Hands On

AS A POET whose inner circle consists mostly of non-poets, I field a lot of questions. Poets know to expect questions. We also know to expect that a lot of these questions will come paired with unsolicited assertions about poetry. Statements such as "I don’t read poetry" or "I don’t understand poetry".

WHEN NATE AND HIS BROTHERS were placed into my care, I gave them instructions on how to live in their new home and kept them in a plastic container for a week. Eventually, I moved Nate’s little family to a better home — a carefully cleaned and treated glass environment that I had custom-prepared for them.

THE SWEETHEART TABLE is fashioned just the way it was envisioned and the altar is made in eager expectation. Each carefully arranged table setting saves a place for one. Like the air around freshly fallen snow, it’s quiet.

MY INTRODUCTION to the world of programming was comically accidental. Every Thursday afternoon, my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Keach would allow me and my fellow classmates to use the computers for an hour.

GRACE SAT AT HER DESK with a clean sheet of paper, the blank sheet beckoning her to begin the process of creating. Placed to the right of the paper were five colored pencils — all the materials she would use for this session.

ARTISANS PICK UP a trade and make products for other people. But my craft goes beyond the tangible product and invites you into an experience — bouldering is climbing without ropes — so I like to think of myself as an artisan of movement.

MY FAVORITE TYPES of games are the ones that teach life lessons — but you don't even realize it, because you're too busy having fun. "Monopoly" teaches you the true value of money, that being rich isn’t worth it if everyone hates you in the end.

AS A NEWLYWED COUPLE, my wife and I began our journey with very little. Judy and I got married after college in the summer of 1983, and moved to Connecticut for Judy to pursue her master’s degree in marriage counseling.