A lot of Democrats, led by Obama, are carping that Netanyahu’s speech didn’t offer a “viable alternative” to the disastrous, suicidal course Obama has chosen (no they didn’t use those adjectives). But Netanyahu certainly did provide one; it’s just not … Continue reading →
…says Leonard Cohen. A likely story. If Cohen’s mind is like the DMV, it’s not like any DMV I’ve ever been to. Cohen’s interview is a fascinating reflection on creativity and work: Before I can discard the verse, I have … Continue reading →
Yes, I know that technically spring’s been here for quite a while. But northern climes don’t get to see it so quickly. In 1913, about a hundred years ago, Robert Frost wrote about the transition of the seasons in one … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Gerard Vanderleun recycled an old post of his at American Digest, an ode to the rainy season in Seattle. Which reminds me that, way back when, I wrote an answering poem—only mine was an ode to snow season in … Continue reading →
Leonard Cohen is a songwriter, and a very successful one at that. But he was a poet first. He’s old, too—if 79 can be called “old” these days. Accordingly, the style and content of his songs have changed over the … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Here’s a post I first wrote in 2005. It’s a favorite of mine.] I think it may be a lost pedagogical device, but when I was in grade school, we were forced by our teachers (mostly elderly women, as … Continue reading →
This observation by Robert Frost has long been one of my favorite descriptions of a liberal: A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel. Of course, that’s only true when the quarrel is … Continue reading →
On one of the recent art threads, commenter “Smock Puppet” offered a link to a sculpture by Rodin entitled “She who Used to Be the Beautiful Heaulmiere”: The sculpture ‘Celle qui fut la belle heaulmié¨re’ is also known as ‘The … Continue reading →
Have you ever noticed the books in the photograph that makes up my blog header? The one on top is the collected works of Robert Frost, and the one below is the second volume of William Manchester’s biography of Winston … Continue reading →
…writes
Continue reading →Yesterday I was browsing in a bookstore. I had gone to the mall for something else (pillowcases, to be exact) and had some extra time to spend wandering, and so I ambled into this particular mall’s only bookstore: B. Dalton, … Continue reading →
I applaud yesterday’s attempt to inject poetry into the inaugural proceedings. But the poem that Elizabeth Alexander composed and read was trite, the sort of thing that helps me understand why many people decide they hate poetry. When I took … Continue reading →