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.
Music to Nikkal’s ears
Hint: it’s not “Lay Down Sally”…
The Book of Days…part lxviii
nature poems about the dawn’s early light…
“Sing!”…my poem
inspired by Violet Hanks
never too old to sing…Amor Towles quote
as we age
“…she never looks up…” “facta,” my poem
her temples are sturdy…
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.
You know, the “Renaissance” thing…
it wasn’t a buzzword…
Kaa’s Hunting, another Kipling story
with Mowgli, the man-cub
The Universe in Verse…book review
ya mean astronomers write poems?
The Premonition: A Pandemic Story…book review
Michael Lewis talking truth again…
Aging: An Apprenticeship…book review
How to live so you’re ready to die…
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.
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
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
Lincoln, he was a politician…movie review
Daniel Day-Lewis is good
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.
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
The Bombing of Auschwitz…yay or nay? book review
it was a hard call…
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 wisdom of Thomas Jefferson
…long story short…
Carol…a movie review
two ladies in love
what time is it?…Judith Viorst quote
Sleeping Beauty time
thinking about ducks at sea
Hemingway did, the old man did…
An Officer and a Gentleman…movie review
becoming a grown-up
“…the consequences of a single deed…”
Sebastian Faulks tells it…
The Gifts of Imperfection…book review
what it is, who you be…Dr. Brené Brown
The Fugitive…movie review
the best train wreck
1491 by Charles Mann…book review
…lost American legacies
Stop running…(Guillaume Apollinaire, a quote)
…look around…