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.
Want to be a gardener?…“Gardens galore,” my poem
strive to be a seed…
Wait for the feeling to pass…
“Shivering,” my solitary poem
do the bounce thing…“allegro,” my poem
kids make their move
The Book of Days…part lxiv
nature poems about the dawn’s early light…
“ciel blanc,”…my poem
kissing the night
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.
Bookjoy, Wordjoy (book review)
Pat Mora’s poems, start dancing…
Daily Life of Native Americans (book review)
they didn’t need the Europeans…
thinking about ducks at sea
Hemingway did, the old man did…
Crazy Horse…book review
…a loner and a lone eagle, says Larry McMurtry
Society and Culture in America: 1830-1860…book review
Russell Nye tells the big story
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.
War at The Wall Street Journal…book review
they botched it
The Bright Ages (book review)
A New History of Medieval Europe
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
The “pack horse librarians”…
…before there were bookmobiles…
The Demon of Unrest…book review
Erik Larson tells the whole story of Ft. Sumter
Iron Tears…book review
Did the British really try to win?
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.
“stop seeking the impossible…”…The Daily Stoic
commit to resisting the bad stuff
Hand me that hammer…my poem
we need to build bridges
keep a watchful eye…and resist
do not let them go gentle…
The Pioneers by David McCullough…book review
bona fide McCullough, erudite prose
No Constitutional Right to be Ladies…book review
Linda Kerber drills down…
John Adams…book review
David McCullough tells a good story of a good life
The Donkeys…book review
remembering World War I
A Room of One’s Own…book review
A Virginia Woolf story
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War…book review
the Pilgrims weren’t happy, says Nathaniel Philbrick
Facing East from Indian Country (book review)
Another point of view from Daniel K. Richter
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.
“…midst all these books.”
one view of the sweet life…
The Girl at the Lion d’Or…book review
Sebastian Faulks is tenaciously literate, richly Gallic…
whistle a happy tune…my poem
it’s like a singalong
The Birthday Party and The Room…by Harold Pinter
not much here
the consequences of a deed…Sebastian Faulks quote
going on and on…
Mr. Holmes, the real movie…movie review
a very hot cold case…
“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