Poet and
Photographer

Michael Grodesky

“What is documented, at last, is not the thing itself but the way of seeing—the object infused with the subject. The eye moving over the world like a lover. And so the boundary between self and world is elided, and a bit softened.”
—Mark Doty from Still Life with Oysters and Lemon

“Every way of seeing is also a way of not seeing.” —Kenneth Burke

Asked if he was a wise man, the great philosopher Pythagoras is said to have replied humbly, “I am merely a lover of wisdom.” In that spirit, I am a lover of creative writing, specifically poetry and lyric essay. I am also a lover of photography. Both my writing and my photography are grounded in the ethics and aesthetics of the Japanese concept of Ma, introduced to me by my drum teacher many years ago, which refers to a “meaningful void” or intentional stillness that gives form, rhythm and depth to the things around it. Ma encourages mindfulness, humility and restraint. For me, this also includes minimalism as a world view.

My identity as aging gay man is informed and shaped not only by a broader queer sensibility, but by the historical eras I have witnessed, survival of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the understanding and navigation

of the youth-centric culture in which I live. I use the special freedom this time of life offers to pursue my artistic endeavors that I hope will leave gentle touches of beauty wherever they land. Endeavors that I hope will continue to nurture my true self.

I am also an arts-based qualitative researcher. Though I have had a long career as a primary healthcare provider, now retired, I also have training in the behavioral sciences. I am currently combining this training with my love of poetry and my expertise in qualitative research to purse an ongoing project known as Discourse Tracing. Particularly, I am interested in tracing discursive practices involving affirmation, assimilation and subversion in the lived experiences of gay individuals and their communities across decades of gay poetry. This research uses poetry as data and sits at the intersection of creative analytical practices, arts-based research, and critical qualitative inquiry. Details regarding this project and the plan and progress are presented here in the Research section.

My poetry chapbook, Absence On Water, was released by Bottlecap Press in February of 2026 and an excerpt, along with a link to the full publication is displayed in the Poetry section of this site. Other poetic work, including my first chapbook, Dissimilation, is also included. A poetry project in its beginning stages is chapbook that utilizes the Haibun form (Haiku combined with a prose poem) to create poetic interpretations of the hours of the solar diurnal cycle. The planned title for the chapbook will be: The Hours Of A Different Canon.

The Photography section includes a gallery of my work, with various links to larger collections, and information about past and upcoming photography exhibits.

The Essay section includes short writings of ideas on a variety of subjects, many related to poetry and photography. In many ways, the essays are a learning ground for me. I particularly enjoy creating lyric essays which fade the boundaries between poetry and traditional essays.

My section titled Ethics and Aesthetics includes my evolving explication of personal values related to minimalism as a world view, moral imaginations, queer sensibilities and the art of living otherwise. This section also includes some thoughts about the empirics and aesthetics of qualitative research.

Welcome to all and thanks for visiting my site!