Introduction

This is a simple blog. I attended the Festival of Faith & Writing, 2014, at Calvin College. The list of presenters there is impressive, and grows more impressive when you start reading what they write. Blogs, poems, novels, memoirs and more spring from their keyboards and notebooks.

Two things that I heard stuck out to me:

1. Young writers should make good friends with really accomplished dead people. Their text are living.

2. Just show up.

So I took those things, and started this blog. Of course, I'm making minor adjustments. I'm not just going to make friends with dead people. I'm going to make friends with all sorts of poets. Dead ones, live ones, old ones, young ones, male and female, formalists and free verse. Whatever is speaking to me each week.

And then I'm going to respond. I'm going to write a response poem in less than one hour. Just to write. With kids flying around my house (4 boys) and a tennis team that needs my coaching and middle school students need me to at least try, time is at a premium. But I'm going to show up, at least once a week. So, off we go!