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.
“…make sunshine…”…Louisa May Alcott quote
why not?
Kaa’s Hunting, The Jungle Book…book review
leaf-eating and brotherhood
The Book of Days…part lvi
nature poems about the dawn’s early light…
“Contemplation”…my poem
Did she think “I move”…
The Book Lovers’ Anthology…book review
All the best words…
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.
Washington Square…book review
Henry James, less than meets the eye
Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception
by Pamela Meyer (book review)
Breath of Joy…book review
breathing in, by Danna Faulds
Atonement…book review
Ian McEwan tells a big story
What Orwell Didn’t Know…book review
the search for truth in words…
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.
Conspiracy…movie review
…a flawless portrayal of naked evil…
Bitterly Divided: The South’s Inner Civil War (book review)
David Williams says secession wasn’t popular
The Self-Made Man in America (book review)
Prof. Irvin Wyllie exposes the myth
John Adams (book review)
David McCullough tells a good story of a good life
What It Is Like to Go to War (book review)
Karl Marlantes tells the ugly story
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis (book review)
by Jared Diamond…frank and frightening
1491 by Charles Mann (book review)
…lost American legacies
The Last European War (book review)
it’s by John Lukacs, dig in…
Go Down Together…Bonnie and Clyde (book review)
they were violent criminals
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (book review)
consistent tension, a page turner…
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 Unknown American Revolution (book review)
in the streets, says Gary Nash
The Urban Crucible, by Gary Nash (book review)
the revolution and the leather-apron crowd…
Common Sense by Thomas Paine (comments)
it wasn’t strictly business, but…
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World (book review)
William Bernstein forgets the inequality bit…
-30- The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper
bad news about the news (book review)
Is the public interested in public interest news?
Isn’t news the new stuff you suddenly want to know?
For All the Tea in China (book review)
Sarah Rose brews the whole ugly story
How the Irish Became White (book review)
another slice of American history by Noel Ignatiev
American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle…
Colin Woodard makes it easier to understand…(book review)
Hand me that hammer…
building bridges is a good thing (my poem)
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 Sixth Extinction…book review
Elizabeth Kolbert talks about the other global horror…
“a breath of poetry…”…from Silas Marner
George Eliot said it all
“again is a potent word”…my poem
“redux,” get it right
changing the world into words…Bill Gass said it
a kind of alchemy
The Picture of Dorian Gray…classic?…movie review
The 1973 version is the best of more than 30
Aging: An Apprenticeship…book review
How to live so you’re ready to die…
the baby seats, step right up…my poem
we know the kids who will use them
“You aren’t good enough…”
sez who?…sez Sally Field (quote)
“Speak like rain.” Isak Dinesen’s story
in her novel, Out of Africa
don’t cross the buck’s trail…my poem
a walk in the woods