Often, during times like these, I feel like I don’t say or do enough to speak out about crimes against humanity. Often, I’m left dumbfounded. Mostly, I’m too angry, and when I get angry, I tend to stay quiet. And sometimes I feel ashamed when I stay quiet. I tried to capture that in this poem.
It is such a dark time of year in many ways. The actual Winter Solstice brings the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. That is because the Earth’s axial tilt, or obliquity, positions us further from the sun. It is also cold and we tend to stay in.
A poem about the first snow and the excitement it brings.
Summer draws to a close and I don’t mind. We’re upon my favorite season! Fall has always been so magical to me, and I can’t wait to dive into all things autumnal. However, I want to still honor this summer of change and growth. While my writing and art have been mostly stagnant, I did manage to write a few poems. Also, I grabbed a lovely shot of clouds the other day which is the featured image of this post.
Hey, look! I won the Oatleaf Poetry Magazine’s June Competition! This month’s theme was “out-of-body.” The poem that came to me was a sweet little poem to my wife called, You Ground Me. Give it a read: https://www.oatleafpoetry.com/2025/06/you-ground-me-by-r-william-parmenter.html
My book has been out in the world for five months! This poem is a selection from the book. As you may have guessed, it is about a typical day where I dissociate from everything around me. I’m floating through the world, not really attached to my body, and watching everything as if I’m watching TV. If you’ve never experienced it, it is a strange sensation.
My goal with this poem was to capture my feelings as I’ve returned to the same home and neighborhood I grew up in. Though some rough memories show up, it is different to be here as an older person. I feel grown like the trees I used to climb and can look around with a sort of humbling reverence to time.
This poem came to me while we were driving across the country. Since we were moving back to our childhood state and homes, I had a lot of that on my mind. For many people like myself, a place you grow up in can grow stagnant and we strive for change, whatever that may be — new places, new people, different views.
Four months ago, today I published my debut poetry book, Between The Dark and The Light. It has been an amazing journey so far, but I still can’t believe I actually did it. It is still so surreal when I see it. Like when I saw it sitting on the arm of my sister’s sofa.
Today, I’m sharing two shorter pieces because I forgot to celebrate the release last month! These two poems embody the essence of the book, and the undulating flow between dark and light themes it represents.
This poem came to me as I listened to the wind in the pines. It is a sound I absolutely love next to that of waves. This is one of those poems that I wrote the initial idea down, but then refined it. Words were adjusted and line lengths changed for flow, and as I did that, I noticed something of a linear timeframe forming. So then I considered the first stanza and thought of a way to talk about human history or even a singular life.
After the clouds cleared one morning, I could see more of the mountains in the distance. This poem came to me as I thought, there are always more mountains. I started considering how we all have these mountains we’re climbing, all the ones we’ve already climbed, and all the things in between.
My mind has been dark lately. I realized I needed to play, and not write anything too deep. So, I thought it would be fun to create a piece inspired by trees that is also tree shaped.