It’s freezing in the Northeast and a lot of people are cranky. My area could get another foot of snow this week. There’s no denying that this winter is brutal. One of my favorite posts was about “vacation moments” — or good times that make you feel better when you remember them. Now I have […]
Tranquil Tuesday: Dawn
During the week, some of you get an early start for work or whatever else you have in store for the day. A poem like this one by Campbell McGrath reminds me that there’s someone — whether human or animal — who’s up at the same time, getting ready for another day. It makes me […]
Mini-Reviews: The God of Small Things
If I were to ever choose a favorite book, this one would be among the top contenders. The prose is eloquent and raw. It can be simple and complicated at the same time. (It’s extremely quotable.) Much of the story is told through twins — children trying to understand the way the world works, and later […]
Everyday Poems – Tear It Down by Jack Gilbert
You know that feeling when you say a word over and over again, and all of a sudden it’s no longer understandable? It becomes an alien word that’s void of all previous meaning. This is actually called semantic satiation — your brain becomes so overwhelmed by words that it has to digest and start over. With […]
Tranquil Tuesday: Days by Phillip Larkin
The question Larkin asks in the first line of “Days” is so simple, it’s almost silly. ‘What are days for?’ you can almost hear a child asking. The simple answer Larkin doesn’t give us: days, counted off from the first one, make up our life. Instead, he responds that days are something that engulf us. […]
Tranquil Tuesday: James Schuyler
James Schuyler, ‘Past is Past’ Imagine this poem as a self-contained moment — like pretending time is still when you gaze at an old photo. “Salute” freezes you for several lines and then pushes you right out of the memory . You realize the past is gone. You cherish it and you move on. If you […]