Poetry and About Poetry

The journal Dark Matter has accepted my poem “Schrodinger’s Anticipation” for publication in its next issue http://www.darkmatterjournal.org

The Magnolia Review has accepted my poem “The Exile Knows this Ghost” for publication.

The Magnolia Review has accepted my poem "The Exile Knows this Ghost" for publication.

My poem “ Happy Halloween ” is online at Allegro Poetry Magazine (scroll down to read it).

My poem " Happy Halloween " is online at Allegro Poetry Magazine (scroll down to read it).

I just received a second nomination to the Pushcart Prize for my poem “ The Work of the Body “

Brief Candles: 101 Clerihews by Henry S. Taylor My rating: 2 of 5 stars Mildly humorous and occasionally witty. View all my reviews

Brief Candles: 101 Clerihews by Henry S. Taylor My rating: 2 of 5 stars Mildly humorous and occasionally witty. View all my reviews

The Dream of the Marsh Wren by Pattiann Rogers My rating: 5 of 5 stars Despite awards and recognitions, Pattiann Rogers is still an under-appreciated poet of the latter 20th and early 21st Centuries. In this prose essay, Rogers describes how her writing creates her as she creates it, and that this mirrors our place in the natural world, which creates us as we give it consciousness. She shines her words on the sacred in the smallest detail, and with passion and sensuality, makes a marriage of art and science. This small book is worth reading more than once. View all my reviews

The Dream of the Marsh Wren by Pattiann Rogers My rating: 5 of 5 stars Despite awards and recognitions, Pattiann Rogers is still an under-appreciated poet of the latter 20th and early 21st Centuries. In this prose essay, Rogers describes how her writing creates her as she creates it, and that this mirrors our place in the natural world, which creates us as we give it consciousness. She shines her words on the sacred in the smallest detail, and with passion and sensuality, makes a marriage of art and science. This small book is worth reading more than once. View all my reviews

My poem “Under the Oak Tree” has been accepted by Poetry Quarterly –the 50th poem accepted for publication in 201

My poem “Under the Oak Tree” has been accepted by Poetry Quarterly –the 50th poem accepted for publication in 2015.

My poem “ The Harvest of Dreams ” has been published by Foliate Oak Literary Magazine .

My poem “Terminal Butterfly” will appear in Temenos Journal online Fall 2015 and print Spring 2016.

My poem "Terminal Butterfly" will appear in Temenos Journal online Fall 2015 and print Spring 2016.

Two Cities Review will publish my poem “Final Inventory” on their website.

Two Cities Review will publish my poem "Final Inventory" on their website.

Honored just to be among the nominees .

The Same-Different: Poems by Hannah Sanghee Park My rating: 3 of 5 stars There is much to admire in Hannah Sanghee Park’s collection: Her efforts to refresh the language by turning cliche’s on their heads, by extensive wordplay and pun, her surprising us by turning a stale image inside out. Too often, though, the craft and the verbal gymnastics overwhelm the heart. There are some wonderful exceptions. “Nommo in September” touches deeply. The third section of the book “Fear” is a poem sequence of sorts that also speaks more deeply. Nonetheless, this is a collection I am glad to have read, but do not feel driven to reread. View all my reviews

The Same-Different: Poems by Hannah Sanghee Park My rating: 3 of 5 stars There is much to admire in Hannah Sanghee Park's collection: Her efforts to refresh the language by turning cliche's on their heads, by extensive wordplay and pun, her surprising us by turning a stale image inside out. Too often, though, the craft and the verbal gymnastics overwhelm the heart. There are some wonderful exceptions. "Nommo in September" touches deeply. The third section of the book "Fear" is a poem sequence of sorts that also speaks more deeply. Nonetheless, this is a collection I am glad to have read, but do not feel driven to reread. View all my reviews

One of my poems is in the current issue of Stoneboat Literary Journal .

One of my poems is in the current issue of Stoneboat Literary Journal .

My poem “Taconic Orogeny” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize . Congratulations to my fellow nominees.

My poem "Taconic Orogeny" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize . Congratulations to my fellow nominees.

New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2 by Mary Oliver My rating: 4 of 5 stars Saying that Mary Oliver writes "nature poetry" is like saying Louis Armstrong played the trumpet. Her verse is rich and deep, what Coleridge called philosophical poetry. And yes, she does look and listen deeply to the natural world, striving to be aware and yet become one with it. Oliver writes with passion in both the physical and spiritual senses. This collection is a way to spend some time in the company of a deep soul. View all my reviews

New and Selected Poems, Vol. 2 by Mary Oliver My rating: 4 of 5 stars Saying that Mary Oliver writes “nature poetry” is like saying Louis Armstrong played the trumpet. Her verse is rich and deep, what Coleridge called philosophical poetry. And yes, she does look and listen deeply to the natural world, striving to be aware and yet become one with it. Oliver writes with passion in both the physical and spiritual senses. This collection is a way to spend some time in the company of a deep soul. View all my reviews

My poem “Treehouse Summer” is in the 2015 edition of From the Depths (see page 17).

My poem "Treehouse Summer" is in the 2015 edition of From the Depths (see page 17).

My poem “ Transit ” has been published on Rust + Moth.

My poem " Transit " has been published on Rust + Moth.

The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock—shock is a worn-out word—but astonish. – Terry Southern

 The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock—shock is a worn-out word—but astonish. - Terry Southern

Carbon Culture Review has accepted another of my poems for future publication. http://www.carbonculturereview.com

Carbon Culture Review has accepted another of my poems for future publication.  http://www.carbonculturereview.com

Carbon Culture Review has accepted another of my poems for future publication.  http://www.carbonculturereview.com

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it. -Gustave Flaubert

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it. -Gustave Flaubert

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it. -Gustave Flaubert

Two of my poems are in the Summer issue of Touch: The Journal of Healin g

Two of my poems are in the Summer issue of Touch: The Journal of Healin g

The October 2015 Issue 16 of Vine Leaves contains my poem "Taconic Orogeny"

The October 2015 Issue 16 of Vine Leaves contains my poem “Taconic Orogeny”

My poem “Ghosts: Paper or Plastic” is in the October 2015 Yellow Chair Review

My poem "Ghosts: Paper or Plastic" is in the October 2015 Yellow Chair Review

Two of my poems are in the October Issue of the Birds We Piled Loosely

Two of my poems are in the October Issue of the Birds We Piled Loosely

Two of my poems are in the Fall 2015 issue of The Scapegoat Review

My poem "Still Life: Old Man with Mockingbird" is in the Autumn/Winter 2015-16 issue of The Write Place at the Write Time

My poem “Still Life: Old Man with Mockingbird” is in the Autumn/Winter 2015-16 issue of The Write Place at the Write Time

Two of my poems are in the Fall 2015 issue of The Scapegoat Review

Join me and other Culpeper area writes Saturday Oct 17 at the Culpeper Library. http://ow.ly/Tu9OO

Aji Magazine will publish 3 of my poems in its Spring 2016 issue. http://www.ajimagazine.com/

The Art of Description: World into Word by Mark Doty My rating: 5 of 5 stars With this collection of thoughts and essays. Mark Doty shows that not only is he a fine poet, he is also a great explicator of poetry and advocate for its craft. He argues effectively for description of the world and the inner experience of it, and the informing of each by the other. Doty also points to a critical problem with so much current poetry: “Startling, to go description-hunting and realize that I can thumb through whole books of recent poems with very little evocation of sense perception within them. Why is this the case? I declare myself here on the side of allegiance to the sensible, things as they are, the given, the incompletely knowable, never to get done or get it right or render it whole: ours to say and say. The mightiest of our resources brought to the task, to make the world real.” There is a loss of faith in the ability of language to be more than solipsistic, and a concomitant loss in th

The Art of Description: World into Word by Mark Doty My rating: 5 of 5 stars With this collection of thoughts and essays. Mark Doty shows that not only is he a fine poet, he is also a great explicator of poetry and advocate for its craft. He argues effectively for description of the world and the inner experience of it, and the informing of each by the other. Doty also points to a critical problem with so much current poetry: "Startling, to go description-hunting and realize that I can thumb through whole books of recent poems with very little evocation of sense perception within them. Why is this the case? I declare myself here on the side of allegiance to the sensible, things as they are, the given, the incompletely knowable, never to get done or get it right or render it whole: ours to say and say. The mightiest of our resources brought to the task, to make the world real." There is a loss of faith in the ability of language to be more than solipsistic, and a concomitan

Two of my poems are included in the latest BPL issue. https://birdspiledloosely.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/issue-51.pdf

My poem “Ghosts: Paper or Plastic” is included in the Yellowchair Review October “Horror” issue.  http://issuu.com/yellowchairreview/docs/ycrhorrorissue

My poem “Ghosts: Paper or Plastic” is included in the Yellowchair Review October “Horror” issue.  http://issuu.com/yellowchairreview/docs/ycrhorrorissue

My poem "Ghosts: Paper or Plastic" is included in the Yellowchair Review October "Horror" issue.  http://issuu.com/yellowchairreview/docs/ycrhorrorissue

My poetry & that of other poets in Heron Tree now available in a print collection.

My poetry & that of other poets in Heron Tree now available in a print collection.

My poetry & that of other poets in Heron Tree now available in a print collection.

The Beauty: Poems by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 4 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield never disappoints—although the poems in the first and last sections were the strongest. The entire collection exudes a Zen influence, using nature and the commonplace to find an emotional and spiritual resignation or reconciliation with the Way of the world. View all my reviews

Empty Sink Publishing  has accepted two of my poems. "Anticipating a continuance" and "Chess Plays the Exile" will be published in August in their e-journal. 

The Beauty: Poems by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 4 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield never disappoints---although the poems in the first and last sections were the strongest. The entire collection exudes a Zen influence, using nature and the commonplace to find an emotional and spiritual resignation or reconciliation with the Way of the world. View all my reviews

Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 5 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield is not just one of the finest poets writing today, she is also one of the best writers about the craft and art of poetry and its place in our contemporary world. This collection of essays is not just for the student of poetry but for anyone who cares about language and the need for art to make us wholly human. View all my reviews

Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 5 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield is not just one of the finest poets writing today, she is also one of the best writers about the craft and art of poetry and its place in our contemporary world. This collection of essays is not just for the student of poetry but for anyone who cares about language and the need for art to make us wholly human. View all my reviews

Rust and Moth will publish my poem “Transit” both online and in their Winter 2015 print edition. http://rustandmoth.com/

Rust and Moth will publish my poem "Transit" both online and in their Winter 2015 print edition. http://rustandmoth.com/

“…good poetry carries broad information within brief speech.” Jane Hirshfield

Vine Leaves Literary Journal has accepted my poem “Taconic Orogeny” for publication in its October issue.

Vine Leaves Literary Journal has accepted my poem "Taconic Orogeny" for publication in its October issue.

Vine Leaves Literary Journal has accepted my poem “Taconic Orogeny” for publication in its October issue.

A Several World by Brian Blanchfield My rating: 3 of 5 stars When you try to condense your critical opinion of a collection of poems to a number of stars, you realize the inadequacy of ratings. I admire much of Brian Blanchfield’s ambitious and generous collection. He has a gift of the short and pungent phrase, epigrammatic without being obvious. His language has echoes of the lusciousness of Wallace Stevens and the obscure juxtaposition of John Ashberry. Blanchfield interplays the grammatical, the etymological, and the personal in interesting ways. But when I am done, and I ask if I willread it again, I must admit that the answer is probably no. I admire the effort and often the craft. But I am left cold and oddly noncurious. Perhaps it is my failure as a reader. Perhaps the work in the end fails to “separate from the rummage.” View all my reviews

A Several World by Brian Blanchfield My rating: 3 of 5 stars When you try to condense your critical opinion of a collection of poems to a number of stars, you realize the inadequacy of ratings. I admire much of Brian Blanchfield's ambitious and generous collection. He has a gift of the short and pungent phrase, epigrammatic without being obvious. His language has echoes of the lusciousness of Wallace Stevens and the obscure juxtaposition of John Ashberry. Blanchfield interplays the grammatical, the etymological, and the personal in interesting ways. But when I am done, and I ask if I willread it again, I must admit that the answer is probably no. I admire the effort and often the craft. But I am left cold and oddly noncurious. Perhaps it is my failure as a reader. Perhaps the work in the end fails to "separate from the rummage." View all my reviews

Allegro Poetry Magazine has accepted another of my poems for their March 2016 issue. http://allegropoetry.org /

Allegro Poetry Magazine has accepted another of my poems for their March 2016 issue. http://allegropoetry.org /

Splitting and Binding by Pattiann Rogers My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pattiann Rogers is that rare poet who writes with the lyrical love of nature that Wordsworth had but without any false sentimentality. Instead, she brings the eye of the scientist together with the heart of the naturalist. She is unafraid to face the harsh reality of life and death in her own existence or in the natural or human world around her. This mid-career collection shows Rogers at her best. View all my reviews

Splitting and Binding by Pattiann Rogers My rating: 4 of 5 stars Pattiann Rogers is that rare poet who writes with the lyrical love of nature that Wordsworth had but without any false sentimentality. Instead, she brings the eye of the scientist together with the heart of the naturalist. She is unafraid to face the harsh reality of life and death in her own existence or in the natural or human world around her. This mid-career collection shows Rogers at her best. View all my reviews

Parables & Faxes by Gwyneth Lewis My rating: 4 of 5 stars Gwyneth Lewis is a Welsh writer whose poetry in English is infused with the Welsh language and land. But there are touches of cummings and Dickinson in such poems as “A Fanciful Marriage” and “Annunciation.”Her humor and slantwise look at living in this world are graced with a humane touch and a lyrical voice. She uses patterns of lines with end half-rhymes that are enjambed so the music is there but subtle. Lewis views modern life through a lens of fable and some whimsy, weaving the human and the natural in close identification. She is unheralded today in the US and should be read as a partial antidote to the prosy fracturing of the late Postmodern verse that pervades MFA programs. View all my reviews

Parables & Faxes by Gwyneth Lewis My rating: 4 of 5 stars Gwyneth Lewis is a Welsh writer whose poetry in English is infused with the Welsh language and land. But there are touches of cummings and Dickinson in such poems as "A Fanciful Marriage" and "Annunciation."Her humor and slantwise look at living in this world are graced with a humane touch and a lyrical voice. She uses patterns of lines with end half-rhymes that are enjambed so the music is there but subtle. Lewis views modern life through a lens of fable and some whimsy, weaving the human and the natural in close identification. She is unheralded today in the US and should be read as a partial antidote to the prosy fracturing of the late Postmodern verse that pervades MFA programs. View all my reviews

Allegro Poetry Magazine will publish my poem "Happy Halloween" in November 2015 http://allegropoetry.org/

Allegro Poetry Magazine will publish my poem “Happy Halloween” in November 2015 http://allegropoetry.org/

Yellow Chair Review has accepted “Ghosts: Paper or Plastic” for their Horror Issue set to release October https://www.facebook.com/yellowchairreview?fref=ts

Yellow Chair Review has accepted "Ghosts: Paper or Plastic" for their Horror Issue set to release October https://www.facebook.com/yellowchairreview?fref=ts

Touch: The Journal of Healing has accepted 4 of my poems for publications this fall. http://www.thelivesyoutouch.com/touchjournal/Home/index.html

Touch: The Journal of Healing has accepted 4 of my poems for publications this fall. http://www.thelivesyoutouch.com/touchjournal/Home/index.html

Empty Sink has published 2 of my poems: http://emptysinkpublishing.com/poetry/two-poems-david-anthony-sam/

Empty Sink has published 2 of my poems: http://emptysinkpublishing.com/poetry/two-poems-david-anthony-sam/

Fire to Fire by Mark Doty My rating: 5 of 5 stars A courageous and emotionally powerful collection, "Fire to Fire" exhibits Mark Doty's poetical range and aesthetic. He speaks with clarity of language and image, is not afraid to allow the natural world to speak for him, and faces death and life after the deaths of so many close to him with honesty and impossible hope: "All smolder and oxblood, these flowerheads, flames of August: fierce bronze, or murky rose, petals concluded in gold— And as if fire called its double down the paired goldfinches come swerving quick on the branching towers, so the blooms sway with the heft of hungers indistinguishable, now, from the blossoms." "Sometimes we wake not knowing how we came to lie here, or who has crowned us with these temporary, precious stones." He reveals the survivor's wonder and guilt when he survives when so many friends and a lover die in the great AIDS crisis: "And why did a god so investe

Fire to Fire by Mark Doty My rating: 5 of 5 stars A courageous and emotionally powerful collection, “Fire to Fire” exhibits Mark Doty’s poetical range and aesthetic. He speaks with clarity of language and image, is not afraid to allow the natural world to speak for him, and faces death and life after the deaths of so many close to him with honesty and impossible hope: “All smolder and oxblood, these flowerheads, flames of August: fierce bronze, or murky rose, petals concluded in gold— And as if fire called its double down the paired goldfinches come swerving quick on the branching towers, so the blooms sway with the heft of hungers indistinguishable, now, from the blossoms.” “Sometimes we wake not knowing how we came to lie here, or who has crowned us with these temporary, precious stones.” He reveals the survivor’s wonder and guilt when he survives when so many friends and a lover die in the great AIDS crisis: “And why did a god so invested in permanence choose so fragile a medium, t

Scar Tissue: Poems by Charles Wright My rating: 4 of 5 stars This 2006 collection by Charles Wright describes the “scar tissue” of living and of nostalgia for real or imagined better times. Wright is not a “nature poet” so much as a philosophical one as Coleridge described Wordsworth, one who uses his relationship with nature to explore and expose life’s challenge of finding meaning. The experience of sunset becomes an analogy for human biography: “If night is our last address This is the pace we moved from, Backs on fire, our futures hard-edged and sure to arrive…. “And where are we headed for? The country of Narrative, that dark territory Which spells out our stories in sentences, which gives them an end and beginning…” Wright’s poetry challenges us—not with obscurity or experimental language, but with living fully awake and aware, where “Something unordinary persists,/ Something unstill, neversleeping, just possible past reason.” The time spent being so challenged is well worth it.

Scar Tissue: Poems by Charles Wright My rating: 4 of 5 stars This 2006 collection by Charles Wright describes the "scar tissue" of living and of nostalgia for real or imagined better times. Wright is not a "nature poet" so much as a philosophical one as Coleridge described Wordsworth, one who uses his relationship with nature to explore and expose life's challenge of finding meaning. The experience of sunset becomes an analogy for human biography: "If night is our last address This is the pace we moved from, Backs on fire, our futures hard-edged and sure to arrive.... "And where are we headed for? The country of Narrative, that dark territory Which spells out our stories in sentences, which gives them an end and beginning..." Wright's poetry challenges us---not with obscurity or experimental language, but with living fully awake and aware, where "Something unordinary persists,/ Something unstill, neversleeping, just possible past reaso

Stoneboat Literary Review will publish my poem “Recapitulation” in its upcoming issue.

Stoneboat Literary Review will publish my poem “Recapitulation” in its upcoming issue.

Stoneboat Literary Review will publish my poem "Recapitulation" in its upcoming issue.

Red Savina Review will publish my poem “Stone Birds” in its Spring 2016 issue.

Red Savina Review will publish my poem "Stone Birds" in its Spring 2016 issue.

The latest issue of Clementine include my poem “Last Journal”

The latest issue of Clementine include my poem "Last Journal"

The latest issue of Yellowchair Review includes my poem “The Alien in Meeting” http://ow.ly/Qmww6

The latest issue of Yellowchair Review includes my poem "The Alien in Meeting" http://ow.ly/Qmww6

Pick up a copy of The Piedmont Virginian Summer 2015 edition to read two of my poems.

Pick up a copy of The Piedmont Virginian Summer 2015 edition to read two of my poems.

Buffalo Yoga: Poems by Charles Wright My rating: 4 of 5 stars Charles Wright’s Buffalo Yoga poems contain no buffaloes, but do interweave personal memories with the natural world, history and biography. “Everything’s more essential in norther light, horses/Lie down in the dry meadow,/Clouds trail, like prairie schooners…” And the losses of the past are like the absence of buffalo from a plain. “Thus do we take our deaths up on our shoulders and walk and walk,/ Trying to get back Wright’s prosy and natural style still has a subtle eloquence, and only falters a bit in the latter third of the collection. But it is a worth collection, accessible, yet deep. View all my reviews

Buffalo Yoga: Poems by Charles Wright My rating: 4 of 5 stars Charles Wright's Buffalo Yoga poems contain no buffaloes, but do interweave personal memories with the natural world, history and biography. "Everything's more essential in norther light, horses/Lie down in the dry meadow,/Clouds trail, like prairie schooners..." And the losses of the past are like the absence of buffalo from a plain. "Thus do we take our deaths up on our shoulders and walk and walk,/ Trying to get back Wright's prosy and natural style still has a subtle eloquence, and only falters a bit in the latter third of the collection. But it is a worth collection, accessible, yet deep. View all my reviews

The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison by Maggie Smith My rating: 5 of 5 stars Maggie Smith’s new collection looms rich in terrible “grim” fairy tales, told with a hint of the child’s voice but very much adult in theme and honesty. Veils slip aside briefly to suggest ancient myths and stories told over the eons to try to help us understand the falling of stars and dying of everything we love or touch. Wolves and birds are mythic beings. The forest invades our nightmares and day dreams. The common lurches into the eerie and back again. The commonplace weirds into the uncommon: “The seatbelt buckle branded/its open mouth into your wait.” Nature dreams itself into our daylight: “Wrens pinned like brooches/to the trees, singing, their eyes glass beads.” Always, death lurks in the eyes of the forest and in the inanimate briefly animated: “When the stone/healed behind you, it sounded like a lid closing over a tomb.” Smith identifies with other beings, becoming the other, allowing the other to

Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 5 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield doesn't just write some of the finest poetry being published at this moment, she is also a great explicator and celebrator of poems. In Ten Windows, she argues that since language has power and poetry is uniquely powerful language, poems can indeed change the world. I gave up on trying to write the world whole decades ago, but she still makes good points as she gives excellent readings of powerful poetry: "And by changing selves, one by one, art changes also the outer world that selves create and share." View all my reviews

Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World by Jane Hirshfield My rating: 5 of 5 stars Jane Hirshfield doesn’t just write some of the finest poetry being published at this moment, she is also a great explicator and celebrator of poems. In Ten Windows, she argues that since language has power and poetry is uniquely powerful language, poems can indeed change the world. I gave up on trying to write the world whole decades ago, but she still makes good points as she gives excellent readings of powerful poetry: “And by changing selves, one by one, art changes also the outer world that selves create and share.” View all my reviews

My poem  “The Difficulty of Morning”  is live now on  Heron Tree . My thanks to the editors. 

My poem  "The Difficulty of Morning"  is live now on  Heron Tree . My thanks to the editors.