Total Views
Poetry and insights
I’m in love with words, and I love to use the right words to create poems that have clarity and character. I think of my work as “literal poetry.” I don’t put my pen down until I’ve said exactly what I feel, exactly what I mean to say, so that you, as the reader or listener, will have no doubt about it. I want to write poems that don’t need to be explained—what you see is what it is. I want to write poems that express deep human emotions, and very thoughtful observations, and very precise meanings. I am a poet, a writer, a teacher, a moralist, a historian and an unflinching student of human nature. I think a lot. I strive to express truth and give context—both rational and emotional—to reality. I think words can be pictures, and lovely songs, and bodacious scents, and private flavors, and early morning caresses that wake each part of me, one at a time. I know some of those words, and, from time to time, I write some of them.
A Shropshire Lad…book review
A. E. Houseman, well, there’s rhyming…
The Book of Days…part lx
nature poems about the dawn’s early light…
We Were Soldiers Once…and Young
…too much death (book review)
“seeing more”… it’s the fall, my poem
they don’t look back
the skirr thing, “cloud talk” my poem
they do stir
Book Reviews and insights
Reading is part of my life. Old books are companions—they have a palpable essence that will never be duplicated in an eBook reader. I can live with books, inter librorum copias. I don’t read too many novels, although I’m partial to 19th century American and English writers like Dickens and Hawthorne and O. Henry. I’m happy when I’m reading aloud. I wish that I may live long enough to read at least most of the books in my library.
A Shropshire Lad…book review
A. E. Houseman, well, there’s rhyming…
We Were Soldiers Once…and Young
…too much death (book review)
The Anxious Generation…book review
just say no
Twice-Told Tales…book review
…baubles of memory from Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History
…humans and their faith, by Rodney Stark (book review)
Historical insights
I think it’s difficult to be a sensitive and sensible human being without some knowledge of history and its enduring elements. An insufficient understanding of history is an impediment to decent participation in human society. I am particularly intrigued by the systematic methods of the French Annalistes to examine the deep structures (longues durées) of history. Awareness and understanding of history allow us to create and sustain a mindful context for our past and present adventures.
We Were Soldiers Once…and Young
…too much death (book review)
The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History
…humans and their faith, by Rodney Stark (book review)
Golden Tales of New England…book review
Some feel-good stories of the 19th century…
This America…by Jill Lepore, book review
The Case for the Nation
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written…book review
it didn’t come easy
Did the British lose, or give up, or what?
Maybe it was the Revolutionary “War”…
The Things They Carried…book review
feelings may change…
Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity…book review
fear and anger, not issues…by Lilliana Mason
do we have the stuff for democracy?
a Lincoln quote…
War at The Wall Street Journal…book review
they botched it
Politics: thoughts and insights
Yelling isn’t my style. I am a committed and, I think, well-informed liberal progressive. It’s my intention to avoid presenting any political commentaries that are doctrinaire, abusive, deliberately hateful or contrary to “…a decent respect to the opinions of mankind…” Maybe you’ll recognize those words from the Declaration of Independence. I respect the value and the necessity of dedicated support for the preservation of the public good. I’m willing to offer my considerations of what constitutes the public good.
“the anxious generation”…it’s real
children born after 1995
This America…by Jill Lepore, book review
The Case for the Nation
Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity…book review
fear and anger, not issues…by Lilliana Mason
do we have the stuff for democracy?
a Lincoln quote…
War at The Wall Street Journal…book review
they botched it
What Orwell Didn’t Know…book review
the search for truth in words…
Red Brethren (book review)
David Silverman on “race” in early America
All the President’s Men…movie review
the good guys win
Concept of the Corporation (book review)
Peter Drucker didn’t see the whole monster…
Lincoln, he was a politician…movie review
Daniel Day-Lewis is good
Tidbits
Occasional items that tickle your funny bone, or point your mind in a new direction, or invite you to stop for a moment and listen to what your heart is telling you.
“the anxious generation”…it’s real
children born after 1995
The Anxious Generation…book review
just say no
“…not to laugh at human actions…”
Spinoza was worried 350 years ago…(quote)
The Guns of Navarone…movie review
the good guys win
“…on just the one day,” in Cold Mountain
Ruby sees a bigger picture…
The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History
…humans and their faith, by Rodney Stark (book review)
“think about it”…my poem
don’t wait to be asked
Have you “…been made various…”?
George Eliot teaches us…(quote)
Truth does exist…
…ask Chief Joseph
The Hustler…movie review
action, heart, and soul…