The Story Behind Vanished Roads

 The Story Behind Vanished Roads

In late 2019, my life became much smaller.

A long relationship ended. I lost a home, daily contact with children I loved, longtime friendships, and many of the assumptions I had made about the future. Before I could fully process those changes, the world itself became smaller. The COVID-19 pandemic arrived, closing doors for everyone and making it difficult to rebuild what had already been lost.

Then, in 2020, I suffered a stroke.

Looking back, it seems inevitable that I would find my way to haiku.

At a time when everything around me appeared to be shrinking, I became drawn to a literary form built on simplicity, attention, and presence. I began studying Buddhism and Soto Zen. What started as curiosity gradually became practice. Haiku taught me to pay attention to the moment directly rather than trying to explain it.

My earliest haiku were really just short narrative poems. I brought with me all the habits I had developed as a poet over the previous thirty years. Over time, however, the poems began teaching me something different. Instead of placing myself at the center of every poem, I became more interested in the world itself—the weather, rivers, trees, birds, mountains, silence, and the countless small moments that often pass unnoticed.

During this same period, I reconnected with one of my oldest friends, Tré. Together we began a creative partnership that opened new possibilities in both art and life. Her illustrations appear throughout Vanished Roads, and her presence is woven deeply into the journey the book describes.

Vanished Roads begins with grief, loss, and uncertainty, but it is not a book about remaining lost. It is a book about what happens when the old maps stop working. The title poem contains the image that ultimately gave the collection its name:

"I ask directions—
the wind hands me a map
of vanished roads"

The roads back to my old life no longer existed. The question became whether I could continue the journey anyway.

These poems are my attempt to answer yes.

Vanished Roads will be released June 21, 2026, from Wolf Twin Books.