Song: Immram

The last of my Avalon songs features a synthetic ocean and a real hammered dulcimer, frame drum and udu. Enjoy the journey!

Poem: Plastic trophies

If there was only a little less coddling, you said. No handouts, no plastic trophies, no soothing words over skinned knees. No, the best favor is to show them what …

On cowardice and conflict

Sometimes the tail retreats beneath the body. We curl inward, protecting the heart. “Coward” comes from the Latin cauda, “tail,” by way of Middle English and Old French. And that …

Song: The Message

My latest Avalonian song, “The Message,” features doumbek, frame drum, harp and some really cool backward vocals. Among my list of available effects is one called “Hangul,” which is described …

Poem: Immram

You don’t stay on the island, behind the wall of mist. Does the seed stay with the blossom or does it cast forth on the sea, finding new lands to …

Poem: The Message

We wrote it on the water, in the wisps of smoke from a fire of nine woods. We wrote it in the branches, in the roots. Our breath the page, …

Poem: Advice for a friend

When the losses drift and pile into freezing banks, dance. Remember your essential nature that pushes always, like that first bold crocus, through the rime. You were always a dancer: …

Song: The Ethos

My Kwannon project this summer involves creating ethereal soundscapes for my Avalonian poems, which delve into the definition of spiritual community and spiritual work. It’s different from my usual approach, …

Poem: The Ethos

Oh sister, when the fruit drops from the stem do you snatch it for yourself? Does the moon refuse to rise from the dark well of her waning and thus …

Poem: Privilege

Do you understand? We are all the May Queen, the most beautiful of girls, the egg coveted by kings and serpents, by brothers who will spar until time draws out …