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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.
whistle a happy tune…my poem
it’s like a singalong
the consequences of a deed…Sebastian Faulks quote
going on and on…
“making night into day…”…“riverine,” my poem
a nameless river
“walking in beauty…”…“walking along,” my poem
I may join you
A Shropshire Lad…book review
A. E. Houseman, well, there’s rhyming…
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.
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…
Good Bones…book review
bones and more bones…
Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity…book review
fear and anger, not issues…by Lilliana Mason
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.
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…
Conspiracy…movie review
…a flawless portrayal of naked evil…
The Self-Made Man in America (book review)
Prof. Irvin Wyllie exposes the myth
What It Is Like to Go to War (book review)
Karl Marlantes tells the ugly story
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
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.
Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction (book review)
as they saw it in mid-19th century…
A Magnificent Catastrophe (the 1800 election, book review)
Edward Larson tells the nasty story
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…
-30- The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper
bad news about the news (book review)
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)
Will the last monkey cry?
the new reality…
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.
“More than coffee…” (my poem)
ask me again, Polly…
not just cookies…my poem
eat the last one
learning to read?…no problem
start writing anyway…
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie…book review
growing up is hard to do
We need both, remembering and forgetting…
The wisdom of the Cherokees
the TV screen won’t stop talking…my poem
I don’t watch TV
News of the World…movie review
not your ordinary Tom Hanks movie
The Bright Ages (book review)
A New History of Medieval Europe
time is different near the sea
John Steinbeck sez so…
Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception
by Pamela Meyer (book review)