Made Its Way Store.

Why do you have a store?

I set up an Etsy store with my wife, Sarah. We may eventually sell items on this site directly and not link out to Etsy. It is mostly for fun. I like the idea of creating greeting cards with some of my poetry. I’m not sure where it might lead, but a little commercial art will help keep the lights on here at this website, and most importantly, I’ll learn something new. I’ve been selling poetry books since 2021 (I also helped with Sarah’s book, The Holiday Window Painting Book, in 2019). There is a “book” button on the navigation page for my published books. My books Idling Intuitions and Mast Years are experimental. In a way, they record themes I find interesting and plan to continue to write about in new poems. Both have several poems I like, but as a whole, they do not match my first two books: Coos River Reverberations: Poems of River, Farm, and Forest or Amble: Poems.

Currently, Coos River Reverberations is my favorite book I’ve written. I have a new collection of poetry (my 5th) most likely launching late 2024. This new book has 27 new poems and 51 selected poems. I have included 25 poems from CRR. They are mostly the same, but the stanzas have been adjusted. I’ve also revised some of those poems lightly. I have selected poems from my other collections. I revised poems in Amble substantially. I’m pleased with how they turned out. If you’ve bought one of more of my books, thank you. It means a lot.

I am excited about my new poems. I believe I unlocked a new level for my poetry writing. I consolidated all the techniques I learned by writing my first four books, and something clicked. The book is pretty dark and deals with loss. There are also some exciting, inspirational poems for folks who like to fish, rock climb, surf, and generally immerse themselves in nature.

If I never write a poem again, I feel like I have accomplished what I set out to do with my poetry, namely, express my gratitude for the Coos River Valley, and return to an old dream to learn the craft of poetry. That was my original career goal when I was 19, but I felt it was too impractical so I let it go. I moved to journalling. Poetry is still impractical for making money unless you are gifted enough to teach at the college level or have some private financial means to carry on. Of course, there are those few poets in the world who break through, and that is always great to see. I’m older now, and I realize maybe for a kid on the north edge of the wilderness, poetry’s impractical nature is what made it appealing and special to me. Impractical or not, what was once a “want” when I was younger has become a spiritual “need” as I’ve gotten older, so here I am to let it be.