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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.
“walking in beauty…”…“walking along,” my poem
I may join you
A Shropshire Lad…book review
A. E. Houseman, well, there’s rhyming…
The Book of Days…part lx
nature poems about the dawn’s early light…
We Were Soldiers Once…and Young
…too much death (book review)
“seeing more”… it’s the fall, my poem
they don’t look back
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.
Literary Life: A Second Memoir…book review
Larry McMurtry’s passionate engagement with books…
War at The Wall Street Journal…book review
they botched it
Kaa’s Hunting, The Jungle Book…book review
leaf-eating and brotherhood
The Book Lovers’ Anthology…book review
All the best words…
Upstream: Selected Essays (book review)
it’s not Mary Oliver’s poetry…
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.
Book review: “The Gentle Boy”
The Puritans had a dark side…
Book review: All The President’s Men
It’s a corker, but you won’t have to read it twice…
Book review: American Colonies
So many and so much came before the Pilgrims…
Book review: Shantung Compound
They didn’t care much about each other…
A poet is a “maker”
…and it doesn’t have to rhyme…
Book review: American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
…it didn’t start the Revolution.
The “dime novels” popular in the Civil War
Think Kit Carson and the lads…
Book review: Forced Founders
Woody Holton explains that Virginia’s “Founding Fathers” had patriotism, and some other stuff, on their minds….
Book review: An Empire Divided
King George and his ministers never tried hard enough to win the Revolutionary War.
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.
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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.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day…movie review
and lives happily ever after…
“stop seeking the impossible…”…The Daily Stoic
commit to resisting the bad stuff
Hand me that hammer…my poem
we need to build bridges
treadmill thoughts…“and old sneakers,” my poem
the workout is good
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics…book review
Dan Harris says “even one minute counts”
no kicking or biting…says Seneca
try talking it out…
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie…movie review
Maggie Smith, nonstop…
Winesburg, Ohio…book review
it beats the Spoon River stuff…
Range: Why Generalists Triumph…book review
David Epstein says it’s OK to experiment
keep a watchful eye…and resist
do not let them go gentle…