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.
T. S. Eliot and “the hollow men”
Less than meets the eye…
a black southerner said…
what do you think she said?
“the wall entire…”…“Wall,” my poem
and more…
“in moto perpetuo,” a baby poem
she scampers
Heart of Darkness…book review
Joseph Conrad’s deep dive
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.
With the Old Breed…book review
the prayers of E. B. Sledge, a warfighter
The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (book review)
no managers in olden times…
The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism (book review)
Martin Wolf teaches about trust…
A Gentleman in Moscow (book review)
warmly engaging words and people
Beowulf, an old story (book review)
better than Steve McQueen…
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.
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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.
“…I walk in mirabilibus supra me…”
C. S. Lewis knows the weight of glory…
Old Friends (book review)
Tracy Kidder tells truth about old age…
How the Irish Became White (book review)
another slice of American history by Noel Ignatiev
The Wind and the Lion (1975)
heroic, the way it was…(movie review)
Book review: Girl with a Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier’s bucket of love about Vermeer’s painting…
Guess who wasn’t coming to dinner…
Not too many black doctors actually showed up for dinner in 1967…
Hand me that hammer…
building bridges is a good thing (my poem)
“…and dipped in folly…”
only Poe knows how to say it…
“…the ravell’d sleeve of care…”
wish I’d said that…(a bit of Shakespeare)
No one remembers “The Six Grandfathers”
…except the Lakota Sioux