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My Life in Poetry

"In my column 'My Life in Poetry,' I focus on different particular items that are of current interest to me in poetry, particularly in the poetry that I have been writing, and look at them in the context of what was going on in my life at the time. For me, the poetry I write is one of many elements in my life, and it is hopefully an expressive element that sheds light on my life in general. Insofar as my poems strike a chord in people who read them, I would like to think that that comes from something in their lives that harmonizes with something in mine. Hence, I write a column that is part memoir and part poetics, hoping that the two are mutually illuminating."

--Don Riggs

More pieces by Don Riggs

	Yards by Don Riggs "These two trees gave me wonderful hiding places during the summertime, when my parents wanted me out of the air-conditioned house and into the sultry but "fresh" Maryland air. ... I would read in one of the trees, and as I was surrounded by leaves, I was both in the shade and out of sight." Read More	My Life in Poetry 5/21/2008
	Narrative Poems by Don Riggs "Sometimes, Death flashes his headlights in your rear-view mirror just to keep you aware of your morality." Read More	My Life in Poetry 2/4/2008
	Biology Poems by Don Riggs "To get the class inspired to write, I took them through a guided visualization..." Read More	My Life in Poetry 11/26/2007
	Chill, in Various Senses by Don Riggs "Even though it bothered me personally that this Ang Lee fellow had decided to ridicule that high point of American culture -- after all, the US in the 1970s was a ver special era, and I don't think it has been replaced by anything superior, personally speaking -- still it was a pretty good flick." Read More	My Life in Poetry 5/8/2007
	Shakespeare and I: by Don Riggs "I am still wrestling with my father, or at least playing ping-pong with him. Through poetry, I am trying to develop into a player with a better offensive technique. We’ll see when I get there." Read More	My Life in Poetry 5/25/2006
	Writing from No Dream: by Don Riggs "However, often I wake without any dream images in my conscious mind... What about writing a poem about not being able to remember a dream?" Read More	My Life in Poetry 4/6/2007
	Ut Pictura Poesis: Poetry Inspired by the Drexel Collection by Don Riggs "A poem should describe people, places, things, actions, etc. in such a way that the reader can see them in the imagination." Read More	My Life in Poetry 8/2/2006
	Academic Poet by Don Riggs "I have been called an “academic poet" from time to time since that workshop led by Diane Wakoski thirty years ago. I had walked into class late, not realizing we were having a guest teacher, and there was this person railing on against short poems, poems that fit conveniently onto an 8 ½ by 11 page and which could be discussed easily in a workshop." Read More	My Life in Poetry Spring '06
	Mr. Buster, or The Cat Walks Through the Poem by Don Riggs "Mr. Buster is always fascinated by the filling of the tub, and the sound calls him from wherever he is at the time." Read More	My Life in Poetry Archives