Tag Archives: Poetry

The Bible is a story

Posted on 30 January 2012 by

I want to poke some more at something I quoted a couple of days ago: Leslie Keeney’s wise and funny statement that the Bible is more like The Lord of the Rings than The Collected Sayings of Gandalf. Evangelicals, she … Continue reading →

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Poem: “Hommage a Taliesin”

Posted on 22 June 2011 by

I have been a paganI have been a ChristianI have been a finch in a cageI have been a cardinal in a treeI have been a mockingbird on a stop signI have been a nun, I have been an oracleI … Continue reading →

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I liked this poem better than the official one

Posted on 21 January 2009 by

The Velveteen Rabbi gave us a marvelous poem for the Inauguration. I confess to a weakness for Antarctic explorer metaphors. As this cold day dawns you stand at the prow gazing over the ice. It creaks and groans but your … Continue reading →

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Wendell Berry does it for me again

Posted on 7 January 2009 by

VII by Wendell Berry I would not have been a poet except that I have been in love alive in this mortal world, or an essayist except that I have been bewildered and afraid, or a storyteller had I not … Continue reading →

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Deep inside your own heart

Posted on 29 December 2008 by

It’s a pity, a gentleman in refined retirement composing poetry: He models his work on the classic verse of China, And his poems are elegant, full of fine phrases. But if you don’t write of things deep inside your own … Continue reading →

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Saint Lucy’s Day

Posted on 13 December 2008 by

A NOCTURNAL UPON ST. LUCY’S DAY, BEING THE SHORTEST DAY. by John Donne ‘TIS the year’s midnight, and it is the day’s, Lucy’s, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks ; The sun is spent, and now his flasks Send forth … Continue reading →

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“No Matter, Never Mind” by Gary Snyder

Posted on 16 November 2008 by

The Father is the Void The Wife Waves Their child is Matter. Matter makes it with his mother And their child is Life, a daughter. The Daughter is the Great Mother Who, with her father/brother Matter as her lover, Gives … Continue reading →

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“Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front”

Posted on 12 November 2008 by

Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a … Continue reading →

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“What You Should Know to Be a Poet” by Gary Snyder

Posted on 11 November 2008 by

all you can know about animals as persons. the names of trees and flowers and weeds. the names of stars and the movements of planets and the moon. your own six senses, with a watchful elegant mind. at least one … Continue reading →

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Poem for the day

Posted on 31 October 2008 by

Unknowing before the heavens of my life I stand in wonder. O the great stars. The rising and the going down. How quiet. As if I didn’t exist. Am I part? Have I dismissed the pure influence? Do high and … Continue reading →

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