Poetry is alive and well in the halls of America’s high schools, at least if my experience with the Poetry Out Loud program is any indication. In spite of the challenges of the COVID pandemic, one of our local high schools has consistently participated in the national arts education program, which is designed to encourage the study of great poetry. The program does this by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. Beyond a love of poetry itself, this program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life, according to its website.

This was my fifth year judging the competition, and I never fail to be impressed by the talent and enthusiasm of the students. In the past, this high school has had a student go on to compete at the national level, and commitment to the program remains strong. Although I graduated from high school a long time ago, I learn something every time I participate. Congratulations to the DuBois area high school, and the students who take the time to learn a great program and recite it for an audience.

I am so pleased to share that my poem, Standing Dead, has been accepted by Tiny Seed for their online Apaja’sink Journal. The word Apaja’sink means return in the Mi’kmaq language. According to their invitation to submit, the Tiny Seed community “is connected and inspired by the Mi’kmaq people and their culture. The Mi’kmaq have lived in what is now called northern Maine and the eastern Canadian Maritimes for over 10,000 years.” One of the things that differentiates Tiny Seed as a literary journal is that they donate a portion of their proceeds to various causes. In this case, submission fees will be donated to the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre. Check out their website for all their work, and my poem, Standing Dead.

Thank you to guest editor T. Byron Kelly for choosing me as the featured writer for the Fall 2021 Edition of The Watershed Journal. Byron read all submissions ‘blind’ and it is a honor that he felt mine should be featured. To find out more about The Watershed Journal, visit their website at www.thewatershedjournal.org.

Appearing in the 2021 Winter Edition, Volume 11, of The Watershed Journal.

My poem, Reaching, in the latest edition of The Watershed Journal.

From PENNESSENCE, the journal of the Pennsylvania Poetry Society. 

I have my full mind plenty of eyesight
and some spunk left in me I have never
been sick a day in my life So hear me
I know what God looks like We met years
and years ago but I’ll never forget Him
As a young boy I went fishing at my secret
still water pond in the forest A three foot
long carp big as a log hovered near me all
day ‘till twilight At dinner I fed him the bread
crust from my sandwich the part I didn’t like
and proceeded to live on to this great age