Albert was a kangarooWho lived in a zoo in Kalamazoo,Michigan, which is notAustralia OK food, OK viewFriends, furniture OK toobut then again, this was notAustralia One evening he spoke with Joe GiraffeWho told a joke, Al did not laughHe was low could only wonderhow to get over and go down under –Australia Elephant Jack said … Read More

She liked to tell the story, when she was sixty twoNominated in the category of Best New Artist DebutIf you were a woman of color,  pretty sure to bePlaying undercover in obscurity Like Memphis Minnie before and Sister Rosetta TharpeAnd many more who blazed guitar to a wailing harpMisogynist racists kept them out of the … Read More

Eighty minutes of light went south of the border Trump thinks “Ya know, if we just had the wall.!!” I fear the night, the right’s righteous disorder But I’m privileged and white and there’s a sale at the mall Indigenous Day Discounts! The deals!  For instance Fifty percent off!  Shirts from Phnom Penh But I … Read More

2018 I am an American and reluctantly admit we’re an embarrassment because of that Twit Why can’t I be Paris-from or Belizean  or Brit? with no wannabe Erdogan tweeting Holy Writs But I’m a U.S. guy queasily ashamed I can’t deny I was too easily framed Like you, currying favor with complacency While they found … Read More

Ashland, Oregon is a community awash with creative people:  writers, actors, musicians, painters, sculptors, etc. How could I stand out here? What could I add? And then it came to me…of course! I would form a dance company! And so The Caraher Modern Dance Company was born.   Like most kids, it had long been … Read More

Hi Every year, NPR sponsors a contest for original-music videos – pretty much the only requirement for the shoot is that a desk be visible. My entry this year was shot in my studio in my new hometown of Ashland, Oregon. I wrote this song a few years ago and the lyrics were read on … Read More

Photo by Scott Olson I end this month of poetry with the lyric to a song I wrote years ago. It is unrecorded and I’ve rarely performed it. I thought of it on a recent trip back to Iowa. Although much has changed since I left, there is something about the vast skies and horizons … Read More

Abu Malek, chemical attack survivor, in the Ghouta town of AinTarma, Syria. Photo by Reuters. Words   In full throat we once cried plaintive notes that lift the tide and mothers coo and fathers weep and all we do is steal their sleep   And then we astound and form a word a more precious sound … Read More