Mother died at 90 last May Day. It seems like an ocean of time and then, hardly any time at all. You can read more about my mother on the “Sightlines” portion of this site on the Sweet Little Dove page including: * Ruth Thompson Life Story * Mother’s Memorial Service And the poems: *Under…
From 2000-2001 I sent out my poems, stories, and personal essays to national literary journals. I used Writers Relief, Inc., an author’s submission service, to help me with the logistical details of submission. I learned a bundle (notice the verb is “learn,” not “earn”!) and enjoyed getting all the mail, including the rejection letters. After…
Pop (Erwin A. Thompson) had a reading and signing at Hayner Library in Alton, Illinois this week for his new Western–Cattle Country and Back Trail: Two Tales from the Thompson Western Series. He always delivers more content and more soul than any audience could hope for. In the morning when I came downstairs, I heard…
In an article originally published in American Poet, the biannual journal published by the Academy of American Poets for its members, Eavan Boland talked about a “transnational poetics.” I was particularly fascinated by her comparison and contrast of American and Irish culture and the poetic communities each country fostered–and how this shaped the poetry that…
I was fascinated by the premise of this essay. “There are far too few daughters in poetry.” –JGR Daughters in Poetry by Eavan Boland There are far too few daughters in poetry. They turn up surprisingly rarely in nineteenth century poems, considering how they crowded into the available fictional equivalents. So it’s a relief to…
My friend Stephanie Farrow, a marvelous poet in her own right, sent me this poem today, as one she enjoys. I thought you might enjoy it as well. Atlantis—A Lost Sonnet by Eavan Boland How on earth did it happen, I used to wonder that a whole city—arches, pillars, colonnades, not to mention vehicles and…
Poet, essayist, translator, teacher. W. S. Di Piero says it best: “I’m not an intellectual poet. I write mostly out of nerve and instinct. It’s all a process of taking in the intensities of life and bringing them over into the intensities of words. I’ve believed from the beginning that poetry exists not to simplify…
Last year I met Eamon Grennan’s poetry through the Lannan Literary videos, a marvelous resource that deserves a post of its own. Eamon Grennan quickly became one of my favorite poets. Former U. S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins says of Grennan: Few poets are as generous as Eamon Grennan in the sheer volume of delight…
I love this poem from B. H. Fairchild’s 1998 The Art of the Lathe. When I read it, I get chills–goose-bumps always tell me something more is up than I can know. For me, in such a deep way, this poem describes my father–his delicacy, his competence, his depth and no-need-to-speak-it kinship with spirit. For…
“Water Under the Bridge” is featured on WTTW Network Chicago’s River Stories. Listen to Pop read his poem “Water Under the Bridge,” sing “When the Rose Bloom Again” and reflect upon the sometimes bittersweet, but inevitable, passing of time by clicking on the red link below.–JGR “What inspired me to write Water Under the Bridge?…