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“our kingdom come has just begun”

Amanda Gorman is a poet and a prophet. Her words time and again take away our breath while filling us with hope and imagination of what might be possible. I share with you her poem This Sacred Scene spoken at the Democratic National Convention, but addressed to us all. I share her words not asContinue reading ““our kingdom come has just begun””

Skimming Stones!

We have all tried it! The wonder and the magic of being able to skim a stone across a smooth body of water has occupied many a summer hour. One, two, three skips or even four, make us feel like a champion. I was surprised to learn that there is indeed a World Championship forContinue reading “Skimming Stones!”

“England hath need of thee”

The scene above was common place in my teenage years in N. Ireland. It is depressing to see the above image of the events over the past few days in many cities such as Liverpool, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Bristol, and Belfast, to name a few. In 1802 the Lakeland poet William Wordsworth wrote about London andContinue reading ““England hath need of thee””

” Casey at the bat”

I was 39 when I saw my first baseball game! Growing up in Northern Ireland it was cricket not baseball which was played! Even to this day I still am learning the “intricacies” of baseball and still to this day I have never ever played a game. However, just yesterday joining three others for aContinue reading “” Casey at the bat””

Naming and Numbering the Horrors

This morning as I dug in the soil, clearing plants to make ready for a new flower bed, I was listening to the most recent New Yorker podcast Poetry. The podcast featured poet and translator Valzhyna Mort, from Minsk Belarus, who teaches at Cornell University. She translates between English, Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish. InContinue reading “Naming and Numbering the Horrors”

Café Gratitude

Recently, I was visiting Kansas City for a couple of days. When I drove past Café Gratitude I just had to stop and take a photo. It immediately reminded me of that lovely piece of prose in Mike McCormack’s novel Solar Bones – a piece I posted some three years ago. Then, and today, IContinue reading “Café Gratitude”

Words – “Cool it down.”

I haven’t thought much about “words” having a temperature, yet for sure we have reached a boiling point in the civil. social, and political discourse over these past days and months. Many are fearful of how dangerous words and speech have become and will become in the next few months, and beyond. The writer andContinue reading “Words – “Cool it down.””

“The winding path of words”

Today, I share two poems from the book of poems Insomnia by Linda Pastan. In the first poem Pastan likens the work of the poet to that of the work of farmers, forever hoeing and planting. The second poem touches on “writer’s block” and is a tribute to the poet William Stafford. A habit ofContinue reading ““The winding path of words””

The Hippopotamus and the Church!

T.S. Eliot’s love of cats soon became a collection of poems known as Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (Possum was Eliot’s nickname given to him by friend Ezra Pound). This is his only book of light verse which would eventually be turned into the stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber which opened in LondonContinue reading “The Hippopotamus and the Church!”

Suddenly

We lie back to back. Curtains lift and fall, like the chest of someone sleeping. Wind moves the leaves of the box elder; they show their light undersides, turning all at once like a school of fish. Suddenly I understand that I am happy. For months this feeling has been coming closer, stopping for shortContinue reading “Suddenly”