week, "Prayer for the Eternal Wanderer," from "Blue." Thematically it shares a space with episode 004's poem "In the Far and Bitter End," but comes at the sentiment from a different angle, the remove of the person who stayed behind and seeks to divine the motives of our protagonist of the waves. Next week I'll read the latter version of that poem. It is an exercise for you, dear listener, to determine whether or not I should have left well enough alone.

Ah, quick programming note: the mic was a little hot this week, I'll fix it next week, promise.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

It's currently over 50 degrees (F) outside my office where I sit as I type this, but we've just come out of something of a cold, windy spell. You know, Winter. Some winters back, when I lived in a very old house with an old furnace plugged into an even older chimney, the gas meter reader came out of my basement with some bad and dare I say life-threatening news - there was a big build up of carbon monoxide around the furnace. And I thought the sleepiness I felt every evening as I sat in front of the TV just a thin covering of aging floorboards away from said furnace was from having to get under a blanket in the drafty old house. Nope. What happened next was ... well, that's why you're here this week! Enjoy "Clean Sweep," and stay warm and safely cozy, friends.

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

Coffee. It's what has been keeping me warm since the weather took a sharp downward turn vis a vis the mercury this January. As such, I offer for you 2 caffeinated poems from my first book of poetry that touch on or directly address the beverage itself.

"Existential Angst & Espresso" sprang from an empty chalkboard meant to tell us who was pulling our shots and adding our sugary flavored syrups that day. "Coffee: Good for the Soul" is a brief ode to the beverage itself - not the last I have written! No, much like snow, it would seem, I have more to say about my favorite warm bean water.

In closing, I'll say that coffee in various forms has touched my life over the years, as I'm sure it has for many of you. But this is a discussion for another time - and perhaps a poem of it's own. For now,

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.

After the last few up and down weeks that we have had here in the States, I wanted to offer up a poem written after one of the most peaceful moments of my adult life - surf fishing at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I've only done it once, and I'd do it again give the opportunity (and the loan of some gear!) It was a gorgeous summer day and just being there was - well, listen to the podcast. "The Lure" covers those events. Along for the ride is "Cool Breeze," a shorter poem that I think pairs well with "The Lure."

You know the drill:

I want to hear what you think of the podcast, whether it's a specific poem or the format, or whatever's on your mind! Leave a review or a comment in your podcast app, or catch me on Twitter @Lefthandrob.

After listening to the podcast (or while listening), visit one of these sites and donate for the cause, because All Black Lives Matter and my fellow white (and cis) people we need to get in the game:

Donate to Black Lives Matter

Donate to the Souther Poverty Law Center

Donate to the Equal Justice Initiative

Transgender Law Center

The poems will continue to flow, but so must the Justice.