Category Archives: poetry

So much depends upon a red cableknit sweater

I don’t knowabout a wheelbarrow but things also depend on a redcableknit sweater old and wornand soft like the blue-and-whitestriped overallspaired with it (Apologies to William Carlos Williams) There used to be a store in the malls, back in the … Continue reading

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Edgar Guest on Taxation: a poem

Today is April 15, Tax Day! And it’s still April, National Poetry Month, so after a few minutes of Googling “poems about taxes”, here’s one that’s actually not entirely pessimistic about whole affair. I could go on for a bit … Continue reading

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National Poetry Month begins….

A Ballad of Baseball Burdens The burden of hard hitting. Slug away      Like Honus Wagner or like Tyrus Cobb.Else fandom shouteth: “Who said you could play?      Back to the jasper league, you minor slob!”      Swat, hit, connect, line out, get on the job.Else … Continue reading

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Something for Thursday: Robert Burns Edition

Robert Burns, the great poet troubadour of Scotland, was born this date, 1759. For a basic primer on Burns, this article is a good place to start. For some true appreciation, though, skip the basic intro and go right to … Continue reading

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“Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go….”

Ho! Ho! Ho! to the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe. Rain may fall and wind may blow, And many miles be still to go, But under a tall tree, I will lie, And let … Continue reading

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“My City”

I read the poem below yesterday, and its simple theme resonated strongly with me. The poet, the great James Weldon Johnson (perhaps best known for penning the lyrics to “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, the hymn that has come to … Continue reading

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“I will seek not the shadowy region”

In her review of a new movie about Emily Bronte, titled Emily, Sheila O’Malley cites two lines from one of Bronte’s poems: I’ll walk where my own nature would be leading: It vexes me to choose another guide. Somehow I’d never … Continue reading

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“A Poet is Not a Jukebox”

A poem by Dudley Randall: A poet is not a jukebox, so don’t tell me what to write. I read a dear friend a poem about love, and she said, “You’re in to that bag now, for whatever it’s worth, … Continue reading

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“The war’ly race may riches chase….” Happy Robert Burns Day!

Green grow the rashes , O; Green grow the rashes , O; The sweetest hours that e’er I spend, Are spent amang the lasses, O. There’s nought but care on ev’ry han’ , In ev’ry hour that passes, O: What … Continue reading

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Indigenous People’s Day

Mine is one of the last generations, I suppose, that was taught all the happy American mythology about Christopher Columbus and how he, knowing that the Earth was round whilst everyone else thought it as flat, thought to sail all … Continue reading

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