Two of my poems are featured in the Spring 2019 edition of The Watershed Journal. They’ve assembled submissions by writers from northwestern Pennsylvania. All of our pieces celebrate our place in northern Appalachia, some with folk wisdom like “Today” by Greg Clary and others with a nice convoluted wit like “Wait Not” by Byron Hoot. My poem … More “Vespers” and “Memorial Day” in The Watershed Journal
MEMORIAL DAY IN THE SHALE FIELDS Families gather at the cemetery of the first Memorial Day to honor fallen soldiers. The carnival’s din white noise in the background. The Governor invokes the Preamble’s more perfect union, America’s freedom, her might, the first woman to have lain an offering at the soldiers’ graves. Since she was … More MEMORIAL DAY IN THE SHALE FIELDS (Revision)
MEMORIAL DAY IN THE SHALE FIELDS Families gather at the cemetery of the first Memorial Day to honor fallen soldiers. The carnival’s din white noise in the background. The Governor recollects the Preamble’s invocation, our more perfect union, America’s freedom, her might, the first woman to have lain an offering at the soldiers’ graves. On … More MEMORIAL DAY IN THE SHALE FIELDS (Revision of Memorial Day)
Memorial Day Families gather at the cemetery to honor fallen soldiers as the Governor recollects the Preamble’s invocation of a more perfect union, America’s freedom and her might. Out there in the periphery, the place my effete neighbors call Nowhere or Hicksville a child shudders in her mothers’ arms, nose bleeding and head pounding with … More Memorial Day
In 2014, I co-organized a Memorial Day protest against former Governor Tom Corbett’s opening of state parks to the natural gas industry. I wrote this piece for a conference I attended the following fall as a reflection on environmental protest as a form of public moral education. It’s wonky at points, but heartfelt nonetheless. Given … More Reflecting on our decision to protest Tom Corbett’s fracking moves on Memorial Day 2014
Peter Walks for Democracy 