June 17, 2026

it’s always so fascinating to me
watching my poetry
slide from one subject matter
[an introductory topic, if you will]
into the underlying
what-it’s-really-about
as if my conscious brain
*almost* gets it
but *always* needs to let the
subconscious brain take over
to get to the heart of the matter
[and if i try to control too much —
with form or function or rhyme or
look — the underlying message can’t come out;
or still does, but ruins whatever basis i had
laid out] and this pattern, of
almost-but-not-quite-knowing what my poetry will really
be containing, is like watching a movie of your own life
in front of you — you know what it was like behind your eyes
but from this third-person vantage, it’s all a little off
a little wild
a little unsettling in its
potential comfort,
but still entertaining
because of the new
perspective

that’s what my morning poetry is like
for me, most
mornings

June 9, 2026

nothing
is for certain

everything
is random

but some things have a logic to them
that can be predicted —

success and family wealth
diet and exercise and general future health
queerness and hairstyle
etc.
etc.
etc.

predicted
but not for certain

because nothing
nothing
nothing
is for certain

[didn’t you read the beginning of this poem?]

December 20, 2025

sometimes
subjects will mull around in my brain
for days
weeks
maybe months
[sometimes years]
before i write them down
in poem form

it’s like steeping a tea full of thoughts
so that, when i go to write it, it’s actually flavorful enough to taste

and perhaps taste is the way words come to me
[i do care about mouth-feel]
and expression is as much about
the emotion
as it is
the explanation

so the next time i’m pondering a subject matter
and think to myself “why haven’t i written it out yet?”
i can just answer
“it’s still stewing
still steeping
still brewing
give it time
give it time
it’ll taste better
with a little more time

[have you ever
not
written it out?]”

October 18, 2024

if i sit perched
like a little bird
will the words stream out faster
and faster
like getting ready for takeoff
flying
soaring
through ideas and concepts and
landing with the right words
every
time?

July 10, 2024

just write something
so this page doesn’t look so lonely,
so these words can have friends joining them
rather than setting myself up to
drop off random words
alone

May 5, 2024

my head is all over the place
which can make for interesting poetry
when i cannot follow one subject all the way through
but fifteen different thoughts have already sped through
my racing brain
but the sleep is also tugging
and i have no way of judging
which direction to go
or how much to write
or let go
or just let it be
as it is
in this mess that it is in

~~~

if i actually followed the stream of consciousness/
the different trains that blast off from
the one station of *my brain*
i still don’t think i’d have words for most thoughts —
‘high speed’ ‘ugh, typing’ ‘that beat’ ‘coffee’ ‘food’ ‘puppies’
none of those words tell a story
in the way i’d want my poetry to express —
how i called it a stream, but i feel like my thoughts are trains
holding all the context for each word within each car
but they blast off like high-speed rail, something i’d love to have in this
fucking country, and sometimes i’m on the train itself, but sometimes i’m left at the station
waiting for all the thoughts to come back to me, eventually
[hopefully whole, with some new passengers/context aboard]

~~~

i feel like the more i write
the worse my poetry ends up
and i don’t know what to do
or how to think
about that.

April 22, 2024

a very short
writing pages
day

not too many
poems/
not too much
to say

maybe in the evening
there will be more time
to think and write some more
[but by then
we’re writing for a deadline
so…]