Author Archives: pedalpoet

Happiness is Warm Florida Sand

Bury me right up to my neck in the warm Florida sand, where I feel safe where I get a tan Where no one can do nothing to upset my feelings as pure as this sand in which I’m buried, right up to my neck, and from which I sprout, like a tree, out ofContinue reading “Happiness is Warm Florida Sand”

It Was a Movie Day

It was a movie day. The projector was already set up, I could picture the screen unrolling, Mr. Fallon tipping the long, varnished and brass-tipped oak pole up to the top of the blinds, turning the little fixture thing which dropped them like theater curtains, dimming the room. Then he’d turn off the lights withContinue reading “It Was a Movie Day”

A Failure of Imagination: a poem on the January 6 Insurrection

With a nod to Kurt Vonnegut and Bob Dylan, and a call-out with special thanks and praise to Sergeant Eugene Goodman. The threat comes again, and again, and again, rising like the wind itself, the threat of fascism. *The refrain Why? Why, why, why? Why, why, why? repeated twice in the poem should be sungContinue reading “A Failure of Imagination: a poem on the January 6 Insurrection”

A story about church and trust and death

Monsignor Hannan reminded me of a wadded up piece of paper. Pale, bent, and curled up awkwardly at the edges in his arthritic stubs of fingers and permanently creased and bent black leather shoes. He had little, wet, blue eyes. Like someone had flung two droplets of water onto the wadded up paper, and they’dContinue reading “A story about church and trust and death”

Getting Pulled Over Up North: An Anecdote In Which I am as White as I can Be

I’m riding my 2006 Honda VFR up north, out of Seattle. This is around 2013. It takes a good sixty miles or so to get out of city traffic and finally past the last straight stretches of highway 9, a final thirty tedious miles of four-lane stop-and-go heading north, broken into seemingly endless intervals byContinue reading “Getting Pulled Over Up North: An Anecdote In Which I am as White as I can Be”

Thinking of Bukowski While Gardening in Early Spring

In my last post I mentioned having little trouble writing, but tons of trouble figuring how to come up with an appropriate prompt in an attempt to connect with people via poetry. I want a prompt to have an openness, for it to carry little of my own intention or bias along for the ride,Continue reading “Thinking of Bukowski While Gardening in Early Spring”

Poetry Prompt #4 – spring, war, compost, Bukowski

I’ve had a time coming up with a poetry prompt since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. No problem writing poetry, just coming up with a prompt that seems open and kind. It’s spring, and as I sink my hands into the fresh compost of my garden bed and smell the living funk ofContinue reading “Poetry Prompt #4 – spring, war, compost, Bukowski”

Read my story in Suburban Witchcraft Magazine

I’m pleased to let you know my story, Bioluminescence, has been published in Suburban Witchcraft Magazine. It’s a beautiful journal of poetry and art, plus one magical realism story by yours truly. Check it out here I’m making my way through it slowly still, stopping here and there to stretch my legs a bit andContinue reading “Read my story in Suburban Witchcraft Magazine”