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Tuesday, August 25, 2026

New Poem in Epoch

 I have a new poem in Epoch, a literary journal out of Cornell University. This poem is available only through print copies of the journal (not online). Usually I don't post my poems that appear only in print journals, as it would be best to encourage prospective readers to buy a copy of the journal, to support the journal that has supported my work by publishing it. That has been my policy, but I am wondering if it's an efficacious personal policy, as no one has ever told me that they have bought a copy of a journal to just read my poem.

So, if anyone reads this blog (and why would they? nobody reads blogs anymore) and has an opinion on the matter, let me know what you think. Would you, or do you, post poems that appear only in print journals and are not available online? 

Meanwhile, this time I am posting the poem that appears in Epoch, to see how it feels, to see what happens. 


Winnowed 

I want to want to be good.
I want to want to be used by God. 
That one degree of separation— 

 jellyfish wish: to be 

a bell the color of water 
 submerged, held by the water 
it holds yet 

never becoming the water. 

 This asymptotic ache, this spat-out 
lukewarmness, this inside-out hairshirt— 
a wavering, this oneness with wind. 

Like Saint Augustine, like Jonah not yet swallowed— 

I wish I wished to rise 
from this hammock to herald, 
to summon, to be someone 

else.                       Windfall apples.

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