Biographical Note
My first book, Constructing the Human, was published last year by Poetry Salzburg, under the auspices of the Institute of English and American Studies.Recent journal work in England includes translations of Rilke in Tears in the Fence and Oasis (London), and in the US a series of poems was awarded the Bentley Poetry Prize, in A Fine Madness (Seattle).
My second collection, Tsunami Muses, has been completed recently ready for publication.
Biographical Note
I am a 30 year old man who has lived in Ukiah, California since July of 1999. Born in Riverside, California and raised in various locations up and down the coast, I have been a resident of this state throughout my life. Presently, my occupation consists mostly of technical consulting. My interest in poetry began at the age of 12 with a publication from Doubleday, The Best Loved Poems of the American People. I have since never ceased to be an avid reader of poetry. In the years that followed, I developed a standing interest in the lyrical works of Robert Service, Alfred Tennyson, Julia Corrine Roosevelt Dorr, and many more. Aside from developing my own skills as a writer of poems, I have made a hobby of memorizing and reciting poems, many of which I also sing, or cantillate.Comment on "Sleep"
i have spent my entire life terrified of death. no doctrines from any faith have been able to quell that fear. one day, i began thinking about the inexistence of time in sleep. and it occured to me, this is death. and if it is, indeed, death, then is death more like sleeping or is sleeping more like death? meaning, when this life ends, and my essence takes the long plunge into nothingness where exists no time, will i wake again at some point? so, i used this ghazal to explore these questions, and suggest answers to some.
Biographical Note
Bruce E. R. Thompson is a poet, puppeteer, philosopher, and librarian in San Diego County, California. He teaches philosophy at Cuyamaca College and he provides library reference service and teaches research skills to students at California State University, San Marcos. He also occasionally edits books on history and critical thinking for Greenhaven Press. As a philosopher his chief area of interest is formal logic, where he feels certain important questions remain to be answered.Comment on poetry
Perhaps it is the logician in me, but for me, poetry must have form; although I don't think form always has to mean rhyme and meter. I enjoy reading and writing haiku and Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse, as well as more customary forms. Nevertheless, without some form or other I cannot tell that I am reading or writing poetry. Prose should also be elegant, well-crafted, and (as appropriate) laced with vivid images. The only thing that truly distinguishes poetry from prose is form. The ghazal is a particularly challenging form, since we have not yet trained our ears to hear its music. Like the villanelle (which also has a form based on repeating phrases) the ghazal gives us the opportunity to play with the ways in which a phrase, like a chameleon, can change its meaning in different contexts. In this poem I explore the various meanings of the humble English word 'by'."
