Anderson O’Brien

Hello! I’m Anderson O’Brien. I’m delighted to be included in Poetry Lighthouse. I  love writing poetry because it gives me more freedom than prose. I can create  my own rules and play with words—I can put words all over the page, use rhyme,  not ‘make sense,’ focus on the music of words—whatever I want as long as it  ‘works.’  

I spend a lot of time reading, writing and enjoying life with my husband and two  spoiled cats. I’m active in my church which is community-focused. I’ve become  increasingly alarmed by the climate crisis, and as a result just planted a pollinator  garden and bought a water barrel and composter. I’m also involved in a local  environmental protection agency in North Carolina, USA.  

My all-time favorite book is Homer’s Odyssey. I also love Toni Morrison’s The  Song of Solomon, as well as Moby Dick, The Things They Carried, and the works  of Shakespeare (I have a special fondness for the classics). Some of my favorite  poetry includes The Song of Solomon in the Old Testament, and the works of  Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop, Mary Oliver, Walt Whitman, William Carlos  Williams, and Pablo Neruda. Really, there are simply too many to name!  

Thank you for reading my poems. I hope they will inspire you to write your own.