poetry – Page 6 – Chris Bevens

A War Designed to Fit a Door

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Something About a Shadow – a collaborative poem

Two days ago I posted a prompt in hopes of creating a collaborative poem from submitted lines. The prompt: where is your shadow? The lines submitted: Hiding inside me Across my chicken coop Always attached to me In the clockwork of the hillside Here is our first pedalpoet collaborative poem: Thank you for participating! AnotherContinue reading “Something About a Shadow – a collaborative poem”

To the Young Woman With the Bee in Her Hand

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On Writing Poems – part 5 – How to Get Published

Someone wrote to me recently and asked, How do I get my poems published? Man, I wish I could tell you. I wish I could say, just keep writing them, and honing them and, keep at it, and don’t give up; except that isn’t how it works. Poetry, nothing really, is that simple. It gotContinue reading “On Writing Poems – part 5 – How to Get Published”

Buying Poetry

The last poetry-related journal entry I posted was about getting rid of a collection of books, and coming to terms with the ramifications of that now, decades later. One of the points was that I find myself here today, a poet with few books of poetry at hand. If you want to know a bitContinue reading “Buying Poetry”

On Writing Poems – part 4 – Copying

I’ve already proposed you should steal. Now I’m going to encourage you to copy. A lesson I think is quite valuable to keep in mind when attempting to write poetry is to look at other crafts, other arts, and other pursuits for inspiration in regards to systems and ways of thinking, and of process. Let’sContinue reading “On Writing Poems – part 4 – Copying”

Selling Rare Books

Life seems to come in fits and starts. I doubt my experience is unusual in that regard. I seem to uncover truths, meaningful to me in certain moments of clarity, which lead me to a deeper understanding (or the illusion of a deeper understanding) of self; moments like lighthouses defining just enough of the worldContinue reading “Selling Rare Books”

Mountain Biker’s Prayer

To be undressed at the Subaru’s hatch, pulling on shorts and peering into the woods for trails and sounds of life and signs of riding. To lube chain and dial-in brakes, shifting, saddle height, alone at the trailhead or with buddies, talking smack, sneaking a hit, stretching legs. To attack the trail and climb immediatelyContinue reading “Mountain Biker’s Prayer”