Poetry - John Paul Caponigro Art

Poetry & Creative Nonfiction

I’ve written most of my life and studied writing in college, earning a BFA with a double major in art and literature. Writing about creativity and photography (technically and conceptually) for over twenty-five years, I grew increasingly hungry to express myself in other ways.

In 2019, during the first Youth Climate Strike, I saw a young poet make a video presentation and have even more emotional impact than 45th vice-president Al Gore as he trained us to make effective presentations through his Climate Reality Leadership Corps. Amanda Gorman’s performance helped me understand that I didn’t need to change my social activism but rather intensify the ways my artworks are socially active.

In 2020 Covid-19 shut down my in-person digital printing workshop and made it possible for me to attend Richard Blanco’s chapbook workshop offered online the same week. I had a thirty-year bucket list item to write a series of love poems to the earth and I saw this as an opportunity to complete it. It became much more than that. I hadn’t planned to write a poem a day for a year – or be trained as a voice actor – but that is what happened. Poetry helped me survive and thrive during the Great Pause.

My creative writing has since appeared in over 75 literary journals, in 17 countries, on 5 continents, in my public presentations, in publications of my art, and in my exhibits.

I invite viewers to join me in my ekphrastic writing workshops offered at festivals, galleries, and museums.

Poetry has become a daily part of my spiritual practice and an integral part of the ecosystem of my creativity.

For me, the visual and the verbal are inseparable.

Whether visual or verbal, my passion is ecopoetry (making art as a way of understanding earth) and ekphrasis (making art as a way of understanding art),

though it may only be language itself that separates nature nature from human nature

or art from e art h.

View my TEDx and Google talks here.

Find links to individual pieces below.
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Listen to me read.

This key tracks specific projects.

Ekphrastic
77, 70, 69, 52, 46, 43, 41, 33, 30, 26, 10, 5, 1

Antarctica
76, 71, 66, 62, 61, 60, 47, 46, 45, 43, 41, 31, 27, 26, 18, 17, 16, 10, 4

Animal
81, 75, 72, 68, 64, 63, 40, 37, 25, 24, 18, 13, 8, 6

Haiku + Haibun
83, 82, 80, 79, 78, 74, 73, 72, 71, 67, 66, 65, 59, 58, 57, 55, 54, 53, 51, 50, 49, 48, 44, 38, 36, 34, 32, 23, 22, 11, 3
View selections on Instagram.

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83
June, 2025
Under The Basho
clouds on a lake

82
June, 2025
Shadow Pond Journal
love letter

81
May, 2025
The Main Street Rag
Stop & Go

80
May, 2025
Dadaku
fisheatingfisheatingfisheatingfish

79
May, 2025
Creatrix
geminids
Landscapes Within Landscapes

78
April, 2025
Frogpond 48.2
shoulder season …

77
April, 2025
Abstract Magazine
Photopsia

76
April, 2025
Fireflies Light
Momentum
Home

75
April, 2025
Dark Mountain
How To Eat An Egg Whole

74
March, 2025
Mariposa
scirocco

73
March, 2025
Poetry Pea
rewriting my code

72
Feb 2025
The Other Bunny
Dog
Blood

71
Dec 2024
Five Fleas Itchy Poetry
thinking
nothing
dreaming
forgetting
speed reading
Unfolding

70
Dec 2024
Deep Water
Looking At My Landscape

69
Dec 2024
The Wee Sparrow
Looking Long

68
Nov 2024
New Contrast
Caught

67
Nov 2024
Loose Leaf Journal
Roots
Superfund
wrack line plastic

66
Nov 2024
The Pan Haiku Review
Who Discovered Antarctica ?

65
Sep 2024
The Mamba
3 haiku

64
Oct 2024
Contemporary Haibun
Worms

63
Oct 2024
The Woolf
Animal

62
Sep 2024
Daydreaming
Meniscus

61
Sep 2024
Abandon Ship
Willawaw Journal

60
Aug 2024
Bird’s Eye View
Taj Mahal Review – 25:1

59
Aug 2024
holding on
Failed Haiku

58
Aug – Oct 2024
Asahi Haikuist Network
piercing the silence
1
2
3

57
June 2024
Connecticut River Review
Connecticut Poetry Award Honorable Mention
Everyone In Your Dream Is You
Listen

56
June 2024
I You They Us We
Listen

55
June 2024
Enchanted Garden Haiku – 8
skipping stones

54
June, 2024
Autumn Moon – 7:2
waiting for rain

53
June, 2024
The Cherita
rain

52
March, 2024
Rattle
Ekphrastic Challenge
(responses to my image)

51
May, 2024
Yuki Teikei Haiku Society
leonid shower

50
May, 2024
tsuri-doro
confusing

49
April, 2024
Poetry Pea 2:24
snow billowing

48
April, 2024
Chrysanthemum #32
midnight’s snow
hunter and prey

47
March, 2024
Blue Unicorn
Mayday
Listen

46
February, 2024
Shot Glass Journal
Child
Listen

Wife
Listen

Photographing
Listen

45
Rust & Moth
February, 2024
You Know You Need To Return

44
The Bamboo Hut
February, 2024
3 tanshi

,,43
January, 2024
Neologism
Licking Icebergs

42
January, 2024
Eco Theo
What’s Wild About You

41
January, 2024
The Maine Standard
Rising
Fishing
It’s Raining Birds

40
December, 2023
Flash Frontier
Robin

39
November, 2023
The Shallow Tales Review
Not It
Listen

38
November, 2023
Heliosparrow
under a waking mind

37
November, 2023
The Sandy River Review

Quiet
Listen

Duck
Listen

36
November, 2023
Akitsu Quarterly
new moon
searching frantically

35
November, 2023
Tiny Wren Lit
The Half-Life Of Echoes Anthology
memories ripple

34
November, 2023
Presence : 76
the last persimmon

33
October, 2023
Steel Jackdaw #12

Rocks
Listen

Strange Music
Listen

32
September, 2023
Pebbles 3
clock

31
September, 2023
Kokako : 39
Polaris Australis
Listen

30
May, 2023
Sordoni Gallery, Wilkes University
Looking At My Landscape
Listen
Landscapes Within Landscapes
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poems – 30, 21, 19, 10
creative nonfiction – 16

29
May, 2023
Still Points Quarterly
It’s Raining Birds

28
April, 2023
Spire

How I Become A Place
Listen

I You They Us We Redux
Listen

27
April, 2023
Indelible
Superman Has A Fortress Of Solitude In Antarctica
Listen

26
March, 2023
Masque & Spectacle
Invisible Deluge
Listen

25
March, 2023
Sonic Boom
Morning Music
Listen

24
March, 2023
Wild Roof Journal
Talk

23
January, 2023
Cold Moon Journal
snow drifts

22
January, 2023
Scarlet Dragonfly
hook cast through the air

21
January, 2023
Tiger Moth Review
The Department Of The Interior
Listen

20
December, 2022
Cathexis Northwest
Struck
Pass The Flame