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.
iambic pentameter, a sample…my poem
the words I want
All of Us: The Collected Poems…book review
prose in disguise, by Raymond Carver
“the trees lean in…”…“woodward,” my poem
the mystic mess
A Sense of Wonder (book review)
Oliver, Iyer, Doyle, and more…just the best
“machines are ahead of morals”…Truman said it
morals playing catch up…
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.
Evidence, more Mary Oliver poems…book review
straight from the heart…
Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard…book review
realistic, literary, dialogue-rich…
Crazy Horse…book review
…a loner and a lone eagle, says Larry McMurtry
The Kingdom of the Kid…book review
by Geoff Gehman, pieces of his heart…
A labor in learning…”Learning,” my poem
up close and personal
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 allows us to create and sustain a mindful context for our past and present adventures.
Book review: John Eliot: The Man Who Loved The Indians
Entertaining, convenient biography by Carleton Beals
Book review: John Eliot: “Apostle to the Indians”
…a righteous man of his time
Book review: Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life
A thought leader in the 19th century…
Book review: A Cold Welcome
The culprit was global cooling, 500 years ago…
Book review: Colonial America
A Very Short Introduction by Alan Taylor
Book review: The Myths of Tet
How people get killed by lies…
Book review: Orphan Train
Some of the kids are still alive…
Book review: Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell
Richard Sharpe is all Hollywood bravery, but it was butcher’s work done at the battle…
Book review: Joseph Brant and His World
A Mohawk leader, he helped shape the 18th century world his people shared with the colonists….
Book review: Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
The Revolutionary War, as fought by women…
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.
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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.
“…just on the other side…”
memories never let go…
What It Is Like to Go to War (book review)
Karl Marlantes tells the ugly story
Good Will Hunting, a movie about love (review)
Robin Williams nails it…
“Pick battles…small enough to win.” Kozol (quote)
Daniel Berrigan talks about evil…
Winter’s Tale, gritty good vs. evil film
with magic and love…
“I am the highway and a peregrine…”
much love in The Bridges of Madison County
any time is good for unwrapping…(my poem)
“Santa’s helpers” in the dark hours
What’s Wrong with Economics? A Primer for the Perplexed (book review)
Robert Skidelsky rebuts “Homo economicus”
Silas Marner, read it again…(book review)
by George, Mary Ann Evans wrote it
“The beginning is always today.” (quote, Mary Shelley)
so get started…