About Bruce
Carroll County
In the first person: I had the enormous good fortune to win the 2014 William Matthews Poetry Prize, selected by Billy Collins. Past awards include the Harriss Poetry Prize, with Dick Allen serving as judge and begetter of its splendid (though, I fear, unwarranted) introduction, and the Artscape Literary Arts Award in poetry, chosen by William Stafford, another generous soul. Collins, Allen, Stafford - poets laureate all; is this the basis for a new conspiracy theory? Maryland State… more
Jump to a project:
Welcome to my world!
Not a project, exactly, my library, not a project in the narrow sense of the Baker Portfolios, but -- thirty-some years in the building -- a project indeed! And a bespoke introduction to the "real" projects that follow. Spread over two rooms and threatening a third, a confederation of sophists and sages in full regalia, casuists and scholars, a throng of savants, midnight soloists and timeless scribblers -- whispering, gibbering, howling from their shelves across the hours, across the seasons. And then, the silence. All in all, the perfect cradle for a grateful writer foraging through his meager nest of ideas. And a lovely place to light up a cigar, to sip a little wine. Come join me . . . .
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The infamous Man Cave whence cometh these Baker scribblingsABOUT BOOKS & E-BOOKS: A brief, digestible essay in eight consecutive captions >>>
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Library Corner.jpgHere's a notion for you. You cannot hold a road in your hand. Instead, you experience a road only as it comes at you, as you walk or drive it, and it presents you, in turn, only with what is directly in front of you, and nothing else; for what has fallen behind is gone, has disappeared, and what is ahead, what pre-exists, cannot be seen until you arrive. >>>
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Some Furriners.jpgIn this way, an e-book is something like a road, existing forever in "the present," the present only, on the present page and only the present -- and we don't need or make libraries for them: e-books make their own libraries in the clouds. In the Cloud. >>>
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I Dream of Jeannie.jpgAs for real books? Well, real books are quite different. Of course. They require space. So there, friend, is the heart of the notion: a real book makes past, present and future all equally accessible to you, and at all times, depending simply on where your fingers fall. The map is yours to command, the road yours to direct. >>>
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From the Poetry Section.jpgIt is you who rule the ideas in a tangible, a real, a physical book. In an e-book, though, they manage you. Have you noticed? In an e-book you live only in the rolling unmappable present, palpably adrift, with a limited concept of the space you superintend. >>>
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Thomasiana.jpgIt is, perhaps, for this reason -- our longing to anchor in the physical -- that libraries provide us with such warmth and pleasure. They provide us with a sense of place. >>>
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Audenalia.jpgThe road provides us with a sense of movement. >>>
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Library Classics.jpgThe library with a sense that we have arrived. <<<
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Famous.jpg
How to Write a Poem (Are You A Writer? Bet You'll Laugh.)
A practical instruction. Well, no. Not really.
But a “must read” for any poet.
Depending on your definition of “must.”
And look how hard you’ve been
working. Does the laborer not pause
under the midday sun for a sip of water?
The soldier beguile the hours of bivouac
rolling coffin nails? Who are you
to deny yourself the common comforts
the body demands? And besides,
maybe you have your poem already.
Do you recognize yourself here?
Here’s where the might and majesty
of the language will step in, married
in the near night under your little
gooseneck writer’s lamp. Or maybe
not. Maybe the might and majesty
of the language are currently in
the employ of some other poet,
likewise desperate to turn a bright sheet
of foolscap into something deathless
and deep, and despair begins to set in.
Turn your back to it, sugar booger.
But a “must read” for any poet.
Depending on your definition of “must.”
And look how hard you’ve been
working. Does the laborer not pause
under the midday sun for a sip of water?
The soldier beguile the hours of bivouac
rolling coffin nails? Who are you
to deny yourself the common comforts
the body demands? And besides,
maybe you have your poem already.
Do you recognize yourself here?
Here’s where the might and majesty
of the language will step in, married
in the near night under your little
gooseneck writer’s lamp. Or maybe
not. Maybe the might and majesty
of the language are currently in
the employ of some other poet,
likewise desperate to turn a bright sheet
of foolscap into something deathless
and deep, and despair begins to set in.
Turn your back to it, sugar booger.
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How to Write a Poem - Cover SpreadImproper Lady and Fly Do Lunch: Computer illustration by Jen Sager [CLICK THE PIC to view the covers full size. Worth it!]
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How to Write a Poem - Table of Contents
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How to Write a Poem - Intro Spread
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How to Write a Poem - Random Spread 1
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How to Write a Poem - Random Spread 2"The spaces between the keys" -- As a courtesy to your imagination, it might help to look at your keyboard layout as you read this.
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How to Write a Poem - Random Spread 3"Sometimes my mistress shows up at poetry readings" -- Never had more fun reading a poem to a large group (one where a lot of the people know each other) than I had with this one.
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How to Write a Poem - Random Spread 4"The Greatest Poem Ever Written" -- What would such a poem look like? Who would have written it? How would it be received today? Would it paint its face?