800 Grit

My poem 800 Grit was published in ONE ART today.

https://oneartpoetry.com/2026/07/07/800-grit-by-jeff-cove/

I love writing short poems. All those years of writing haiku really help.

Writing them requires a specific state of mind: I see the whole scene, get drawn to what resonates, and write backwards from there. If I can get in that frame of mind I can write a lot of short poems quickly.

I’m not saying they’re all bangers though. You gotta be comfortable finishing the bad ones to grease the wheels for the good ones.