The Correspondent

Now and then I will read a book that pulls me into its world so deeply that I am there, and the characters are no longer fictional, but are people that I know. Such a novel is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. As a writer myself, I have a pretty…

The Present Moment

First published through my Water's Edge Press newsletter When I first read Tolstoy’s great fable, The Emperor’s Three Questions, I knew I would use it as the first work we read in AP English Literature and Composition each year. My premise was that AP English was hard work, so our…

Boon: Fifty Poems by Karl Elder, a review

Disclaimer: Midwestern poet Karl Elder was my adviser and mentor when I was an undergrad at Lakeland College in the late 1980s, and then beyond when I worked with him in a supportive role for the Great Lakes Writers Festival. Elder, more than any other person, taught me poetry and…