Hillary Clinton’s become persona non grata to Democratic leaders and the pundits sympathetic to them, who’d like nothing better than for her to go away and make nice to the new nominee, Obama. Why oh why won’t she just fall … Continue reading →
Old snowmen never die, they just melt away. …do not ask me in the whole week Where they are—neither in this whole year, Lest I bring you back to this refrain: Oh, where are the snows of yesteryear!
Continue reading →It’s not news that in times of economic strife, grownup children often go back to live with their parents, if they’re desperate enough or shameless enough and the parents are kind enough to have them. And since this is a … Continue reading →
A recent commenter, a teacher, asked for my recommendations for poems for 6th-8th graders to memorize. The thought appealed to me. But when I tried to tackle it, I realized it’s harder than it sounds. Poems with cadence and rhyme … Continue reading →
I write some poetry from time to time, And gravitate to forms, I must confess. I crave some meter and a bit of rhyme. Free verse can be illusory progress. The sonnet with its prescribed fourteen lines Presents a special … Continue reading →
[This is a version of a post I originally wrote a while back about the reasons I took on my “A mind is a difficult thing to change” series. I thought I’d publish it again now that I’ve resumed the … Continue reading →
A while back I wrote about my plans to move. I put my house on the market in late spring, thinking—the current housing market being what it is (I seem to specialize in buying in a seller’s market and selling … Continue reading →
Before Memorial Day became a national three-day weekend in 1971 and the official kickoff to summer festivities, it was Decoration Day. I’m not all that ancient, but my earliest recollection of the holiday is of the latter name. It was … Continue reading →
I’m still on a bit of a Leonard Cohen kick, as well as a YouTube fling. Stay with me here, though; this isn’t just about Cohen. As Gerard Vanderleun has noted, Cohen has an even darker side than the one … Continue reading →
I used to play the cello. Well, perhaps “play” is too strong a word. I was chosen for the instrument (no, that’s not a typo; I was chosen for it, rather than the reverse) in fifth grade, at the public … Continue reading →
Here’s a little relief from politics and its discontents–excerpts from a discussion by Robert Frost entitled “Conversations on the Craft of Poetry” (1959).” Any aspiring poets in the crowd, please listen to a guy who knows–who really knows. In response … Continue reading →
You think I sing a repetitious dirge “Iraq, Vietnam; please let the two diverge!” But here’s some news: the Democrats they urge, “Oh Mr. Bush, don’t recommend a surge!” And why? They say we’re surely on the verge Of failure. … Continue reading →