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Poet • Essayist • Educator • Consultant

Take refuge on this path
the page gives you to roam.

Hunker down against
the shadow cast by prayer
and build yourself a line
that won’t efface itself.

Language is not wine.
You cannot pour it freely.

It All Connects

On My Desk Now January 2026: Either Way, You Choose A Side

On My Desk Now January 2026: Either Way, You Choose A Side

“That kind of paralysis is perfectly understandable in a rank and file, whether we’re talking about union members or people on the street. It seems inexcusable to me, however, in those who have been charged with leading the opposition...”
The Power We Pretend Not To See - 2

The Power We Pretend Not To See - 2

(Read Part 1 here.) When I was an undergraduate, a man I looked up to as a teacher and a
Bodies As Bodies: Fetal Personhood and The Politics of Reproductive Autonomy

Bodies As Bodies: Fetal Personhood and The Politics of Reproductive Autonomy

Dear Friends, Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was filled with joy and meaning, and I hope that
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Repost - Israel and Palestine: Whose Side Are You On?

Repost - Israel and Palestine: Whose Side Are You On?

I am talking about two very different areas of concern, one that has to do with the oppressive and murderously unjust behavior of a nation state, and one that has to do with an ideology that targets Jews worldwide, regardless of what their position on Israel and Palestine might be.
Maybe I Do

Maybe I Do

In Memoriam, Veronica McGinley
A Belated Gratitude

A Belated Gratitude

It never occurred to me that he might have been telling me those stories because he saw them as a way for us to connect in ways we hadn’t been able to do before...
The Power We Pretend Not To See - 1

The Power We Pretend Not To See - 1

"To me...the error is in thinking that the impulse to self-erasure that the nightingale and the dervish feel so passionately resembles love even remotely."
The Ethics of Bearing Witness in Poetry to Violence and Trauma

The Ethics of Bearing Witness in Poetry to Violence and Trauma

—Based on a talk I gave on a panel in 2017 at the Western Maryland Independent Literary Festival
Why I Write "It All Connects"

Why I Write "It All Connects"

...because it represents the vantage point from which I make the connections that matter most to me.
Four by Four #50

Four by Four #50

Four Things To Read, Four Things To See, For Things To Listen To, and Four Things About Me
The Kind Of Courage These Times Call For

The Kind Of Courage These Times Call For

not from poets in particular, but from poets no differently than anybody else
Four by Four #49

Four by Four #49

Four Things To Read, Four Things To See, For Things To Listen To, and Four Things About Me
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It All Connects is for anyone who grapples with complexity—of identity, art-making, culture, or conscience—to make a difference in their own life and, potentially, in the life of their community.

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