Category Archives: Poetry

Amy Lowell’s “A Fixed Idea”: An Exploration in Paradox

Posted on 03/28/2018 by

A Fixed Idea What torture lurks within a single thought When grown too constant; and however kind, However welcome still, the weary mind Aches with its presence. Dull remembrance taught Remembers on unceasingly; unsought The old delight is with us … Continue reading →

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Love for All Seasons

Posted on 09/15/2017 by

  “I hope that I will be the last victim in China’s long record of treating words as crime.” Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017) China isn’t usually a quotidian staple of the Westerner’s mindset. Let’s face it: our culture operates in Eurocentric … Continue reading →

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Reflections on the 2017 Philip Larkin Exhibition at Hull

Posted on 07/06/2017 by

The Guardian (July 4, 2017) features a review of a favorite poet of mine, Philip Larkin, in connection with a current exhibit of Larkin artifacts at Hull’s Brynmore Jones Library, where he was a librarian for many years. It notes … Continue reading →

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America’s Unofficial Poet Laureate: Mary Oliver

Posted on 04/18/2017 by

Judging by her phenomenal sales, Mary Oliver surely rates as America’s unofficial poet laureate, and yet the anomaly that she’s never held the office since its inception in 1937. I have to confess that I hadn’t heard of her, despite … Continue reading →

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On First Looking Into Milford’s Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay

Posted on 03/18/2017 by

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. –Edna … Continue reading →

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Sarah Teasdale: “There Will Come Soft Rains”

Posted on 02/28/2017 by

Am in a poetry mood again, which just shows you how subversive reading a poet’s biography can be (Nancy Milford’s Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay). In doing so, I came across Sara Teasdale, a once in-vogue … Continue reading →

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Solace for the Hard Places: Jeffers, “Shine, Perishing Republic”

Posted on 12/03/2016 by

I suppose every generation thinks it’s in crisis and, you know, they’re probably right, given the volatility of history; our time, no less so, as we make the transition to a new Washington regime that appears menacing to many of … Continue reading →

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A favorite poem: William Carlos Williams’ “Spring and All”

Posted on 05/02/2016 by

By the road to the contagious hospital under the surge of the blue mottled clouds driven from the northeast–a cold wind.  Beyond, the waste of broad, muddy fields brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen. patches of standing water the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Poetry | 3 Comments

On Visiting Bloedel Reserve

Posted on 09/30/2015 by

If you have a garden and a library you have everthing you need.–Cicero I’ve been doing a lot of walking in the Seattle area these past several days, while visiting my daughter and family. As a gardener back home in … Continue reading →

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Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Recuerdo”: A Close Reading

Posted on 06/08/2015 by

                                                                                … Continue reading →

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