Random Universe

A new book by Carolyn Miller

In celebration of National Poetry month, last week I shared how I created my book, Gathering the Pieces of Days. For the next three weeks I’m sharing poetry by other poets. This week’s poem is by Carolyn Miller from her newly released book Random Universe from Sixteen Rivers Press.

Carolyn Miller is the author of three previous collections of poetry: After Cocteau and Light Moving, both from Sixteen Rivers, and Route 66 and Its Sorrows from Terrapin Books. She is one of the founders of Sixteen Rivers Press. I’ve also been in a poetry group with Carolyn for more than twenty years, so we’ve shared hundreds of poems and spent many hours talking about life and writing and all they entail. Through her poetry she’s taught me to pay close attention to this world, to its lush beauty, even when it’s hard to see. She’s kept me writing even when I didn’t feel like I had anything left to say and that my words mattered. I wouldn’t be where I am as a poet without her and the other poets in the group.

Carolyn holds the “cruel and bounteous” in her hands. I love her poems, and I believe you will too once you read them. She is an amazing artist as well. Her painting Lunar New Year adorns the cover of the book. You can buy her book directly from Sixteen Rivers. And if you are in the Bay Area, she is reading with Lenore Myers and Dane Cervine at Book Passage in Corte Madre on Sunday, April 19 at 1 p.m.

Also to celebrate National Poetry Month, Lisa Jensen and I are hosting another Substack reading and open mic on Sunday, April 26 at 1 p.m. PDT/4 p.m. EDT. Our readers are Josh Datko, Ann Collins, and Maya Sarin, who has a book coming out in May. We want to hear your poetry too, if you are so inclined, so please bring a poem to read. And if you don’t want to read, just come and your presence is a gift. Please send me a DM if you would like to attend and I will send you the link to register.

Thank you so much for reading. I’ll be back next week with another poet’s poem to share.