Joe Cottonwood

Nurture Nature by Joe Cottonwood Editor’s Note: This poem’s second stanza speaks the kind of truth we all know, but are often unwilling to accept. Also: avocados are delicious during that five minute period of ripeness…

I'm featured today in Autumn Sky Poetry. autumnskypoetrydaily.com/2025/07/11/n...

Instructions for Smart Toilet (Addendum) " Instructions for Smart Toilet (Addendum)" poem by Joe Cottonwood, toilet on fire

Instructions for Smart Toilet (Addendum) stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2025/07/inst...

Missouri Magic "Missouri Magic" poem by Joe Cottonwood, evening primrose, smell-bomb, this night so thick we can hold in our hands

No politics. No rockets. No boom. Just glory.
Fourth of July. stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2025/07/miss...

6.0, August 24, 2014 "6.0, August 24, 2014" a poem by Joe Cottonwood, earthquake, carpenter, dogs, tectonic, love poem, shaking the bed

Love poem in earthquake country. stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2023/08/60-a...

Boy, Almost Six child, growing up, growing old, family, moss, spiders, fungus, rot, blackberry, squirrels

Father's Day stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2023/08/boy-...

Fannie and Corydon crash my wedding "Fannie and Corydon crash my wedding" a poem by Joe Cottonwood, ghosts at weddings, Garfield assassin, wedding toast, poison the rich, hippie wedding

Ghosts at the wedding. And in politics, nothing has changed. stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2025/06/fann...

A group in England is establishing the Larmer Tree Poetry Trail to post poems of 34 selected poets including Rudyard Kipling, A E Housman, J R R Tolkien, Dr Seuss, Emily Dickinson, A A Milne, William Shakespeare, Carol Ann Duffy, Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, and… Joe Cottonwood.

Never Point a Loaded Politician at any Human Being Never Point a Loaded Politician at any Human Being a poem by Joe Cottonwood, jogging socks, teach children 22 rifles, gun safety, mindful kindful

Memorial Day part four: stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2025/05/neve...

Summer of Love, 1967 Summer of Love, 1967 a poem by Joe Cottonwood, Vietnam war, memorial day poem, Cuivre River, Vietnam War Memorial, pin moths to a wall, prunes,hippies

Memorial Day poem #3 stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2024/05/summ...

Shirtless Dusty Memorial Day poem, Chesapeake Bay boy, steelworker, PBR Patrol Boat River, Vietnam War, Agent Orange death,

Memorial Day part two: stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2024/05/shir...

When Eisenhower who won WW Two was President When Eisenhower who won WW Two was President, Selective service, draft resistance, draft dodger, pacifist poem, Vietnam poem, Dwight D Eisenhower

Memorial Day, part 1 stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2024/05/when...

Pierre Peiret Huguenot refugee ancestor poem, King Donald of Orange poem, love child of the church poem, great grandmother love child, Huguenot sex

My personal roots of resistance to King Donald of Orange... A poem. stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2025/04/pier...

Cracked me up.

A snapshot poem (as if taken by a Brownie camera) of suburban childhood in the 1950s. www.verse-virtual.org/2025/March/c...

English as a Second Language ESL poem, English as a second language, Vietnam refugee, San Jose City College, San Jose airport, beauty tragedy

Re: immigration. A poem I wrote when Obama was president. Memo to POTUS: please read. stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2023/08/engl...

I wrote this for Trump 1.0. Time to return for 2.0

My war poem from 1982. That's me and the boy in the photo. We're a bit older now. Still seeking peace.

As I made my living running Romex cable or soldering copper pipes in crawlspaces and attics, I wrote this poem for girls dreaming to marry hedge fund managers.

Slipstream. San Pedro Review. Naugatuck River Review. I-70 Review.

I wrote this poem exactly 5 years ago. Today, I'm remembering Mickey...

Thin Ice puberty poem, ice skating poem, falling through ice, first touch of private parts, chapstick aphrodisiac, sex and ice skates

Thin Ice

Her mom and dad kiss her cheeks,
then my mom and dad kiss her forehead,
so (towel like a skirt) missing signs
not knowing rules, I kiss the shiny red
heart-mouth.

Her eyes fly open.
Mine never close.
Sticky chapstick...

Complete poem at stuffnotstuffy.blogspot.com/2025/01/thin...

Redwood Prayer

Grant me deep roots.
Solid branches.
Let the fires pass me by.
Let generations of squirrels and blue jays
hop on my limbs.
Let me breathe fog, chew sunlight
and look down
over centuries.

--JC
from my book Son of a Poet