What the Gypsies told My Grandmother While She Was Still a Young Girl by Charles Simic War, illness and famine will make you their favourite grandchild. You’ll be like a blind person watching a silent movie. You’ll chop onions and pieces of your heart into the same hot skillet. Your children will sleep […]
MoreSong of the Heart by Cavafy With you, I think, all that is pleasant smiles on me, in the mirror of your eyes there is reflected joy. Stay, my light, and still I have not told you even half of all that presses down upon my heart so amorous, that rushes to my […]
MoreA few days ago I placed two poems of encouragement in a pretty park in northern Michigan. I was thinking about the cave rescue of the Thai boys’ soccer team (just underway as I posted), but I was also thinking about all the dis’s in the world—the disheartened, the dispirited, the discouraged, the distracted—anyone in […]
MoreMy eighth grade year was the Bicentennial year, and to celebrate our class put on a play. Our ever-enthusiastic music teacher Mrs. Enright put together a musical revue of U.S. history. The only part of the play I remember was singing the give-me-your-tired-your-poor portion of Emma Lazarus’ “New Colossus.” I can still sing it today, […]
MoreSympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume […]
MoreIt’s not much of a poem blitz when you only feature two poems (three if you count my giveaways) but this year I’m feeling a little disengaged from Mother’s Day, my mother being gone two years now. Even so, two poems are enough when they’re as good as these. I left Lucille Clifton’s […]
MoreThis is a picture of my sister Josie and her late husband Edison. The poem-elfing that follows is a private one, written and posted as a thank-you to my other sister, Mary K. With Josie’s and Mary K.’s permission, I’m sharing it with you. A little background before you read the poem. Until late […]
MoreBefore the ever-abrupt end of our shortest month, here’s a follow-up to my annual Valentine’s Day Poem Blitz. First, a face, a living Valentine. Meet Pam Woolway, Short Order Poet. Her poetry is made-to-order and on-the-spot, each poem inspired by a single word supplied by the customer. She types them on […]
MoreI don’t know what this flower is, but it’s got a hearts-and-ashes coloration befitting today’s unusual dual-celebration (Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day, in case you didn’t know). One note before I get to my annual Valentine’s Day Poem Blitz: I usually include a range of poems for all different kinds of Valentines, but […]
MoreThanks by W.S. Merwin Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky and say thank you we are standing by the […]
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