C.M. Rivers

"I only borrowed this dust." ~ Stanley Kunitz

Journal

  • A Short Interview

    A Short Interview

    A brief interview about poetry with Homebound Publications: HB: Why did you start writing poetry? CMR: I’m not sure which is more true: if I began writing poetry, or if poetry began writing me. All I know is, at some point, it became a necessary creative way for me to understand the world, my own… Read more

  • Nine Machetes and an Earring

    When I was a boy, one of the things I loved most was a collection of 45-records, passed on to my Grandma Ruth from her dad’s jukebox and pinball machine business Keystone Amusement based in Silverton, a small Oregon town in the Willamette valley an hour’s drive south of Portland.  In the 1950’s and 60’s,… Read more

  • Bobcats and Big Sur

    Reckoning appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of Stonecoast Review (University of Southern Maine).  This poem came about as an amalgam of a few different things that came together in my mind to create a snapshot of a character. The first was from a visit to Yosemite National Park, when three friends and I were… Read more

  • Fritter in the Bookshop

    Just because we’re sentimental about a household object that used to belong to a grandparent, doesn’t mean the dog won’t eat it while left at home alone all day.  To him, a coaster with the Notre-Dame cathedral painted on it is – while not the preferred afternoon snack – quite suitable to chew on. “To… Read more

  • Zen

    Daylight passes over the garden. Wild green things grow thick ‘round the entranceway. Spotted fawns have come by, their mother not far behind. Cat sits and watches.     Read more

  • Starlight Stay

    Here’s a link to my poem Starlight Stay, currently appearing in The Adirondack Review. I wrote this in the middle of the night, up late writing, reading, listening to music, feeling vividly awake and energized.  It’s pretty out of character for me to stay up into the wee hours, though, and I remember longing for… Read more