This past summer I wrote \u201cU-topias\u201d about an ill-fated, meandering voyage, a long poem for me but very short compared to wandering voyages like the Odyssey or the Hebrew Bible. My search began with an irony \u2013 our town\u2019s name said it was by the sea (Nieul-sur-Mer). But every time we set out to find our splendid coast, it was nowhere to be found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more I threw out the net to explore this absurdist joke, the more I pulled in — more wheezing fish, more old flip flops, fluff, flowers, existential broodings. The poem knows that paradise has been lost \u2013 that\u2019s a clear-eyed assessment. It gathers evidence and clues without putting together answers or a coherent narrative. Is it environmental destruction? Malfeasance? Incompetence? But on the loss of paradise, it isn\u2019t giving up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If anything, paradise is lost, then regained through poetry.\u00a0\u00a0The poem\u2019s title, “U-topias,” published this week in The Common Online, refers to the original meaning of utopia, no-place.\u00a0\u00a0That could be a name for poetry itself.\u00a0\u00a0Poetry is the place, and it is involved in restoring lost value in the world.\u00a0\u00a0Restoration through humble things. The humblest of things.\u00a0\u00a0The world of love and things of the earth.\u00a0\u00a0Rebirth of paradise in the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.thecommononline.org\/january-2026-poetry-feature-1-u-topias<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This past summer I wrote \u201cU-topias\u201d about an ill-fated, meandering voyage, a long poem for me but very short compared to wandering voyages like the Odyssey or the Hebrew Bible. My search began with an irony \u2013 our town\u2019s name said … Continue reading