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.
“blue suede view”…my poem
it just was
Literary Publishing in America: 1790-1850 (book review)
history was big, poetry not so much
The Book of Days…part lxv
keep looking at it
How to write…says David Ogilvy
This is easy: it ain’t easy
a careless step invited…“Plain talk,” my poem
trash talk to lonely
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.
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
“Book-ish,” my poem
open it again
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.
Countdown 1945…book review
first person accounts
American Bonds: How Credit Markets Shaped a Nation (book review)
a big part of the American story
Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels…book review
Ian Morris talks energy
Twilight of the Elites…book review
Our elites are corrupt, they can’t stop themselves…
Eye of the Needle…desperate but human…movie review
living and dying
The Diary of a Lady of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania…book review
hiding in your house…
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War…book review
William Manchester’s nightmare…
Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300…book review
Peter Heather tells a new story
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…
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.
Book review: Forced Founders
Woody Holton explains that Virginia’s “Founding Fathers” had patriotism, and some other stuff, on their minds….
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.
Have you “…been made various…”?
George Eliot teaches us…(quote)
Truth does exist…
…ask Chief Joseph
The Hustler…movie review
action, heart, and soul…
The Things They Carried…book review
feelings may change…
“…remain generous of heart…”…Amor Towles (quote)
all that has happened to us…
Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity…book review
fear and anger, not issues…by Lilliana Mason
“endless regret or secret happiness…”
quote from Sarah Orne Jewett
“…profoundly human noise…”
the buzz of the crowd (my poem) “
The Wizard of Oz…you can watch it again
movie review of the Judy Garland version
The Price of Salt…book review
the price of love is always right