A writer has good reason to be jealous. Painting, music, film, photography, dance and sculpture--the immediate arts--impact us instantly through our basic senses. No plodding through a text is required.

     I mentioned this to my friend Phil after flipping through his photographs in his new book, and I resolved to buy a camera. Later, he suggested that I combine my poems and photographs.

I do not have a favorite type of photography. All kinds of pictures are interesting, whether they are of people, still lifes, city streets, abstracts or landscapes. They simply have to catch one's eye, and most of the time that happens by accident. What could be more gratifying than an ongoing feeling of discovery that can be had simply by moving through the world.

 John