Invictus by William Earnest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, […]
MoreLast Saturday morning I participated in a breast cancer walk. The night before, I leafed through my poem stash to pick out a few to take with me, and it was then that I realized that a blog post on breast cancer should include my own health history. I felt uneasy about that for a few reasons. […]
MoreAfter my last post about the value of memorizing poetry, a reader requested a list of great poems to memorize for the summer. My list is short: the greatest poem to memorize for the summer is a poem you love. Love is why children memorize Mother Goose rhymes. Love is […]
MoreTo write my last post I had to look up the cast of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. I came across an amusing bit from the script. Terry Thomas, playing his usual upper-crust Englishman equal parts outraged and dastardly, serves up this rant on an American obsession: “As far as I can […]
MoreGray Room by Wallace Stevens Although you sit in a room that is gray, Except for the silver Of the straw-paper, And pick At your pale white gown; Or lift one of the green beads Of your necklace, To let it fall; Or gaze at your green fan Printed with the red branches […]
MoreWhen I was a teenager, and like other teens suffering from an awkwardness in inverse proportion to my romantic longings, I liked to sit by the fire during the holiday season and listen to sad music till tears rolled down my cheeks. It was great. Certain inchoate desires—to live a happening life, to […]
MorePoem in Praise of Menstruation by Lucille Clifton if there is a river more beautiful than this bright as the blood red edge of the moon if there is a river more faithful than this returning each month to the same delta if there is a river braver than this coming and coming in […]
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