I probably should have done this update sooner.
a line from a poem at http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17065
"Like poetry, they got so/much nothing done."
A sonnet. Also a pastoral, I guess, about a weather vane shaped like a rooster in a desered landscape.
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/vane.shtml
"Omens" This is strange but lovely.
https://www.poets.org/print/node/436071
Poem about a dead deer
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/dead-deer
Reminds me of a poem with the same theme from my book Five Poets,"Travelling through dark." It's quoted here: http://leavingcertrevision.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SampleAnsweronjcSTUDIEDpoetry.pdf
Beauty of the Trees (second poem)
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17093
A science fiction tale, perhaps, or maybe not
Visions
"let me begin by telling you/about the cold"
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17096
Autumn poem "Harvest"
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/harvest.shtml
Whatever is too stupid to say can be sung. —JOSEPH ADDISON (1672-1719)
epigraph to a poem on writers almanac Oct 26, 2016
5 short sweet poems
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17101
"The Map"
(transparency)
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/map
excerpt from a poem
the little white
daisy-like flowers and the tendrils
of the tiny striated blue ones,
which have, as it happens, not only
the one name Speedwell but many more
besides, Bird’s Eye, Cat’s Eye, Farewell
and Goodbye. You were to stitch a posy
of it onto the beloved’s coat
before a journey, the boat leaving
for what distant shore.
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=16982
Short excerpt from http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17112
"Heart Failure"
The energy of the cosmos /is never lost, only changes form, takes your breath away.
Lovely poem "Verge"
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/verge.shtml
A poem about loss, I think. "Huge Cloudy"http://www.versedaily.org/2016/hugecloudy.shtml
One line excerpt:"the big dipper pouring night down over you"
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/any-common-desolation
A villanelle about math (about an article about math)
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/philiplarkinskoan.shtml
"I know that someone said/in a perfect universe, we'd all be dead."
Thank you poem, posted on Thanksgiving day.
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/thankyou.shtml
"Late Tomato"
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17132
"The January Bee"
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17144
"Letter from Limbo"
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17147
"Modernity"
About time, old age, progress and change. And memories.
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17149
Quote from the author about his poem, "imagination is like magic; it can get you into trouble, but also get you out"
(Hint: click on the MORE button.)
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/evergreen
"Smoke Tree"
memories of deceased parents
http://shenandoahliterary.org/661/2016/11/02/smoke-tree/
"The Past" (villanelle)
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/thepast.shtml
"The Immigrant Story"
excerpt:"I entered the English language"
http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20161218/
"Ale & Cake"
(Shakespeare quote inspired this. It made me laugh.)
http://shenandoahliterary.org/661/2016/11/04/ale-cakes/
"American Ready-Cut System Houses"
This poem wanders around but connects at the end. Also click on "More" button for the story behind the poem.https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/american-ready-cut-system-houses
"Lunar Eclipse"
Seen from Mt Rainier
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/lunar-eclipse
"Augustine Chanting"
precious words
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/augustinechanting.shtml
"Music from Childhood"
It's a pantoum, a poem which thrives on repetition, according to a set pattern. The author comments that the repetition seems appropriate to his subject - of growing up in a home where two languages are spoken.
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/music-childhood
"Harbingers"
(the small before the large)
http://www.versedaily.org/2016/harbingers.shtml
"Music"
why it affects us so
http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170103/
"Breath"
http://www.versedaily.org/2017/breath.shtml
"Sea Garden"
(inspired by learning that "dead man's fingers" is a type of coral - click on More button.)
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/sea-garden
"What she taught me"
a beautiful tribute to the poet's mom
http://writersalmanac.org/episodes/20170130/
For Valentine's Day, a love poem
"Decades Ago"
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17212
"I decided to take these tired metaphors and deconstruct their camouflage, until all that remains is the true ‘heart’ of the matter: one human being, stripped of blather and artifice, speaking to the beloved."
—Rita Dove
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/heart-heart
Click on More for the full author's quote.
A poem for Christmas
http://poems.com/poem.php?date=17219
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Happy Holidays
Happy New Year
I'm thinking about Christmas, but I haven't come to a final conclusion.
I recently saw some statistics. Something like 90% of people surveyed indicated that they celebrated Christmas. Including people who also said they weren't religious. I think that's a good thing. Although it's not exactly clear what they meant by celebrated - maybe they included having a day or two off from work??
On the other hand, something like 80% thought Christmas was too commercialized. Hmmm.
I have always enjoyed Christmas, even during the period of my life when I wasn't particularly religious. But I do think that there are two sides to Christmas . . . and they sometimes overlap. To me, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, most decorations, exchanging gifts and writing to distant friends are all part of the "secular" side of Christmas. You don't need to be religious to take part. You can do these things if you are Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, some other major religion, atheist or even non-sectarian.
As an aside, I sent a Christmas card to my cousin Jeannine. (Cousin once removed, to be technical. My aunt was her grandmother.) The card I got from her with newsletter was not much different from other cards. But it was clearly a New Year's card, and it arrived during the last week of December. Definitely part of the secular side. Similarly, my friend Sarah is of the Jewish persuasion, and her holiday cards (now e-mails) are traditionally done the day after Thanksgiving.
As to the more religious side of Christmas, a few thoughts occur to me.
I do have an aversion to the term "Black Friday." I guess I'm old-fashioned, I think of black days as bad news, such as a crash in the stock market, or declaration of war. Even more, I dislike the emphasis that commercial interests put on Black Friday as a celebration of greed. And the stories of crowds so intent on getting a bargain that they trample one another. Yet that's my personal reaction, apparently a lot of people disagree with me about it.
But I do struggle with the question of whether Christmas needs to be more religious. I wish the selection of cards that actually say "Merry Christmas" was better. And I was delighted to see that the Church Christmas Party had an opportunity for the children to be photo'd with a manger scene. So much better than a Santa Claus, in my opinion.
Still, somehow I feel that the religious side of Christmas is very personal. This aspect of Christmas is best done in a family setting, and with our brothers and sisters at church. If it's not religious enough, who should we blame but ourselves?
And furthermore . .
If we make it more specifically a religious holiday, what does that do to those people not of our faith? Shouldn't they also have the opportunity to enjoy "Glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people"?
I'm thinking about Christmas, but I haven't come to a final conclusion.
I recently saw some statistics. Something like 90% of people surveyed indicated that they celebrated Christmas. Including people who also said they weren't religious. I think that's a good thing. Although it's not exactly clear what they meant by celebrated - maybe they included having a day or two off from work??
On the other hand, something like 80% thought Christmas was too commercialized. Hmmm.
I have always enjoyed Christmas, even during the period of my life when I wasn't particularly religious. But I do think that there are two sides to Christmas . . . and they sometimes overlap. To me, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, most decorations, exchanging gifts and writing to distant friends are all part of the "secular" side of Christmas. You don't need to be religious to take part. You can do these things if you are Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, some other major religion, atheist or even non-sectarian.
As an aside, I sent a Christmas card to my cousin Jeannine. (Cousin once removed, to be technical. My aunt was her grandmother.) The card I got from her with newsletter was not much different from other cards. But it was clearly a New Year's card, and it arrived during the last week of December. Definitely part of the secular side. Similarly, my friend Sarah is of the Jewish persuasion, and her holiday cards (now e-mails) are traditionally done the day after Thanksgiving.
As to the more religious side of Christmas, a few thoughts occur to me.
I do have an aversion to the term "Black Friday." I guess I'm old-fashioned, I think of black days as bad news, such as a crash in the stock market, or declaration of war. Even more, I dislike the emphasis that commercial interests put on Black Friday as a celebration of greed. And the stories of crowds so intent on getting a bargain that they trample one another. Yet that's my personal reaction, apparently a lot of people disagree with me about it.
But I do struggle with the question of whether Christmas needs to be more religious. I wish the selection of cards that actually say "Merry Christmas" was better. And I was delighted to see that the Church Christmas Party had an opportunity for the children to be photo'd with a manger scene. So much better than a Santa Claus, in my opinion.
Still, somehow I feel that the religious side of Christmas is very personal. This aspect of Christmas is best done in a family setting, and with our brothers and sisters at church. If it's not religious enough, who should we blame but ourselves?
And furthermore . .
If we make it more specifically a religious holiday, what does that do to those people not of our faith? Shouldn't they also have the opportunity to enjoy "Glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people"?
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