My poetry is often connected to placeness and to mythology, but is rooted in concrete things and often in working class life. My poems just as often mention Winslow Homer or Bach as they do dovetail joints or rusted pocket knives. My later poems have concerned a brush with cancer; those poems should appear in my second book, Blessing the House. As a teacher, I've worked with veterans and a variety of students at St. Petersburg College. Their poems are startlingly varied and deep.