C.M. brings invocation and whimsy together in this poetic prayer for the virtues of wisdom, restraint, patience and presence.

This poem originally appeared in C.M.'s poetry collection, How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications). 

Season Two of "Why Am I Telling You This?" opens with an ominous poem about identity and mortality.

Excerpted from How To Carry Soup: Poems by C.M. Rivers (Homebound Publications).

Written in the voice of an old man, this poem paints a picture of a life lived in service to simplicity.  "Backbone" concludes Season One of "Why Am I Telling You This?".

Excerpted from How To Carry Soup by C.M. Rivers (Homebound Publications).  This poem first appeared in Red River Review. 

C.M. considers how kindness arises when we see every person as a Fellow Traveler - a compassion that naturally extends outward to others, as well as inward to ourselves.  A poetic meditation from C.M.'s upcoming book, "Along the Way ~ Poems for the Wayward" (Homebound Publications). 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://cmrivers.com/2021/09/02/fellow-travelers/

C.M. contemplates the transitions between seasons, and how easy it can be to miss them, in this poem from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).

Undeterred by a wicked head-cold, C.M. reaches into the vault and reads a snippet of memoir concerning one of the western world's greatest absurdities - speeding tickets.  

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://cmrivers.com/2020/05/09/beep-beep/

C.M. pays tribute to Jack Kerouac with a poem about Dean Moriarty, the famed character from Kerouac's "On the Road", based on the real-life Neal Cassady, another major figure of the 1950's Beat Generation.  

This poem first appeared in Rosebud Magazine in 2013, and also appears in C.M.'s poetry collection "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).   

C.M. examines a winter morning in this poem from his collection "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).

C.M. spends a moment considering a statue in the garden, in this contemplative and whimsical poem from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).

This episode is also available as a blog post at cmrivers.com 

C.M. contemplates an example of transformation in the forest - contrasting it with the damage humans are doing to the very planet their survival depends upon - in this poem from his collection, How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications).