A long weekend means lots of writing time, right? Here are some thoughtful words to get you going. Our interview this week is with Jim Cronin.

Jim, what do you discover through writing?

     I had done a lot of writing as a lawyer and as a judge but that writing was purpose-driven, and the purpose was to advance various occupational goals.

     Creative writing has a different goal, and is more of an exercise in consciousness. Nowhere is this more true than in poetry. Consciousness, as the psychologist Julian Jaynes pointed out, involves language. Every word is a metaphor for our experience of the world. To hold it, to comprehend it, to remember it, we need the magic of words. Poetry is a close look at that process, hence the old saying, “All poetry is about writing.”

     What do I discover through the writing of poetry? The simple answer is that I discover the world and myself.

After a four decade career in law, first as a trial lawyer then as a juvenile court judge, James Cronin retired to pursue his interests in literary studies and writing poetry. He resides in Westport, MA with his wife, Edwina.