I said here a couple of years ago that Natalie Jabbar’s blog of curated poems each April is like a … More
Tag: Lifesaving Poetry
The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser
The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More
Lifesaving Poems: Margaret Avison’s ‘Twilight’
Twilight Three minutes ago it was almost dark.Now all the darkness is in theleaves (there are no morelow garage roofs, … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sean O’Brien’s ‘Before’
To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in … More
Struggling
Struggling I haven’t had time to stand and fart recently,and you’re wanting me to work on a relationship? That silence … More
‘Clear of the wheel of myself’: Workshopping Michael Laskey’s ‘Bike’
Bike You, who have borne three sons of mine, still bear my weight routinely, transporting me. An odd … More
A list of found poems
As the holiday season continues I repost this list of various found poems that I have made over the … More
The Year of Living Deeply 21: Some James Schuyler resources
My James Schuyler obsession continues. (So is my adoration of blogs about pencils, but that is another story.) Below are … More
Why we need to save the Poetry Business (LentBlog26)
after Mark Halliday Because of the writing days. And because The discovery will not happen on its own, unprompted, … More
Meditation on a line by Martin Stannard (LentBlog2)
A line that has really been haunting me recently is ‘Horses turned out into a cold field have it’ from … More
Lifesaving Poems: C. P. Cavafy’s ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’
Waiting for the Barbarians What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. … More
Craving silence
‘So I was thinking,’ the book says. ‘Going anywhere nice for Christmas?’ ’Do you want a lift somewhere?’ I say. … More
What you read in 2018
Here are my most frequently-read blog posts of 2018, according to my WordPress stats. First, from the Lifesaving Poems … More
The Year of Living Deeply 6: When One Book Leads to Another Book
I have been writing recently about going deeper, not wider. Listening to music I already possess, reading the books already … More
The Year of Living Deeply 13: Reading the books I already possess
As I was saying the book that I bought and then did not read and which caught my eye recently is Now … More
Lifesaving Poems: Stuart Pickford’s ‘The Curtain Falls’
The Curtain Falls Suddenly a life is over – Ends with such serious charades The Dean makes lame quips … More
Lifesaving Poems: Carrie Fountain’s ‘Poem Without Sleep’
Poem Without Sleep All the things that could happen to the baby came to me last night as I … More
Nowhere Poet
It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More