By Tom Poland   Rivers make me say things out loud. As I drive alone over a river I often say its name. In fact, some rivers’ names beg to…

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By Tom Poland   Upon taking a writing position long ago, the boss of bosses shot me a sideways look, “So, you’re a word merchant.” Clever, I thought, but as…

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By Tom Poland   Like Halley’s Comet, I’m predictable. I come around to the same subject matter every so often. When I do, it’s because something triggered memories. A few…

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By Tom Poland   Something like sixty years had passed since I saw it. This time, however, I saw it from above. The WPA built a beautiful tower of stone…

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By Tom Poland   When Timelines Cross The vessels resemble, cousins of a sort, my worn canteen and its shiny glass companion. The two came to me by dissimilar routes.…

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By Tom Poland   What We’ve Lost I spent a lot of time on Clarks Hill Lake (Strom Thurmond Lake), during my teenage and college years. I camped, boated, and…

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By Tom Poland   Add Hazel’s Café to the List Old island haunts. The fever to develop islands didn’t destroy all of them. In a few instances, someone decided, “Not…

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By Tom Poland Let’s talk invasive species. One will bite you. You can bite the other. You can eat it, but given time it will entomb all you possess. Fire…

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By Tom Poland   FDR’s Tree Army If my mother didn’t like something, she’d tell you. If she liked something, you knew that too, and she liked the Civilian Conservation…

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By Tom Poland   I find my mind drifting back to Macon, and then I find myself driving kudzu-bordered roads. Macon, Georgia sits in the middle of Georgia. It’s not…

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By Tom Poland   She asked, and I told her. “What’s the writing life like?” “It’s a sentence to solitary confinement. You work in isolation for long periods, and that’s…

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By Tom Poland   Herman Melville created Moby Dick, the great white sperm whale that bit off Ahab’s leg. James Dickey had a 12-point white buck that swam from island…

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By Tom Poland   What’s behind a name? Lots most of the time. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s a mystery, but often it’s botanical. I’ve not met a woman named…

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By Tom Poland   The old book and instrument of wood and ivory need each other. In fact, they share what biologists call a symbiotic relationship. In my recall of…

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