My poem, “Even with Eyes Open,” which originally appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, has been republished by Ellie Magazine. I am grateful to the Ellie Magazine team for taking this piece and offering it new life.
O at the Edges
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
O at the Edges 
You are such an inspiration. No matter how much I do and say, you always seem to do it all and say it all in the best possible way. The Okaji Way (Okaji-do) is such a good way!! 🙂
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Ah, shucks, Daniel. Now you’re making me blush. If you have a moment, you might peruse the poems in Vox Populi that I linked to yesterday. I seem to be in that mode lately.
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Congratulations.
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Thank you!
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You’re welcome.
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Nature does not need us. The least we can do is bear witness. (K)
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Ain’t that the truth!
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Particularly love that amazing last line – congrats, Bob!
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Thanks, Lynne. Lately there’s been a little less of me to weigh. 😊
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Hopefully not too much less!
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Just the right amount; I’m being more mindful of my diet.
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Congratulations, Bob! I love the way your poem addresses the weight of worry.
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Thanks, Liz. It’s odd that some manifestations carry so much more weight than others!
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Congrats, of course. But also … thank you for stoking my brain a bit. (Your poems often do that.) I’m familiar with petrichor effects but did not know the word. And the raccoon inclusion … we seem to’ve been visited last night by one, triggering extensive woofing from two dogs supposedly sleeping on the back porch … leaving all of us nap-oriented this afternoon … fitting right into the cats’ pattern. Pondering, worrying change very little … but can make for very relatable poems. Enjoyed this one!
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I love the word petrichor, and the etymology—basically the blood of the gods running through the earth. The smell here is different from that in Texas—soil make up and conditions, drought vs. plenty of rain, etc.
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Modern life in a nutshell – isolation and stress
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Yes! And this was written during the height of the pandemic.
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nice👍
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Thank you.
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Strange communion. How to connect with neighbors via proxy? I like this one.
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The pandemic made it difficult to comfortably connect.
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*has made – the effects linger, sadly.
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So true.
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Congratulations on these last few publications, Bob! They capture so many questions. I feel like the raccoons are closer to the answers… Or at least they can be relied on to find a way to either eat them or have fun with them.
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The raccoons are always there, at least in my imagination!
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I too am inspired by the leaps around the thing in this poem. Glad to see it got additional attention.
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This merits a re-read. I sometimes read into it more than you meant, but it did make me think about a time at my folks place when the very prolific raspberry bushes planted themselves on the other side of the fence, a very pretty, pristine yard of a nice lady, but a lady who liked things a certain way. She came at my mom about the intrusion, and thinking about it now as an adult, I wish I could talk back to her and just laugh at how funny life is, and wasn’t it a blessing actually?
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We are now on friendly terms with our neighbors, but the pandemic put a damper on such relationships. I enjoy the occasional oddity blooming in the yard. Blessings, indeed.
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I am behind on my lists, both written and in my head, and I want to get one of your new volumes. Please suggest which first, do you think I would want to read, Windswept or Bruises?
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Hmm. A tough choice… I think Windblown would fit you well.
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So I shall. And I got the title wrong! Apologies 🙂
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Ha! I often can’t remember my poem titles. But Stephanie can.
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