The Poetry of Michael Eugene Cantrall

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Journal of Poetry Process

Welcome to my poetry workshop. Whether it is morning, evening, or some unreasonable hour when neither poets nor sensible people ought to be awake, you are most welcome to come in and have a look around.

This Journal is where I intend to leave some of the sawdust on the floor. Here you may find notes for poems not yet written, early drafts, abandoned lines, changes of mind, revision histories, and occasional thoughts about poets and poems that have influenced my own work. From time to time, I may also post something about a poem still under construction—a small preview of whatever may eventually emerge from the workshop.

My poetic travels have taken me increasingly toward the Gothic, the Romantic, and the traditional, with frequent stops to visit Keats, Dickinson, Frost, and, lately, Edwin Arlington Robinson, whose craftsmanship continues to give me much to think about. Where all of this leads next, I cannot say—and that is part of the pleasure.

So please wander through the workshop whenever you like. And if something here—or in one of my poems—gives you a thought, leave me a note in the comments. I am always pleased to know when another traveler has passed through.

An old-fashioned manual typewriter in matte black metal sits centered on a narrow farmhouse table near an open door leading to a dark, pine-scented forest. A single sheet of thick, ivory paper is rolled into the carriage, the words on it gently blurred, suggesting an unfinished poem. Fallen pine needles and a few scattered raven feathers rest on the table, carried in on a chill wind. Late evening light slants through the doorway, mixing cold blue from the forest with warm amber from an unseen lamp behind, creating a chiaroscuro of Gothic and Romantic tension. Photographic realism, shot from a low, cinematic angle with shallow depth of field, suggests the biography and process of a reclusive Northern California poet without ever showing a person.

Workshop Notes, Revisions, Edit Histories, Research, Origins, etc.

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