Ah, Thursday, and the news is terrible. So here's a puppy pic.

Rattle Poetry without pretension since 1995

My poem "I Owe You a Poem" is today's poem of the day on Rattle.com (and you can see it (and hear it, if you like) afterward at: rattle.com/i-owe-you-a-... ). It's for my mom and, really, for everyone, so thanks, @rattlepoetry.bsky.social , for publishing it:

Poets on the Plains: On Rapture Hi, I’m Matt Mason, Nebraska State Poet emeritus, meaning I served as state poet until the end of 2024, and I am here for Poets on the Plains.Today, I’m reading and talking about my own poem titled “R...

High Plains Public Radio (out of Kansas) is featuring poets every Thursday (started at the beginning of this month). I'm on today and well be back in coming months with segments on a few other Nebraska poets: www.hppr.org/podcast/hppr...

May 4, I'm running an online writing workshop based on The Great British Baking Show. It's about being fearless with first drafts and, yes, there will be someone declared Star Writer at the end. Buckle up and get signed up, it's going to get weird: buttonpoetry.com/product/butt...

A total of zero votes were cast for the guy currently running America.

Here's the poem:

Watching Snow Fall

Wrapped inside ocean,
there isn’t any fire,
not so much color, even,
mainly blues and greys.
Do you wonder about oxygen
when you find them absent
from your heart,
do you dream yourself
into stars,
do you swim out beyond
what oceans offer, deep
onto the plains?

All the Benches are still displayed at: steveadamsomaha.tripod.com/P_Bench_Mark..., this is #14, art by Stephanie Carlson-Pruch.

From Bench Marks, a 2005 public art display where Omaha bus benches were painted by a local artist with words by a local writer. This quote is from my poem "Watching Snow Fall." I'm posting this today in memory of Eddith Buis, our great local advocate for public art who just passed away.

Written comments submitted!

They're asking for whistelblowers to send an email to DEIAtruth@opm.gov.

What if, instead, we all send them a poem?

Koertge is so damn good.

Wait, they haven't been changed to Hatch, New America yet?

It was of course a pleasure to get to spend time in Hawai'i but far more than sightseeing, was a great chance to introduce my wife and daughters to my dad, who they never had a chance to meet. Hilo was always like a member of my family growing up, it was such a big part of who my dad was.

Also pictured are a couple waterfalls: Rainbow Falls in Hilo (with my dad as a kid in front of the falls, down in the pool where you're not allowed in today) and Akaka Falls.

That tsunami is a big part of family history and we got a talk on it from cousins Jeannie and David who were both kids at the house when it happened. Jeannie went on to be one of the co-founders of the Pacific Tsunami Museum.

We're all descendants of Charles and Elizabeth Mason who lived in the house pictured with some of us in front of it (thanks to the current owners who were wonderful) and also a shot of the house after the 1946 tsunami which knocked it about 30 feet.

Mason Family Reunion, Part 3

Okay, here's the actual reunion part, both with brothers sisters and cousins but also with my wife and youngest daughter who finally made it!

Nobody really knows... it's anarchy...

Several of my brothers and sisters and some of our kids made it, I think we were there for dad (but, still, man I wish he could have been there, too).

Thus far, I have to say, 2025 may be the greatest year ever. Umm... it'll keep going this way, right?

A real highlight, though, was going to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP to see Kilauea erupting that next morning. My dad grew up in Hilo and never saw the volcano erupt. Each time it erupted he was living somewhere else, so it was amazing that we had a reunion at a time it was erupting. And it was incredible.

Later in the day, we were mere feet from the southernmost point in the United States. The southernmost point in the United States, though, was packed with tourists, so we figured we were close enough and went off to see a green beach.

Sophia and I started the year off right, hiking the Ka'awaloa Trail down to Kealakekua Bay, the site where Captain Cook landed and, nearby, was later killed when he tried to take the island's monarch hostage. The hike is amazing, but the uphill return in growing heat was... ummm... exhausting.

Family Reunion, Part 2

Spoiler Alert: Yes, Sarah and Lucia will make it. Not yet, but Lucia gets better and, somehow, Southwest Airlines does an amazing job letting us late-cancel their original tickets and rebook.

As the sun was setting, we found a sea turtle stuck in a pool of water, waiting for the tide to liberate it.

And that's how, at 8pm local time, my term as Nebraska State Poet ended in Nebraska time.

So it was a hectic morning, very little sleep, but Sophia and I did go.
We ended the year snorkling in Kealakekua Bay, south of Kona, then meeting up with my sisters Mele and Ann for Dole Whips and dinner.

We've all been looking forward to it for the whole year, but, at 1:30 on the morning of our flight, Lucia woke us up feeling lousy. It turned out to be Influenza A and Sarah, superhero, saw how bad Lucia was and immediately told me she's not going but me and Sophia are.

Family Reunion, Part 1.
The Masons (grandkids on down from Charles and Elizabeth Mason, my grandparents on my dad's side) planned a reunion in Hilo, where my dad was born, to end 2024 and begin the New Year.

...
Cather, Sandoz, Neihardt, Kooser,
is rail line and highway,
airboat and prairie schooner,
ninety-three counties,
ten thousand pathways,
infinite skies.

Nebraska

is river, sand and rock,
topsoil and forest,
hill, crag, valley, city,
ranch, farm, aquifer, fossil dig,
is waterway and homestead, land
bought and claimed and taken,
is Red Cloud's victory,
Standing Bear's blood, Malcolm X's
family driven out, is Fonda, Carson,
...