Tag Archives: readings

from “The Unfuzzy Lamb” (Anne Fadiman)

For thirty-three years, Lamb sat on a high stool, identical to those occupied by thirty other clerks; dipped his goose quill into two inkwells, one containing black ink and the other red (he called the latter Clerk’s Blood); and recorded … Continue reading

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Breughel’s Two Monkeys (Wislawa Szymborska)

“Breughel’s Two Monkeys” This is what I see in my dreams about final exams: two monkeys, chained to the floor, sit on the windowsill, the sky behind them flutters, the sea is taking a bath. The exam is History of … Continue reading

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Wild Perfection (Stanley Kunitz)

“America, it’s true, either spoils you with success or withers you with neglect. What other morality has the artist but to endure? The only ones who survive, I think, beyond the equally destructive temptations of self-praise and self-pity, are those … Continue reading

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"Seneca on Banishment" (Benjamin Paloff)

"Seneca on Banishment" Somewhere I missed where it said not to do the emperor’s sister, and at last I get what the khans will be about: outside, nothing is more inviting than a wall visible from space. So I say … Continue reading

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"Idylle" (Dionisio Martinez)

"Idylle" In today’s mail I found the chain letter you’ve been sending for years. I know your handwriting, your desperation, the peculiar way in which you fold the paper. This plea, you tell me, has been around the world three, … Continue reading

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"High Windows" (Philip Larkin)

"High Windows" When I see a couple of kids And guess he’s fucking her and she’s Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm, I know this is paradise Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives– Bonds and gestures pushed to … Continue reading

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Robert Louis Stevenson on the Task of Living

"To be honest, to be kind—to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a … Continue reading

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"Four From the Forest Floor" (Brad Leithauser)

[photo by Greg Gladman] "Four From the Forest Floor" A Rhinoceros Beetle Not dead, but dwindled, The dinosaurs: he rears his Snout and almost roars. Overnight Mushrooms These neighborhood shrines, White as snow, show the clean hands Of stolen labor. … Continue reading

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"Icarus" (Donald Revell)

[photo by debaird] "Icarus" I cannot count the strange animals Falling through my eyes. One is not one. A different one, Just this morning at sunrise, Had escaped. He wore the bright orange of a convict still. In no real … Continue reading

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"The Illiterate" (William Meredith)

[photo by SuLeS] "The Illiterate" Touching your goodness, I am like a man Who turns a letter over in his hand And you might think that this was because the hand Was unfamiliar but, truth is, the man Has never … Continue reading

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"Embers" (Henri Cole)

"Embers" Poor summer, it doesn’t know it’s dying. A few days are all it has. Still, the lake is with me, its strokes of blue-violet and the fiery sun replacing loneliness. This is my burrow, my nest, my attempt to … Continue reading

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"Carrion Comfort" (Gerard Manley Hopkins)

[photo by EJP Photo]  One last bit of Hopkins… another too appropriate not to share. "Carrion Comfort" NOT, I’ll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee; Not untwist—slack they may be—these last strands of man In me ór, most … Continue reading

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"If We Had Known"

  [RIP] "If We Had Known" If we had known all that we know We never would have let him go. He never would have reached the river If we had guessed his going. Never. We had the stronger argument … Continue reading

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“Spring and Fall” (Gerard Manley Hopkins)

[photo by photographer padawan] This is one of the first "adult" poems I memorized and one of the few I’ve never forgotten. Recent events reinforce what I’ve often said before… this poem has depth and complexity far beyond what is … Continue reading

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"The Animal Within" (Rebecca Kavaler) (RIP)

Just heard via email that poet, novelist, and short story author Rebecca Kavaler has passed away. Here’s a poem of hers that I’ve seen shared in a few places. "The Animal Within"      Homage to Sir Thomas Browne We, who … Continue reading

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"Atomic Pantoum" (Peter Meinke)

[photo by Todd Ehlers] "Atomic Pantoum" In a chain reaction the neutrons released split other nuclei which release more neutrons The neutrons released blow open some others which release more neutrons and start this all over Blow open some others … Continue reading

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A Poetry FAQ (and “The Snow Man” by Wallace Stevens)

Love him or hate him, Pinsky has created a good model to keep in mind when considering questions of poetry, poets, and poetics. Answer the questions with poems. It’s at least as exact as the philosophical meandering I’m likely to … Continue reading

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“The Waking” (Theodore Roethke) (Kurt Elling)

I don’t know why I didn’t think of “The Waking”– one of my favorite Roethke poems– when I was thinking so much about villanelles last weekend. However, in one of those serendipitous exchanges that make participating in these social networks … Continue reading

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"Another Look at the Garden" (Landis Everson)

  [photo by J. Star] "Another Look at the Garden" The window has glass in it the garden has not. There’s a path between grass but the grass is not a path. Fairies are not paying attention at what you … Continue reading

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"November 23" (Czeslaw Milosz)

[photo by tochis] "November 23" A long train is standing at the station and the platform      is empty. Winter, night, the frozen sky is flooded with red. Only a woman’s weeping is heard. She’s pleading      for something from … Continue reading

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