Poetry For Now

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Every day since Russia invaded Ukraine I have written something that’s help me process this awful situation; a reality that the world is facing today.  As I listened to this steel band I felt that steel can create music & pleasure or destruction and pain.  It is our choice.
The poems came day by day, starting on Saturday (February 26, 2022).  The courage of the Ukrainian people is celebrated and supported.

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GOING WITH THE FLOW- Billy Collins, the great American Poet, suggested pick a starting subject and just keep writing, allowing it to surprise you - and keep at it until it ends.  What is poetry? Good question!  These poems led me to old memories and some new endings.  The last poem was sparked by Mark Doly’s poem - this is your home now.

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Hearing that my friend Curtis passed away in his sleep shocked Kassandra & I.  We have know him for about 30 years.  He did not died from Covid.  Curtis was a little younger than us and this makes me aware of our own mortality.  Most of these poems came from reflecting on this very recent experience.

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Happy New Year 2022.  As I contemplated ideas to start this year with a fresh uncluttered perspective, I recalled the life changing experience of my walking the Camino de Santiago, so  I looked through my books and found a couple of poems I wrote that capture the opportunity this New Year offers.  I also received a photo from an old friend of the new snowfall around his home in Maine, which led to the final poem. 

The gonging you will hear is a recording of a weekly gong concert my wife Kassandra is now playing for neighbors from our front porch.

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Season 2 Episode 15 - A JOURNEY’S END

Life has many journeys. This is a short episode to complete our 2021  European trip which ended in Holland.  (please see photos on the website)

Over 50 years ago I was in Amsterdam.

Have I changed more than the city?

Now more multicultural than ever.

More extraordinary museums celebrating its artists.

More culinary delights and friendly people.

Sounds you hear: rain, working windmill, the bells of Zuiderkerk

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Trapped in the sequencing of time, poetry for now becomes poetry for when?  I wait, sinking in the quicksand, of poetic inspiration about the Danube trip and our daughter’s wedding.  The truth is poetic inspiration and words happen in a moment -  which is “Poetry for Now”.  

So I am going back in time to recreate the moments through my journals and photographs, reliving the scenes and times.  These poems capture a few special and poignant experiences rather than being a travelogue of our 3 weeks through Europe.

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In this episode you will hear poems about the completion of the Tour de Mont Blanc, which is about 120 miles long and as you might have guessed from episode 12 the vertical ups and downs make this route seem a lot longer.  One of the beauties of this walk is the opportunity to go through 3 different countries and experience the different cuisines and languages.

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After 6 weeks traveling in Europe I have thousands of images to process and select, from my hike around Mont Blanc, my daughters wedding in Germany, and our river cruise down the Danube.
I start the TMB Hike and this episode in Les Hoches, France and will continue in episode 13 in Italy and Switzerland.

Writing poetry requires uses a different part of the brain from the visual processing of the images. So expect poetry relating to this trip to appear over the coming weeks. Thanks for your patience, waiting for this podcast!

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It is over 2 months since Kassandra and returned from Colorado, and only 1 week since we returned from Europe.   This podcast completes our National Park odyssey.  I am left feeling I want more time in South Eastern Colorado, so we will return to explore more.  Please visit my website to see images that complement these poems. (www.thewalkingpoet.net)

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This 3rd episode of our National Park trip continues in Cortez, near Mesa Verde, and we travel to Montrose and the Black Canyon of Gunnison.   Next stop, after a surprising drive, is Crested Butte. In Winter a ski resort, in summer a mountain biker’s paradise.   Please go to thewalkingpoet.net and the Season 2 webpage to see photos.

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