POETS Day! Jorge Luis Borges as Translated by Richard Wilbur
What I was reading before the encounter is on the back burner for a bit, but that’s okay. I like my stints in the Borges trap.
Author: Ben Sears
POETS Day! Moments in The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes
When you read about Langston Hughes, you see adjectives like “melodic” and “rhythmic” tossed around. “Vibrant.” They’re apt.
POETS Day! Ovid’s The Amores
Christopher Marlowe’s translation of Ovid’s “The Amores” is fantastic. I think you have to say that, or no one will take you seriously.
Spring Lamb from a Once Noisy Rock
This is a recipe for Springtime. It’s lamb shank in a white wine vegetable braise; rustic osso buco. I’m a sucker for lamb shank
POETS Day! Paul Laurence Dunbar
It was during Paul Laurence Dunbar’s time as an elevator operator that he put together “Oak and Ivy.” A lot of his sales went to regular elevator customers.
Meatballs with Sausages: Breaking the Code of Silence
This post is about making meatballs, and how grandmothers are duplicitous, self-interested, conniving, and not to be trusted.
POETS Day! The Poetry of Ninth Grade English, Revisited
William Butler Yeats, R.S. Gwynn, Ellen Kay, and other selections from ninth grade along with an admonition to not get on my lawn
POETS Day! The Rape of the Lock
This week’s poem is “The Rape of the Lock” nods at Homer, Virgil, and Milton. Like ‘American Vandal,’ it’s a true crime send up.
Refire A Classic: Deconstructed Salisbury Steak
This is not the comfort food steam table stuff. This Salisbury steak is cleaner and satisfies a different hankering.
POETS Day: Crow, by Ted Hughes
This is what you do, Ted. You will never be loved. If Hughes was cruel, he was thorough.
POETS Day! Hartley Coleridge
He may not have achieved immortality on his own, but he’s firmly attached to the coattails of those who have.
POETS Day! More Seamus Heaney and Thoughts on Touching Stuff
I suppose we have cells that touched cells that touched the Renaissance or got Irish petrichor on them. It’s a Kevin Bacon game at this point.
POETS Day! Listening to Seamus Heaney
There’s a lot to say about Seamus Heaney, but I’ll get to that some other time. I’m stuck on sound right now.
POETS Day! Vita Sackville-West
In addition to being a popular writer during her lifetime, Vita’s notable for being Virginia Woolf’s inspiration the novel Orlando
POETS Day! My Problems with Walt Whitman
I cringe at the images “Whitman fan” conjures; wannabe Annie Savoys from Bull Durham singing the body electric
POETS Day! John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
The roguish 2nd Earl also acted as the King’s de facto pimp about court. I’m sure that bought him a few indulgences.
Processing Loss: Alabama Loses Nick Saban
Nick Saban’s gone, so fans are checking on that friend of a brother-in-law whose wife plays bridge with the athletic department HR assistant director
POETS Day! Theodore Roethke
As for Theodore Roethke… I got nothing. I’ve come across the name, of course. I’d just never read his work until this week.
Not Really a POETS Day: Caroling! Caroling!
I have a favorite Christmas song. I’m setting myself up for guff here, but I’m a big fan of Sir Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime.”
POETS Day! John Skelton, Cyndi Lauper, and Phonies
What I remembered about John Skelton (1460-1529) was that he had idiosyncrasies of rhyme and meter referred to as Skeltonics.
