About Me

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Jim Croteau lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan with his partner of 31 years, Darryl, and their two Labrador retrievers. He grew up gay and Catholic and white in the southern United States in the 1960’s and 70’s and has spent his adult life in small non-coastal cities, mostly in the Midwest. He loved his mother very much. He began writing poetry in May 2012 at first to cope with life in times of aging and then, well, he sorta caught the poetry bug. He is still working as a professor in Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology at Western Michigan University.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Best Doggone Dog in the West

 Best Doggone Dog in the West--Direct Link to the Poem   


I wanted a separate posting for this poem that just came out in Melancholy Hyperbole. The poem is a tough one for me, reflecting back on the time that I had to make a decision for my mother that she was not going to return to the hospital yet again, that she was done fighting to live.

Remember Old Yeller?  I have heard many stories from folks on how tough that movie was as a kid for them when Travis had to shoot Old Yeller because he was rabid.  It was a trauma for me. And well, you'll see how it fits together.

Take a look and comment there too.

Also take a look at the e-zine in general, it is becoming one of my favorite poetry journals.
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Ogunquit's Good for Poetry, Meditation, and . . . Blogging

I've been neglecting this blog. But I am back in Ogunquit---and that seems like a place I've blogged in as much as anywhere despite only spending two weeks a year here.  It is a lovely place and it has special significance for my partner, Darryl, and I as we have been coming here for 30 years including our first trip together ever.

The ocean makes a great place for meditation too. Two of the pictures are the scenes I looked at while meditating this week.  The other picture is of Frosty near the beach.

I have been writing here, and hearing good news on poetry publishing (I only mention the good news, not the rejections which outnumber the acceptances 10 to 1 of course.)

I had two poems published by Chicago Literati----Needlecast is a poem I am really liking right now.
Their link is here: Needlecast, After Mass and Harvey Milk

I also had a love poem anthologized. It is based on Darryl and I, projecting us out about a decade or two. The book looks pretty good. It has three sections on homelessness, aging, and the earth respectively. Mine is in the aging section and it is written with Whitman's Two Boys Together Clinging in mind. It is called Cover Boys and was first published in print only in Assaracus: A Journal of Gay Poetry.

 I have read through the aging section in the anthology and was moved by a lot the poems there. The PDF is free, the Kindle version is just 2.99. The paperback copy is 19.99 but all proceeds of sales is being donated to Friends of the Earth.
https://www.createspace.com/5479341
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