About this Blog

A bit about me

My name is John, and I'm currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois. My work gives me the opportunity to think about global sanitation issues and to consider how we might develop or improve strategies that address this basic human need in appropriate and sustainable ways. Beyond this research, I find inspiration in nature, in music, and in trying to discover and understand our place in the universe. For me, poetry has become one outlet for exploring these facets of life.

How this blog came to be

Several years ago, just before I was about to begin service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda, I decided to start a blog that would chronicle the new experiences and thoughts I expected to have. From 2011 to 2014, I posted updates on a fairly sporadic basis, as different aspects of my time in Uganda inspired me to write and to try to share what I was experiencing with friends and family in the United States. This period was also when I started regularly writing poetry, perhaps because so many moments evoked deep, complex, and ambiguous thoughts and feelings that seemed to transcend my fairly analytical prose style.

After returning from Peace Corps service, I added a few additional posts related to particularly striking experiences, each of which seemed to require some sort of sharing and reflection, but these posts eventually tapered off.

I've decided that I'd like to revive and transform this blog, with the goal of using it to share my poetry with anyone who might be interested. I certainly don't consider my poetic voice to be of especially incredible quality, but I find fulfillment in the attempt to craft something beautiful out of the pieces of life that matter to me. More than that, it's my hope that the words I write and the ideas I explore might have meaning for others out there. Perhaps, the creative process that flows through me may help to articulate fragments of a vision for how we might live in greater harmony with the world and with one another.

Requests

Much of my poetry grows out of my own thoughts and experiences, and from interesting phrases that pop into my head from time to time. But, I'm also open to requests. So, if you have a topic you'd like me to think and write about, feel free to get in touch!

Other creative endeavors

If you enjoy the poems on this blog, I'd suggest also checking out my books and music!