Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Lafayette: a hero, not a saint



Book review: Lafayette, by Harlow Unger

Lafayette was a great man. Also rich and lucky.

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Monday, November 28, 2016

You could live on Coke….


….for a little while....
A retail tax on sugary beverages makes sense.

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Sunday, November 27, 2016

Après-midi des enfants


Après-midi des enfants

My poem about the kids, in the afternoon, in the water….

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Saturday, November 26, 2016

Book review: An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America


The British wanted to win the Revolutionary War, but they had good reasons for not trying too hard….

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Friday, November 25, 2016

Understanding the “o” word


“Old” is a highly charged word. A poem about the process of aging and being aged, without using the “o” word:

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Thursday, November 24, 2016

Book review: All The President’s Men


It’s a one-of-a-kind story, but your kids aren’t going to ask you to read it to them twice.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Poetry alive!


A poet can bring the darnedest things to life. Want the big word? anthropomorphic

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“…the hollow men…” and so on….


“…the hollow men…” and so on….

I respectfully think that T. S. Eliot’s poetry is a bloomin’ wasteland….

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Book review: The Reader (Der Vorleser)


In war, condemnation and compassion can be so intermingled that understanding, and peace, is not possible.

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Monday, November 21, 2016

Music of the stones


My poem about harmonies that endure….

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Sunday, November 20, 2016

Book review: The Bartender’s Tale


It ain’t This House of Sky, but it’s a keeper for Ivan Doig fans. You’ll know these people.

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Saturday, November 19, 2016

Friday, November 18, 2016

Mr. Grumpy (235 years ago)


William Pitt the Younger had nothing nice to say about the American Revolutionary War.

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Thursday, November 17, 2016

A west wind kind of thing….


Be open to the grace….my poem for that kind of feeling

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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Book review: Shantung Compound


This is the most provocative book I’ve read in my adult life. It’s about prisoners of war who could have lived an Enlightenment fantasy….

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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Book review: Literary Life: A Second Memoir



My review explores Larry McMurtry’s passionate engagement with books….

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Monday, November 14, 2016

Poetry alive!



A poet can bring the darnedest things to life. Want the big word? anthropomorphic

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Sunday, November 13, 2016

Your daddy’s daddy’s daddy was an immigrant.


Almost half of Americans alive today have an ancestor who went through Ellis Island to get into our great country.

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Saturday, November 12, 2016

Another poet heard from (part 7)



My review of Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s “Inner Eden,” a vital hope for the kinder world we long for….

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Friday, November 11, 2016

Thursday, November 10, 2016

The poet sees stones and bones….


My poetry is about particulars, the right words, and the rhyming and the chiming of the bells….

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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Hand me that hammer


I will build one bridge today, and look forward to the next election.

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Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Book review: Address Unknown

Book review: Address Unknown
by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

A friendship corrupted by Nazi hatred in WWII. Two friends who couldn’t understand how to avoid mutual self-destruction.

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Monday, November 7, 2016

The media giveaway helped Trump



The media grabbed profits, gave Trump $2 billion of free air time, and gave up any pretense of presenting objective news as a public service.

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Sunday, November 6, 2016

The art of R. S. Thomas


My reflection on the artful poetry of R. S. Thomas points directly to a small truth, in the case of sunrise blooming in a small field
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Saturday, November 5, 2016

Book review: The Brothers by Janet M. Kovarik

The Brothers: good storytelling

I review The Brothers by Janet M. Kovarik, a dialogue-rich novel with believable characters set in the American Civil War.

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Friday, November 4, 2016

Looking for the special words



A review of a minor poem from Emily Dickinson, with a line that really taps the tuning fork in my head

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Thursday, November 3, 2016

Silences in the desert



Ozymandias was a king who had the wrong ideas about posterity. Percy Shelley’s famous poem says just about all of it, and I have a couple thoughts….

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Wednesday, November 2, 2016

The email thingie: silence is golden


The email server story is the non-story that won’t die in this election….and the latest hooraw, well, there’s really nothing to say about it. Why won’t the media give it up?

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Tuesday, November 1, 2016

dancing in the night


I see poetry in dancing shadows on the wall. I watched this “jittering dance of light and dark,” until the poem was clear to me.

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